Please can we stop suggesting that OPVs can stand in for real warships, because they can't. hear! hear! We should, perhaps, stop pretending that we have enough "real warships" to cover everything that needs to be done (we clearly don't, since so many standing tasks are gapped) and accept ...

a 76mm main and 25mm secondaries are the upper limit of what they are designed for. You could possibly add some MANPADS and LMM to add a bit That is the very limit of what the rivers are capable of. I struggle to see a situation where we would convert them and stick a 76mm on the front though. I ju...

Pseudo wrote:The first thing that popped in to my mind was decoy drones designed to have an acoustic signature similar to an SSBN.

Great point. As long as your decoys are cheaper than their drones your winning, a little pod that makes noise cant be too hard to make.

I think there definitely should be a more integrated approach, there must duplication of efforts between the various branches we have at the moment. There is potential for a combined force to be greater than the sum of its parts, hopefully resulting in greater coverage and increased visibility. How ...

conveniently forgetting how massive the oceans are.

I do agree, there are a few roles for a patrol vessel, however trying to shoe horn a frigate into them does not make it a frigate, it makes a more expensive patrol vessel that is of no use in the royal navy.

Maybe, but I'm tired of the falsehood that smaller boats are useless in war. Yes and No, They are not useless if we are fighting the Germans again. They are useless working as part of the modern Royal Navy. A modern fleet is a system of systems, such a system that in the case of the Royal Navy, is ...

MHPC? (painted grey)

Yes, River B.2 based "90m OPV" may not be good goal-keeper without a descent radar (maybe SeaGiraffe or TDS3D), even when we are to have only 76mm DARTS/57mm 3P systems (no CAMM). But, these sensors do not need space and can be adopted to Rivers (although cost matters). So, again, only if...

Completely disagree, it's a bit like saying HMS Hood was the only useful ship in Ww2, as it was the only ship capable of withstanding an attack from the German fleet... That's being facetious. You know that's not at all right. The River class would be the modern equivalent of the WW2 Flower class. ...

That argument has many flaws, like you say it would also degrade the Americans capabilities greatly. The trident missile isn't GPS guided any way, only the MIRV's are. The missile relies on internal guidance in the early stages, then star guidance in the later stage's, so achieving the correct balli...

Except the rivers will not provide a useful final goalkeeper, the system is only as good as the sensors, and the rivers don't have any useful sensors because they are a patrol boat. They are incapable of accepting big weapons without a massive overhaul to the platform, which would not at all be cost...

have an F35 fly by at the same time this forum will go berserk

are we not missing some Chinook?

Excellent vehicle.

Are the French still pretending to be interested?

Well of course there reply will be "of course our new submarines, that you are going to pay us billions for, are the best ever and undetectable". What a pointless letter.

If case of an attack by 20 hi-speed ASMs, and you want your HVU hit by a single ASM with less than 1% probability, how many SAMs do you need? If you have 3 engagement chances (in time), and simply shoot the same number of SAMs for ASMs, in the 1st round, you shoot 20 SAMs (assume with 90% leathalit...

In the Persian gulf, you have so many allies there. Why do you think you need to respond "alone", when you are confronting "another hot war" in other theater? If USN is fighting with you, no problem. If USN is not fighting with you, I guess the gulf will be calm. I think those a...

A ship needs a mast, without a big one they just look strange.

There is no war time duty for a river class. Not lethal Not persistent Not survivable They are incapable of providing a credible naval force. I doubt you could put a river on Kipion, which is needed to keep goods and oil flowing to the UK. In a war disruptions here would be a sure way to slow the UK...

Them in Iceland and us in Scotland should make the base for a pretty good system.

I wouldn't even be surprised if in 30 years time the USN switched to SRVL, the capability gap between F35-C and F35-B is much less than F-14 and Harrier, its not mad to say in the next generation they will be equals. Its way off the white board for the time being, but the QEC certainly have the flex...

QEC does have the flexibility to use other aircraft, it is not intrinsically linked to the F35.

You haven't seen a proposal for an F35 replacement because it isn't even in service yet. We know for sure that the F35 will be around for a long time, and will be well supported so I'm not worrying.

Typhoon porn

Or does this logic only apply to nuclear weapons. Completely agree with you. That logic only applies to blinkered anti nuclear half whits who don't understand what they are ranting about. Haven't listened to it yet, only seen the shit storm she has caused on my twitter feed, did she seriously menti...