Tempest414 wrote:Donald said : 10 T-26 + 3 Floreal type ships + the 4 River B1's would be better than 8 T-26 + 5 T-31 + 5 River B2's
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Now for the fleet mix I think that the new mix could be really good if we can first man it and second tweek it like so
8 x T-26 as set to come into service
6 x T-45 refitted with a 76 mm with Vulcano rounds and 48 CAMM added
5 x A-140 T-31 fitted with 1 x 76 mm with Vulcano rounds , 2 x 40 mm with 3P , 24 CAMM as shown by team 31
5 x River B2 fitted as set out above
Thanks for moving the discussion to escort thread.
For me, a "Floreal-lile OPV-H" is; 107 m Leander (5 m extension amidship and 3 m astern) with 76 mm (or even 114 mm) gun and 2 CIWS, with a Wildcat. Basic CMS with ESA/chaff/flare kit, and Artisan 3D (or Scanter 4000) radar. Built to OPV standard hull (to make it cheap). And a fleet of "6 T45 + 10 T-26 + 3 Floreal type ships + the 4 River B1's " was my "old plan-A."
RN "plan-A" now is for "6 T45 + 8 T-26 + 5 T31e + 5 River B2". Depending on, how T31e comes out, and how the spending review, as well as SDSR 2000, comes out, this could be "so so good fleet". But, if we face the big risk of spending cut and/or economic decline, at least delaying the "key decision point" of T31e AFTER SDSR2020 is MUST.
And, if such risk happen to come true (which I think with ~50% probability), my plan-B will be
- happy to cut T31 to save money
- keep 8 T26 as a top priority, and even try to increase it using part of the T31e's 1.5B GBP
- execute some of the "up arming" plan of River B2, discussed here and in OPV thread, to make a "corvette"
- and mid-life refit the River B1s to be kept as EEZ patrol vessel until 2030s.
As River B2 is small, adding hangar will not be good. Even if added, its usage will be small because of weather condition. Thus, "up-armed" River B2 will never be able to totally fill the gap of 5 T31es (if cut).
But, actually, Holms strait is "as small as Dover strait", which means air-cover can be easily provided and thus
a helicopter hanger on ship is NOT needed there. In other words, up-armed River B2 can be a good corvette to be used there. Red sea is the same, and many part of the Med is also the same. So, in a few Choke points, River B2 "corvette" can fill the gap. For global deployment, loosing T31e will degrade its capability. But, that is the whole point of defense spending cut.
Less money, less capability. HOW to incorporate it, is the key point.
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ADD: The whole reason of my comment's diversity is for plan-A and B.
Pushing Leander for T31e (mainly because it is built in England, and also its operating cost shall be small), and not pushing (by default) to up-arm River B2, is for plan-A.
At the same time, discussing Floreal-like OPV-H, and up arming River B2 is for one of the plan-Bs (if T31 see cuts)
As lack of plan-B was one of the root cause of getting 5 River B2, and not "3 T31e-like-OPV" for 630M GBP to save the work-force critical for T26, discussing plan-B is always needed. But, also note it is just for plan-B, not plan-A.