If I were Typhoon Senior I'd be claiming paternity on the basis of that central intake alone! (Plus the tail and bubble canopy are not that dissimilar)

Related question - is there any reason the Batch 1s aren't being gathered up and offered to Ukraine for a pound?

Ron5 wrote: ↑22 Mar 2024, 13:01 Merthyr Tydfil is the UK's home for armoured vehicles???

Gimme a break.

Was thinking the same...

Over the next few years there are likely to be a large number of Aberdeen ex-oil industry people looking for alternative employment. Not sure how the RFA pay scales line up to their expectations however

https://www.navylookout.com/snapshot-the-royal-navy-escort-fleet-in-april-2024/ Depressing situation and a reminder that we have a lot to do to get the 16 FFs/DDs (ignoring HMS Westminster) crewed and in better shape before we get excited about expansion. Somerset is a big disappointment for me - I...

My guesstimate - T83 will be a late 2030s story, which would align with the RAN's plans. Hobart class will only be 20ish years old in 2040. - MRSS can be integrated at Rosyth with blocks built wherever. Maybe not in the frigate factory but using part of their workforce. - FADS will leverage some pil...

For me as said Army can have 3 Divisions with 9 Brigades 1st Division with 3 Light Mech brigades 3rd Division with 2 x Combined armed brigades 6th Division with 16AA , Rangers , 11th SFA , SF brigade The key will be the 3 Light Mech Brigades and what vehicles they have for me one of them should be ...

For me as said Army can have 3 Divisions with 9 Brigades 1st Division with 3 Light Mech brigades 3rd Division with 2 x Combined armed brigades 6th Division with 16AA , Rangers , 11th SFA , SF brigade The key will be the 3 Light Mech Brigades and what vehicles they have for me one of them should be ...

According to the Shipbuilding Strategy, the MRSS decision point is about now, though agreed, SDSR2025 will make the announcement near irrelevant https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6231b9e2e90e070ed32f18ce/_CP_605____National_Shipbuilding_Strategy_Refresh.pdf IMHO it would be hard to make...

Well we have a £4bn deal to help Poland build its air defence system, surely "backward integrating " that to the UK would be an efficient place to start. If based initially on CAMM-ER then there would be a series of 80-100km "bubbles" around the country. Then add in CAM-MR to dou...

I'd have thought an upgunned T31 would be very useful for dealing with Houthi drones at the moment. Free up T45 for the Carrier Group. If it's only 3 out of 5 so be it. The other two can do flag flying and maybe end up being sold to Ukraine at mates rates. Domestic license build of a T26 - never gon...

That is a very good point.

It'll be an interesting one. Airbus DE have no export success with Eurofighter. But then again Rafale has a long waiting list and Dassault don't really do local assembly. Personally I think it will come down to money, EF is still more expensive, there will need to be a major discount from list pric...

It'll be an interesting one. Airbus DE have no export success with Eurofighter. But then again Rafale has a long waiting list and Dassault don't really do local assembly. Personally I think it will come down to money, EF is still more expensive, there will need to be a major discount from list price...

If it's Airbus (ie Germany) leading, it's a lost cause. Hopefully these mistakes are never to be repeated

There are only two yards that can integrate a complex warship - Scotstoun and Rosyth. And part of Rosyth is needed anyway to refit the carriers. H&W are building a diverse marine engineering business including refit, offshore wind, ferries etc. - not dependent on the MOD. Similarly Cammell/ A&am...

BAE are already planning on significantly compressing build time once they move into the new shed. Incorrect. Lister is on record as saying the increased efficiency is to get the ships back on the original schedule. He intimated that the one off delays Covid etc would be recovered by boat 5 and aft...

We've already lost Westminster of the T23ASW, and Monmouth, Montrose and v likely Argyll of the T23GPs. All before delivery of any T26 or T31. True. But would they be crewed if they hadn't been lost? The 3 x GPs will be covered by T31, all of which are scheduled to be delivered by 2030. If we've al...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/15/bae-pushes-to-delay-royal-navy-frigate-to-prioritise-norway/ BAE pushes to delay Royal Navy frigate to prioritise Norway deal Bid to sell submarine-hunting warships to Norway hinges on Royal Navy accepting delays This is completely impossible the T23 ...

Does it really matter? Those two type 26s will still be operating, in the same area, hunting the same enemy. The RNs CAPEX gets pushed to the right and the UK wins its largest naval export orderin decades. Also - do the Norwegians need a barely used tanker by any chance? Difficult one, but based on...

Poiuytrewq wrote: ↑15 Apr 2024, 10:56

Effectively Norway would be funding the 5x T26 that HMG refused to fund.

Never thought of it that way. True! We've gone all around the houses to get back to where we should have been from day 1 with a modernised frigate factory pumping out 13 x T26s.

Jeez we make life hard for ourselves

Bloody hell, what a choice to make. Nice to see the UK government ham fisted approach to the Type 26 coming back to kick us in the ass again. That positive note I had yesterday lasted less than 24 hours. A British bid to sell submarine-hunting warships to Norway cannot go ahead unless the Royal Nav...

Does it really matter? Those two type 26s will still be operating, in the same area, hunting the same enemy.

The RNs CAPEX gets pushed to the right and the UK wins its largest naval export orderin decades.

Also - do the Norwegians need a barely used tanker by any chance?

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/glasgow-frigate-shipyard-keen-for-international-orders/ Sir Simon stating,(in respect of Govan) “We’ve got eight to nine years of steelwork ahead of us. If there’s no prospect of another class of ship, we’ll need to slow down a bit to bridge the gap. However, we are a...

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/bae-target-dramatic-reduction-in-frigate-build-time/ We aim to reduce the build duration from the first of class being 96 months to the eighth being 60 months. More than that, we intend to compress the interval between ships from 18 months to 12 Now that’s an opportu...

Report in the Torygraph that Bae at Govan have now deployed the radical unheard of innovation called Robotic Welding to “recover lost time on batch 1 of T26 and make up for a shortage of welders” Personally, were I a welder with a choice between working outside under a tarp in the Scottish winter, o...