Is this the first case RN/RFA is going to gap helicopter in Carribbean HADR tasks It's possible. There has been an ongoing push to get more helicopters permanently based in the region, with the UK subsidising the purchase and the BoTs picking up the running costs. I know that Cayman now has a secon...

Timmymagic wrote: ↑15 Jun 2022, 12:31 The sheds there are used a lot for rehearsals and sets for films though.

I think it's just the #2 shed that is used for filming. To be fair though, with the way the UK film industry is going these days, they could probably fill #1 shed as well. They are massive spaces.

Shame they are moving from Bedford - it has such a long association with airships in the UK, both old and new. I have memories of clambering all over an, if IIRC, Airship Industries prototype in the Cardington Airsheds, sometime in the early 70s, when the weather was too bad to fly on our gliding co...

I would say that there are three requirements to be addressed, not all resolved by a common design. a) URNU replacement b) Offshore patrol in Atlantic waters c) General purpose design for offboard systems mothership/ command skills development/ inshore patrol URNU replacement could be met by buildin...

Yes - good point - how they are categorised could result in large differences. I wonder which categories things like engineering variants are counted in, for instance.

Well, Oryx put (photographically confirmed) Russian tank losses at 760, so somewhere between the two

L Jackson and Co appear to have 75 of them in stock

Further down that thread, it's suggested that the tanks need considerable work to restore to active status, but that Spain is struggling to find the industrial capacity to do that. If true, it might be a while before they actually arrive.

Still a good sign however

Sholtz has been dealt a very poor hand. You talk as if Scholtz had no part in the decision-making. He has been part of Merkel's government since 2007 (Vice Chancellor since 2018). He has been fully involved in German policy towards Russia for many years. As for German assistance for Ukraine, what h...

donald_of_tokyo wrote: ↑26 May 2022, 15:39 there is no comparable brochure of the current Artisan 3D

True - they were very close-lipped about it's capabilities. The fact that they are now trialling BMD software on Artisan does seem to indicate that it is an extremely capable system in ways that may not be hardware limited

A quick link to my earlier post on the new BAE radar range
viewtopic.php?p=132823&hilit=Artisan+100#p132823

Apologies,they also manufacture 120mm as well

I wasn't aware that BAe was still producing ammunition at such a scale I confess I was a bit surprised as well. Apparently Radway Green can produce one million rounds per day of 5.56 and 7.62. More if they go to overtime working. They also produce 81mm mortar, 105mm, 127mm and 155mm About the only ...

mr.fred wrote: ↑24 May 2022, 12:11 I was under the impression that CT40 ammunition was produced in the UK.

It is, as well as 20mm KAA, 30mm Rarden and 30mm KCB. BAE Radway Green now produces 12.7mm as well as 5.56 and 7.62

The Express is reporting that a Russian frigate has been hit, possibly sunk in the Black Sea https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1606325/russian-ship-sunk-ukraine-neptune-missile-odessa-black-sea-Admiral-Makarov-vladimir-putin Edit: Also in UKDJ https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/russian-warship-on-fi...

bobp wrote: ↑30 Apr 2022, 19:10 Pretty sure the Mastiffs and Ridgeback are likely to be taken out of use soon.

120 Mastiff going to Ukraine and all the Huskies are up for sale (or possibly going to Ukraine also)

I’ve wondered for a while whether the RN has seriously studied possible use of Martlet in a air-to-air mode from Wildcat. at least against drones and other helicopters. I’ve a vague recollection of a CGI promotional video where it was used against another heli. Yes - I recall graphics indicating th...

Didn't we move loads of hardware (including tanks) to Germany when Ashchurch was sold off? Or did they get moved back again?

….50 cal was far more capable that a GPMG Perhaps but is the 50cal superior against the Mk44 mini gun at 6000 rpm in all sea states and low light conditions against fast moving craft? I honestly can't recall the details that well, but Brocklesby ended up with three miniguns and two 50 cal. and no G...

IIRC, the USN did a study using various calibre weapons against FIACs and decided that the 50 cal was far more capable that a GPMG at stopping one (around one minute vs two minutes or more for the 7.62, which is a lot of distance at 40kts plus). That was behind the move to add a 50 cal covering the ...

Much closer in size than I appreciated. Using a T26-sized hull, perhaps with a slight stretch, for the T83 does indeed look feasible, if that is what is intended

So something has happened to the Moskva :think: If the Ukrainian's have had the ability to strike Russian ships why wait to now? No idea - maybe they lost their stocks of existing missiles in earlier Russian strikes and had to build a few first? Or maybe they weren't actually Neptunes. Maybe they s...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10717065/Go-f-Russian-warship-BLOWN-Cruiser-Moskva-hit-Ukrainian-missile.html Daily Mail reporting Ukrainian claims to have attacked and badly damaged the Slava-class cruiser Moskva in the Black Sea, using two Neptune anti-ship missiles. It seems that Russia...

The rate at which we are using up munitions should be a warning to the West - I read elsewhere that it will take the USA around a year to replace the Javelin missiles used so far and five years to replace the MANPADS used so far. I suspect that it will take the UK even longer. At the current rate of...

Luke jones wrote: ↑12 Apr 2022, 11:45 This is why it was always a shit idea to can Warrior. It was pointed out again and again.

Unfortunately deciding to upgrade Warrior appears to have been something akin to the Nimrod MRA4 decision.