I'm afraid Rosyth does not have the capability to design a new escort. They have never done any. T31 design was bought from Denmark. T31-mod can be, but I'm afraid they do not know how to make it ASW-quiet enough. Babcock doesn’t need to design anything. A partnership with BMT could continue the de...

tomuk wrote: ↑11 Apr 2024, 19:49 A GP frigate for at least half the price or more can provide a good level of ASW with a TAS and it doesn't need to be modularised.

But would your GP frigate actually catch any submarines? If the chances of that are tiny, it's wasted money.

imperialman wrote: ↑09 Apr 2024, 22:01 This outsourcing is designed to ensure that the construction schedules of the Type 26 frigates are accelerated

Accelerated? To get back on schedule or to improve delivery date?

Thanks for the update George

Markam wrote: ↑09 Apr 2024, 14:02 I must have missed that, I could not for the life of me find anything on a "Merlin successor", but I suppose it is not a direct successor but more of a general new initiative.

The UK has listed Merlin as one of the types to be replaced by this program.

It is quite sad we do not seem to have a Merlin successor (or one in the works) to compete in the larger bracket. The UK does have "one in the works". It's the lead nation in the Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) program designed to replace many medium helo's across Europe and ...

SW1 wrote: ↑06 Apr 2024, 16:40 That’s not a limited capability anyway you care to cut it.

Extremely limited in both endurance & effectiveness which is why the Koreans are replacing their Lynx with larger helo's.

Ian Hall wrote: ↑06 Apr 2024, 13:00 but thankfully the debate about turning them into some sort of 21st century Panzerschiff has died down of late.

Hey, nothing wrong with Panzerschiff's!!

And you can have the exactly same dipping sonar and processing system that is on merlin on wildcat now. The South Koreans bought it. Thales sell it as compact flash basically they used new materials, replaced hydraulics with electrics to reduce the weight and shrink. And a much shorter cable so no,...

When told that the Iver Huitfeldt was a "proven" design during the Type 31 selection, I asked what exactly had been proved other than they could float and move?

Tempest414 wrote: ↑02 Apr 2024, 14:15 Maybe the RM could do with some CAMM capable Vikings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BvS_10#/m ... -T_SLS.png

*ASRAAM capable

Timmymagic wrote: ↑02 Apr 2024, 11:47 So we could be due a bumper delivery at the back end of the year of 6 a/c, that to all intents and purposes increases the fleet by 20%. True combat capable fleet by 25%+.

Jeesh that's a bit sad.

I don't think either are correct. The Navy intends the T31's to have a regular service life and the NSS doesn't mention Parker's idea of selling on "young" ships. Not all of his recommendations were adopted. "Not all" doing some very heavy lifting there Ron! We might all want mo...

"Not all" doing some very heavy lifting there Ron! Sorry but what does that mean? This particular idea from Parker has been dropped. It was agreeing with you. Suggesting that a great many of Parker's other concepts (particularly in supply chain and distributed build) have similarly gone o...

Martlet is a Navy name for a Navy air to ground missile in Navy service. LMM is the name the Army uses for its surface to air missile. Please keep up. It's the same missile. If you're going to be that petty you should also have picked up that Starstreak is not the name that the Army uses either. Ac...

SW1 wrote: ↑30 Mar 2024, 15:09 The joint harrier force never made it to 4 front line squadrons it only got to 3.

The invincible class operated with up to 14 harriers on it

Just a nice pic

Not very often !!!!

Great that settles it then HMT 600 even with brimstone or 105mm can be lifted by a Chinook Probably why its been seen towing the light gun. Well, I think that's a Coyote. Bit far away to be sure. Oops no, they are Jackals :cry: https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/wp-content/webp-express/webp-images/uplo...

Jensy wrote: ↑30 Mar 2024, 19:41 "Not all" doing some very heavy lifting there Ron!

Sorry but what does that mean? This particular idea from Parker has been dropped.

I don't think either are correct. The Navy intends the T31's to have a regular service life and the NSS doesn't mention Parker's idea of selling on "young" ships. Not all of his recommendations were adopted. "Not all" doing some very heavy lifting there Ron! We might all want mo...

Martlet is a Navy name for a Navy air to ground missile in Navy service. LMM is the name the Army uses for its surface to air missile. Please keep up.

Joint Harrier was a disaster. Invincibles usually just deployed with helo's at that time.

One of the many "benefits" of Naval Aviation being owned by the RAF.

20-25 year service life should be a pretty standard goal. They shouldn’t be doing mid life upgrades either. They should be big enough and simple enough with an open architecture command system to have relatively straight fwd capability insertion periodically at relatively short dry docking periods ...

there is the fact that the T31's are not intended to have a long service life (in the RN). A) is that a fact B) is that realistic ? A good life plan would be 20 years with a mid life upgrade at 10 years pretty much written into the NSS - that the purpose of the type31 is to reduce service life to g...

The missile in service with France in the MANPADS role is Mistral, which is heat-seeking. Startreak (and Martlet) are command to line of sight guided and as such somewhat more capable against drones. So possibly that? Martlet is a Navy air to ground missile. I think you mean LMM. Very similar missi...

Funding for more F-35 is "ring fenced" :

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/funding ... f-35-jets/

This I understood: UK RAF Seeking More Advanced Autonomous Collaborative Platforms Tony Osborne March 27, 2024 LONDON–The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) is hoping to field an attritable autonomous collaborative platform (ACP) to operate and provide mass to its combat aircraft fleets by 2030, the service’s...