I can't imagine removing the Nuke Deterrent money from the MOD budget is going to help with maintaining that 2% commitment...

HMWHS has a hangar access via an armoured blast proof room under the towers. This allows disarming weapons if damaged in flight or if too expensive to jettison before land on. Yep, I remember seeing them as well as an additional de-arming area which had armoured doors into the hangar space. The who...

inch wrote:forgot to ask but what was the size of hms ocean hangar although I know wasn't built to operate planes as such ? thanks

From my records: 111.3m x 21m = 2,337m²

http://www.pymes75.plus.com/military/ocean.htm

Looks like she's heading back to Portsmouth - she's near the Solent now... I hope that is a good sign that her trials have gone well!

£190 million each for F-35Bs including support and infrastructure. Someone needs to ask Deborah Haynes how much her car costs... and servicing over x number of years? and MOTs? and road tax? and the cost of a new garage?! Does her car cost the same as the sticker price on the forecourt now? Thought...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTgDTC8_PM0 Re range - fast forward to: 15:46 All of the rest of the interview is very interesting too! There's another great Youtube clip with Chip Burke on a radio show countering Pierre Sprey's BS. The moment when he reply's to Pierre's insinuation that F-35 pilots...

Looks like Mounts Bay has already been at work. Bravo Zulu to her crew.

RFA Mounts Bay is reported to have:

- 1 x Wildcat HMA2 from 815 Squadron

- Det. 24 Cdo, Royal Engineers (19x troops)

- Det. 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, RLC

- A variety of tractors, diggers, trucks, quad bikes, command and all-terrain vehicles

Looks like the RN were ready for this one!

Quick highlights: Chapter 2: 56. The 5 Type 23 general purpose frigates will be replaced with a class of Type 31e general purpose frigates. The first will be in service by 2023 and we require each new ship to come in at 12 month intervals . Type 31e will enable us to grow the size of the frigate for...

Links to the actual NSS documents if anyone hasn't read them yet:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... lowres.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... tsheet.pdf

Does anybody know why the two islands are so big ?,compared to an american carrier ,I know they have the exhaust stacks thru them but they are huge ,what are the American carriers missing in there towers that we are not or are we just being greedy ? They also contain the weapons lifts (among others...

At least there should be a Chris Terrill documentary coming out soon... That should be very good and will hopefully put all the 'news' stories about the QEC into perspective.

Incredible moment - and that's just for Serco Marine Services! ;) Bravo Zulu to all the men and women of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance and the crew of QNLZ! A proud day for the nation. Wish I could have been there but I'm already planning a trip down to Pompey shortly to have a harbour cruise around...

If we were going to make an AAW Type 26, then we ideally wouldn't be using Sampson. It's good, but high mast solid state AESA is the clear route forward. Just look at APAR and Seafire 5000. Italy's developing them too. My understanding from publications from many moons ago is that ARTISAN is a smal...

More ship porn:

Yes, that's a reasonable interpretation. Here's the exact quote: "Within the way we are moving (back) toward a CTG, the Wildcat is basically a ring of steel around that group" Cdr Carnie said. "so while we are not part of the main ORBAT for the carrier, there will always be a minimum...

Janes IDS in March had a long article about Wildcat in Navy service. Unfortunately I don't think it's available online. Anyhow, it sounds like a remarkable piece of kit. The radar is a big upgrade offering a 360 view with a major increase in range, clutter suppression, & detail and is forcing a...

If QE can do 26.3 kts (visible with AIS) with one propellor misaligned, imagine what she actually do with them both perfectly aligned?! She's waaay faster than her "official" specs. ;) I'm guessing that 26.5kts is the KUR speed she must be capable of sustaining at the end of her life (wit...

Okay another "according to Dave Cullen post" he said on face tube 3 hours ago the issue is with the angle of the propeller! Now whether that was caused by the netting or at the time of installation is the question. The good news is that it doesn't appear to be the shaft, also IIRC the pro...

Just seen the tweet from Geof Searle, Type 26 Programme Director that confirms the £3.7bnincludes the previous long-lead costs.

This weekend we have learnt a Type 26 frigate costs between £800m and £1,200m. We're not much better off than our previous guestimates. IMHO, I don't believe the MODs claims that theis number includes previous costs. No any sence to include costs from say 2010 in this contract... :roll: Politically...

QEC Eye in the SKY wrote:Anyone else notice the amount of CCTV camera's on board? There's quite a few.

220 to be precise.

According to the AIS track she hit 26.3 knots @ 18:36! Cool!