The MDP will probably be published when the BREXIT situation hits the fan so nobody notices.

China is a master of "Soft" power whist having an increasing effective military in the wings.

Yep designed as a "Bear" killer.

In the grand scheme of things enough M1s or Leo2s to equip 2 Regiments plus a number for training would not break the bank compared to what is being spent on the Navy and Air Force. Until the attitude changes, except for Sf we should get out of the ground combat game, send troops into harms way with...

I suppose it depends on who you intend to engage. Vs anything but a high end MBT the CT-40 has a good chance and it is also effective against buildings etc. punching lovely holes in walls and so on. For taking on the big boys they have the two MMP ATGW so they have most things pretty well covered. T...

Cheers for the details.

From what I remember the Typhoon was originally intended as a replacement for the Tornado F3 and Jaguar, but the three Jaguar Squadrons were not re equipped so the RAF lost three squadrons on the quiet. The RAF wanted an agile multirole platform that would be supplemented by the Harrier replacement ...

Interesting idea, drive one way one land and another on the water. Hope the crew remember which is which.

If the MoD actually got its act together the "Lost" variants could still emerge funding permitting.

I believe the RAF Regiment has lost most of its specialisations and is now a Light Infantry Base Security force equipped with Land Rovers and a number of Panthers. The Army is tasked with Airfield repairs etc. There might be some EOD sub units though still within the regiment.

Nice PR stunt to show the possibility of the two countries working together to develop the next generation MBT sometime off in the distance.

The same could be said for the F-16 remember that started out as a simple daytime air defence fighter with basic ground attack. Multi role or swing role platforms are they way things are, the Tornado though an excellent platform in its intended roles is limited compared to the current generation. An...

There shouldn't be any reason the Typhoon/Eurofighter could not do SEAD. The F-16s used in that role used mission sensor that are housed on pod(s) rather than hardwired like the old F-4G and Tornado ECR. Therefore if the relevant pods were developed and the planes modified to use them then job done....

I wouldn't be surprised to see the US develop a SEAD capability into the F-35 sometime in the future capitalising on its existing avionics and sensors. If an ARM can be developed that will fit into the weapons bay either through a new design or adapting an existing weapon it would become a formidabl...

And now we have invented the "Aviation Support Ship" of ASS for short together with the "High cost Only Lightly Equipped", or HOLE doctrine.

Not intentional but it does poke the UK in the eye saying "We still do carrier aviation properly. So when are your carriers going to be up and running?".

The whole idea of mobile basing has pretty major implication to the UK. Over the past few decades with the almost full contractorisation of the support system, how well placed are we to conduct such operations and at what intensity level. Are the contractor tied into deployments? I am not referring ...

I was mentioned somewhere that 617 was going to be declared operational when it had received eight airframes. I know we still keep declaring that we intend to buy 138, but I cannot see more than four squadrons being operational plus the OCU.

Which pic is the front and which is the rear?

One of these day the Government/MoD will have a procurement plan that the Treasury are joined up to for the duration, or at least we will have a PM who will back defence and tell the Treasury to pull its neck in. One can dream.

Sounds more like Victorian foreign policy. Set up an outpost near a possible threat, said outpost is attacked and destroyed by that threat, send an army to punish the threat or try to. This is more about political posturing than actually providing any form of true deterrence to Chinese expansion. On...

Standing outside the box, you could look upon the T-31e as the naval equivalent of the F-16. When envisages is was to be a cheap day fighter with a secondary ground attack capability. Armed with a gun, a few IR AAMs and dumb bombs it did what it was designed to do but it also incorporated the potent...

I think the "Growth" potential of the A140 is going to be a serious factor in the completion. Whist the RN has accepted, at least in public, that 13 T-26 was unaffordable and that the T-31e was the only way to maintain the fleet, many are going to have one eye on what can be done to add ca...

Talk about poking a Bear (Dragon) with a stick. How long will it be until we see a RN ship in dry dock having collision damage repaired after a Chinese vessel decided to get real friendly and cuddle up.

God knows how they would report a problem with the lift fan