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...

RunningStrong wrote: ↑27 Mar 2024, 13:15

Ron5 wrote: ↑27 Mar 2024, 12:52 Send a big balloon over a war zone. Sounds a good idea (eyes roll).

Who would be shooting at it? With what weapons?

Same fkkrs that started this whole CF.

His initials are SW

Clear as mud.

Send a big balloon over a war zone. Sounds a good idea (eyes roll).

It's not like they are getting in the way of the hundreds of workers swarming all over the ship.

Not the carriers huh?

And yes, they should get a decent ECM system installed,

Markam wrote: ↑26 Mar 2024, 12:56 With the Challenger 3 being reduced in number reportedly due to lack of operable Challenger 2s to upgrade

I've not seen this, where have you? Thanks.

If I could have given that comment 10 thumbs up, I would have

Not to piss everyone off... I'd have probably favoured a UK spec Mirage IV-B, with a British powerplant and lots more buccaneers. In 20/20 hindsight, a transonic or supersonic Buccaneer variant (as outlined in Ray Boot's wonderful autobiography) would have been the best answer. Would have tagged mo...

Russian aggression would likely not take the forms of a traditional invasion of nato countries. Potential disruption could be greater think back to fuel protests of the last decade or so as an example instead disruption to money transfer or payment systems for weeks. Or attacks against infrastructu...

True enough, but at the time we were also building a new class of very expensive SSBN.... oh wait.... :D How much did the tosser waste by ordering F-111's and then cancelling the order? Wilson's mob was dazzled by supposed Yankee technical superiority. Too dumb to realize it was actually superior Y...

peaking of cost-effectiveness, assuming the F-35/22 R&D costs were an outlier, and it can be kept reasonable with GCAP, hopefully the unit cost at the very least can be kept well below the F-35 (which recently went up). Not a hope in hell and by the way, F-35 purchase price is cheaper than its ...

Jensy wrote: ↑24 Mar 2024, 23:25 But I've never found TSR-2 aesthetically pleasing!

Boooooooo

mrclark303 wrote: ↑24 Mar 2024, 22:34 F35B is effectively a modern take on P1154 the Admiralty wanted 60 years ago

Pretty sure the Admiralty wanted the Phantom. I would.

Jensy wrote: ↑24 Mar 2024, 16:45 I think Labour's union connections, and the value of thousands of highly skilled jobs

Didn't stop the tosser Healey from cancelling TSR2.

I'd rather see a turreted mortar (NEMO or AMOS) on a CV90 than anything else. More mobile, better protected. Doesn't reward GD UK for shitty performance on Ajax & Morpheus.

I don't think it was ever intended for F-35B to operate just from CV. The original program name was Future Carrier Borne Aircraft (FCBA). The RAF swung into action and stole the program, renaming it to Joint Combat Aircraft. Idiot politicians let them get away with it, more than happy for RAF inter...