If this does prove to be accurate, I wonder what the forward mushroom farm will become, if anything?

Would certain be tempted to fit, at least one, 40mm Bofors there myself. Even a superfiring 57mm were there space.

Those sm6 missiles are around 15m dollars each but I guess if your homeland is having ballistic missiles fired over it regularly you gonna prioritise air defence. For us it will be most interesting were we go with radar and combat management systems. Aegis was on the table when type 45 started I’m ...

Our Japanese friends seem to be moving forward on their [definitely not] AAW cruisers. https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/12/japan-mod-secures-2-5-billion-to-build-two-asev-for-fy2024/ The ministry pointed out that the size of the ASEV will be 1.7 times larger than the US Navy’s latest Flight...

This might be a daft question....but I'll ask it anyway. T23's have 3 seperate superstructures. The forward superstructure with the bridge, the midships superstructure with funnels and the stern superstructure with the hangar. I can understand the need for the gap between the bridge and midships su...

Is this the same Nicholas Drumond who was ecently advocating "gifting" all of UK Challenger MBT to Ukraine and UK then buying Leopard II to replace them? Whilst being employed by IIRC KNDS!! I wonder if he also has a consultancy agrement with LM..... Suspect more a case of helping out a f...

SW1 wrote: ↑10 Dec 2023, 19:19 I assume why the RN is replacing aster 15 with camm fleet wide and only retaining aster 30. If indeed these were engaged with missiles

I feel even CAMM is overkill for these Iranian drones. Naval gunnery seems a far better approach.

Is this the same Nicholas Drumond who was ecently advocating "gifting" all of UK Challenger MBT to Ukraine and UK then buying Leopard II to replace them? Whilst being employed by IIRC KNDS!! I wonder if he also has a consultancy agrement with LM..... Suspect more a case of helping out a f...

The U.S. Military Industrial Complex strikes back:

And the BAE option. https://twitter.com/xaviervav/status/1730942587702304768 The LPX concept reminds me somewhat of the Team UK FSS proposal. https://www.navylookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Team-UK-Fleet-Solid-Support-Ship-7.jpg P.S: From a rough measurement, assuming the ships are to scale ...

Not seen this before - Stingray for Poseidon https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/raf-chooses-uk-manufactured-sting-ray-torpedo-for-poseidon-fleet/ The interesting thing will be if a wing kit is developed for it.... Sounds like a good idea, we really do need another 3 Poseidon to make a viable flee...

Aw609 fuselage is not sized to be of any use as a military platform. You might as well start from scratch. Depends on the role and requirement. I'm not suggesting it's a Merlin HC4 replacement. This is a platform that's been developed almost fully, for the civil role. Why reinvent the wheel if ther...

Camm in Exls\Mk41 has already been demonstrated. Canada and Sweden are putting Camm in Exls only and Poland and Saudia Arabia are using Exls. Are they not? Or will there be some out-worldly alien style mk41 mushroom hybrid. With MoD procurement I wouldn't take anything as given till you see the thi...

It doesn't actually exist in the real world, so it's at least 15 years away from potential UK purchase, 20 would be more likely. Not far off the timeframe of the Bell HSTOVL family, should DARPA chose to go beyond their Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SpRInT) programme. The smallest prop...

The Royal Navy wants the Mk 41 on the Type 31 and Babcock are also finalising design activities including integration of Mk 41 VLS but it seems like we are unwilling to take the final step and announce that its going to happen. I guess it start off a bunch of other stuff as we would need for it to ...

This is why Iv often mentioned on here about the V-247 being perfect for us just look at the current options it gives let alone what will progress. https://www.bellflight.com/products/bell-v-247 I believe the inglegence gathering version also performs AEW so would imo be a better option than Crowsn...

shark bait wrote: ↑17 Nov 2023, 10:17 Should sell them and get extra Tide on order.

I'd make that a Norwegian style Aegir-18R if possible. Whatever MRSS eventually brings is going to need sustaining and the FSS is carrier focused.

Fully upgrading tranche 2 and 3 Typhoon to the new spec with Radar 2 would be a big step in the right direction... I very much doubt they will, I would be surprised if more than 30 odd tranche 3 jets get radar 2. The high price for the radar 2 is probably down to the comparatively small number orde...

The select committee session with the Def Secretary was interesting regards Typhoon. He said that a route was available to get the Saudi order sorted out but was very coy as to what it was. It sounded as though negotiations were at a delicate point. Is there a quid pro quo to be had with Germany. W...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-16/germany-s-scholz-to-block-erdogan-s-request-to-buy-fighter-jets?leadSource=uverify%20wall Behind a paywall, but: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is unlikely to agree to a fresh request by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to buy Eurofighter Typho...

Was just watching today's Defence Select Committee session. At 14:39:02 [and again at 14:56:50], Lieutenant General Rob Magowan notes that both "Tranche 2 and Tranche 3" Typhoons are to be "upgraded". Some of the money apparently coming from the Trance 1 retirement. https://www.p...

new guy wrote: ↑10 Nov 2023, 20:36 What helicopters does the H160 replace in the french armed forces?

Marine Nationale:
Alouette III
Dauphin
Panther

French Air Force:
Fennec
Puma

French Army:
Gazelle
Fennec
Puma

c.420 aircraft, with some designs 65 odd years old, replaced by 169 vastly more capable.

This is a bit of a topic but does anyone know what docks in Devonport can fit a T26? From what I understand only 8 dock will be large enough since 10 dock will be refitted for submarine work and the Frigate Refit Complex is too small. Should also fit in the combined No.11/12 dock / the lock next to...

I have noticed I can’t get x/twitter links to post has been quite annoying Was driving me mad. Particularly on phone. Actually gave up on a few posts. Only way around it is to edit the URL manually from: x.com/[URL] to twitter.com/[URL] Though I suspect at some point Musk will kill off the twitter....

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/b-21-takes-sky-first-time-flight-testing-begins She flys https://x.com/shorealonefilms/status/1722993343485866184?s=61&t=-w58-AqEK8dlq02bHexwZA You beat me to it! Though for some reason, since switching to 'X' the videos no longer appea...

Brunei and cyprus have, for years, had different fleets to the ones in the uk. Not that much unusual in this decision which has nothing to do with chinooks. The central argument of NMH was moving away from small and diverse fleets. Whatever logic might be served by having small fleets of a widely u...