MHPC does not need to be like Black Swan. Black Swan is an extremisation of the concept, an exercise in lateral thinking: it envisages a ship fitted with almost nothing on its own, and completely dependent on UAVs and embarked modular payload to do anything. But that is not how it needs to be. A les...

Sentinel R1 can be given a surface search radar mode (probably Inverse SAR, ISAR) and it has been suggested that it might be given an optic sensor derived from the DB110/ RAPTOR recce pod. But Sentinel R1 comes with limited growth margin, at the point that the idea of adding an AAR probe, once expec...

A MHPC type ship is a general purpose frigate. Since we're spending billions building new class it makes perfect sense to build more in a general purpose roll, rather than start a whole new class to do the same job. At least that way the RN isn't running for port if it detects hostilities. The poin...

Don't know exactly how many UK can afford, but my suggestion is to have as many "S2087" ships as possible. For example, 10 T26s with ALL S2087 equipped. (May be you can purchase only 1 additional sonar, in total 9 S2087s, and share them within the fleet of 10 hulls, because 1 hull will be...

Regarding AM2 matting, I am not aware that any trials have yet been conducted with the f35B. The downward blast from its engine is far more powerful than that of the AV8B. On land it requires a special concrete pad at the moment due to exhaust temperatures melting tarmac etc. Even on board ship it ...

I agree with the principle, but doing things autonomously requires money that is not there. Unless there is a change of policy, it just won't do. Nimrod was done in house, and was better in almost every performance aspect. But we know how that ended. Greater caution will be needed in the future when...

90% of the capability, with C-295, is quite optimistic... It clearly isn't quite THAT good, otherwise everyone would be buying C-295. It has a fraction of the sonobuoys, a fraction of the sensors, 54% of the hard points (0% of internal hard points) and so along. But the real key issue with the C-295...

One would hope it has not been all dumped afterwards. I would really, really expect mat laying to still be an ability present in the Royal Engineers Air Support squadrons, especially considering the usefulness of matting beyond the construction of VTOL pads.

downsizer wrote:

Gabriele wrote:Unspecified quantities of matting are no doubt held

Are they? No doubt?

I would really think so. There sure used to be a mix of american AM-2 and british MEXE available. Despite claims of it having "all gone down with the Atlantic Conveyor".

Unspecified quantities of matting are no doubt held, also because it is also useful for runway damage repairs. An expeditionary ski jump, instead, hasn't ever been sought, as far as i can recall. Don't think it is quite worth it. On land, pressure to shorten to the max the lenght of the take off run...

Repeated vertical landings would require a pad to be assembled with mat panels. But then again, with the Harrier it is the same. For a history of VTOL, forward basing and a debunking of the AM-2 mat panic stories, read this: http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot ... panic.html

If i'm not mistaken, HMS Ambush took part in Joint Warrior. And it made a deployment before that, too. So, that article isn't exactly right.

EDITED: i had written Artful. My mistake.

Folding rotors were incorporated on US Apache in the early 2000 to simplify loading into cargo aircraft and cut down reassembling time once arrived, so i think it definitely has manual folding rotor. For shipboard use, though, there are several things which would be very helpful but are unlikely to ...

Indefatigable,
Indomitable,
Invincible,
Illustrious

Considering the type of mission the SSBN has, always out on patrol, i find Indefatigable to be a great name. But that maybe is just me.

Thank you for that, actually. That article by now is a bit old, but the substance is still there, and valid. To release manpower and funding, the less painful option would be to have the P-8 Poseidon fitted with an additional radar, ideally the US Navy's AAS, so it can pick up overland surveillance...

Rolls Royce sold out the RTM322, so it is no longer much of a british product, but a french one. It also isn't advantageous anymore compared to the new engines of the AH-64E, so i actually would expect it to go out. If the army manages to fight back the lobbying, 50 Apache will be remanufactured at ...

Jane's has a news up about the single british Rivet Joint reportedly being out on ISIS hunt again already.

Thank you for that, actually. That article by now is a bit old, but the substance is still there, and valid. To release manpower and funding, the less painful option would be to have the P-8 Poseidon fitted with an additional radar, ideally the US Navy's AAS, so it can pick up overland surveillance ...

A P-8 purchase should also adopt a maintenance and update path similar to that for the Rivet Joint: sticking with the american schedule, and keeping changes to the minimum. One problem is Stingray. Not only would its integration be required (unless it is to remain unarmed, or armed with a limited st...

Status of the development; state of the british programme, and a word on plans for british weapons integration in Block IV: http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot ... pdate.html

This was the last article (for the moment) i've written about Type 26: it was a bit of a scoop at the time as i found online the letter of the secretary of state detailing the major systems and features confirmed in the design. It also contains some technical comparisons with other modern frigates, ...

Nice to have this new forum, so that the discussion can continue, and news travel around! Nice to see known "faces" moving in from MP.

Hi everyone! Gabriele here, known also as Liger30 on MP.net, author of http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot.it/. Italian born but british in spirit, and with a great and well known interest for the british armed forces. Could not miss the debate on here!