If one were looking to replace AS90 in the 2020s, then the replacement system would depend greatly on what the rest of the army looks like and is planned to look like at that point.

How easy is it to manoeuvre that sort of articulated vehicle in tight places?

I suppose it comes down to how you measure ballistic efficiency. The 3 rounds have different bullet weights between 150gr and 173gr and consequently different muzzle velocities and recoil levels. Of the 3, the 7.62x51 is probably the best compromise as the 'all rounder' option. I was going for how ...

It's actually ballistically inferior to the old 30/06 round round used in the Garand but the shorter case length helps reduce feeding issues Which .30-06 though? The M1 or the M2? The 7.62mm is similar, though slightly downloaded, to the M2, which is itself a downloaded version of the M1. Most 6.5m...

You probably wouldn’t go for 7.62mm NATO for mounted or crew served weapons. Certainly the original 7.62 NATO was selected as being ballistically similar to the 30.06 M2(?) ball, which was a downloaded version of a cartridge designed for machine guns. (Gross simplification, Hatcher’s Notebook has th...

The answer to that question depends on what you want a unified cartridge to do. You could almost certainly develop a single cartridge for infantry sections, but you may find that you would still want a heavier round for vehicle and tripod mounted weapons. Equally, you could define an infantry combat...

If the 5.56mm minimi is proven to be inaccurate, why would it be a good idea to replace the Mag with a Minimi in 7.62?
The Minimi isn’t as robust, as widely trained or as well known as the Mag. It is lighter but that comes at the cost of reliability, controllability and ability to sustain fire.

Last comment from me. You are shifting ground, arguing something that is tangential to the original comment. Once again, a childish form of debate. 1. I labelled "paranoid rubbish" the comments that claimed the US would block Tempest sales for commercial gain. You are talking about US blo...

Liberal in this context are those who believe Political Correctness is the mantra that all should follow regardless of where common sense is over ridden. Those who believe a Wolf Whistle is a hate crime and the perpetrators should be arrested, I could go on and on. I am not referring to the traditi...

But it doesn't stop interested parties from demanding any such action that might even graze a civilian as a war crime and the media jumping on board. It is like the Me2 campaign it dilutes the real issues. I would suggest that a similar effect is achieved by advocating removal of the Laws of Armed ...

1. Not the same case at all. The US is not blocking the sale to give an advantage to a US equivalent product. 2. Once again, you are putting words into my mouth. A childish form of debate. I am not bothered by your use of the word "mandatory", merely pointing out nobody had said that prev...

1. Paranoid = having US content means the US will block bids to enable US companies to win. 2. Mandatory is your word, nobody else's. 3. The US aerospace industry is so large and dominant, it's very hard to find any Western aircraft without US content. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any. ...

Ron5 wrote:Paranoid rubbish. If tempest is ever built, of course it will have US content. Jeesh.

I’ll second the ‘why?’.
Why is it paranoid rubbish?
Why is it mandatory to have US content?

Lord Jim wrote:However if the Looney Liberal Minority get their way we will be prevented from selling any arms to any nations that actually might use them.

What is a Liberal, in this context?

Ok lets keep going with this: We have bought a very good van and we actually bought a second because we had plans to expand the business. However money got tight and so we will only operate one van at a time and use the other when the first in having a service or breaks down. We therefore changes o...

I like the van analogy. It holds up. For the jobs we have at the moment, our lack of tools isn’t really hurting us, but we’re taking a risk that it won’t hurt us before we can get more. If we have a sudden job that needs more tools, then we still have the option to get more to put in our van. If we ...

abc123 wrote:
But since you have decided that you won't take big jobs alone (but only with help of big cousin) so that capability is not so important.

That’s a whole different argument.

Although will your rich cousin be so happy to help you out if he feels you aren’t pulling your weight?

Or, if he had bought smaller van, he could use the rest of money to buy big part of tools he needs. Even more important, his financial situation isn't great and most probably won't change for better in near future (while it might easy change for the worse ) so he will probably have no money to buy ...

A better analogy might be a builder buying a large van that he can’t afford to fill with tools yet.

IF, IF If we're goeing to use that argument, than IF need and finances allow, you can have 5-6 small carriers instead of 2 big. Can you? How do you scale the costs between big and small? So, 3 x 12 ( and small carriers can probably have more than 12 F-35 ) is the same thing like one big carrier. bu...

And having a 70 000 t carrier with 12 F-35 as strike package isn't? The key difference being that a 30,000t carrier will always be useless for strike, while a 70,000t carrier can have more aircraft assigned to it if need and finances allow? Cutting the CVLs in the 1020 SDSR was criminal First, Woul...

Depends on how worn out they are and how much specialist training and spares are required to run them.

One (further) thing to consider regarding the 52cal ordnance: The Polish don't use it. They use the turret but the cannon comes from Nexter. Number of reasons for that, I'm sure. It'd probably be nice to have an extra 5km range if there are no drawbacks that go along with it*, but as it stands, for ...

We need to remember that counter battery radars are reasonably inaccurate and M30/31 rockets have metric accuracy meaning they'll miss most of the time if shot with radar target designation. They are not good for area fires which counter battery is. The M30 is a guided submunition rocket, although ...

Regarding the AS-90, like so many programmes, the failure o fhte MoD to follow through with plans to upgrade the gun to a 52 calibre is criminal especially as all the parts required are already available, as seen in the Polish Krab. Just another example of the lack of funding given to the Army and ...