Are there actually any sources for binning/ curtailing... or whatever? I don't think so. I think he is speaking rhetorically at this point. I would be staggered if it was binned but perhaps his comments are a hint at just how serious the alleged issues are right now? Could they really be terminal? ...

Not personally convinced that tracked guns are the way to go. If we are to ever look again at a tracked system then any competition would almost certainly be K-9's to lose, no doubt. It's a quality system. That said, I think the Army would be much better served going down the all wheeled route which...

Which BAE? Rheinmetall BAE systems land may be delivering CR3, but they have no corporate reach-back to CV90. So you'd want an overseas business with no UK presence putting in a proposal? At this point, I wouldn't be opposed to it, providing of course the rumours about Ajax are accurate. I'm sure y...

This is all pretty damning to be honest. One does begin to wonder if and indeed where a line should be drawn as the current situation is increasingly unacceptable. All stakeholders seem to share at least some of the blame, no one is coming out of this squeaky clean that's for sure. One wonders if, i...

Ron5 wrote:They do look good, sigh ..

Agreed. They also look waaay better in green than tan as well in my opinion. I reckon they'd look pretty good in British Army two tone!

Will Babcock's be able to produce the ships at the contract price point? Hope so but the jury is out. Fingers crossed. If they do, in your view, does that mean that A140 was the better option for the RN than Leander? Assuming the role needs filling, and assuming Babcock's pulls it off: yes :thumbup...

An exciting programme for a much, much needed set of capabilities.

Having watched it (again, as it turns out) I don’t see any reason to be optimistic. It just sounds like the last two/three decades of Army procurement. Cut spending now in the hope of jam tomorrow. Come tomorrow we’ll have an even older vehicle fleet that will be gutted further in the hope of jam a...

Jack Watling did let us look behind the curtain, and understand how the process (so far) has been shaped and has worked - or not The prof. from King's put it well: looks like the 'old' ten-year rule has come back, and will operate at least from 2010 to 2019. Indeed. He's one of the only commentator...

Lord Jim wrote:

~UNiOnJaCk~ wrote:Again, I can only advise watching the debate.

Could you post a link to said debate please.

Here you are. Was using my phone for my earlier messages and it wasn't embedding before:

for me the Army is taking a huge decade plus gamble that it can afford to wait until the new magic capabilities arrive that cost next to nothing but can dominate an opponent and scare him off. It also shows that it doesn't really have a lot of faith in the current BCT idea, treating it more as a le...

As an aside Jack Watling is also able to provide some very interesting insights into the Army’s current thinking around Challenger 3, seeing it as an institutional knowledge retention (industrial and operational) and business case exercise first and foremost with the real prize being MGCS in the fu...

As I have said the more you look at the Command Paper and the Army in particular the more it is just a number of sound bites as if that changes things all by itself. If they have aspiration to improve the lethality of the Boxer as well as order the numerous variants that are compulsory for the form...

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/uk-warrior-upgrade-cancellation-makes-sale-of-ct40-cannons-likely Looks like there will be attempts to sell off the surplus CTA barrels. If true, not going on Boxer then. More to the point the Army spokesperson further adds "There are no current pl...

Apparent confirmation that we are at least looking into options to up-gun Boxer: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/04/06/british-army-wants-more-punch-in-its-boxer-vehicle-fleet/ The cynic in me reckons we will just bung a 30mm chain gun into a fairly standard RWS mount and call it a da...

So little real detail...

The committee should have also added "outnumbered" to that headline, just to make it absolutely explicit.

Wrong. Simply wrong. It is the job of historians to look at the facts, study the primary material and develop hypotheses about contemporary morality based on their findings. Sure, if that is the stated parameters of a particular historical study, fine. The key word is "contemporary" howev...

I'd argue that it is more ahistorical to project our modern moral code upon the figures and events of at least 150+ years ago (depending on your frame of reference). As a practice slavery is rightly recognised as an abberation now, but you would be deeply, deeply mistaken if you allowed yourself to ...

This is completely irrelevant. It's like saying people who fence stolen goods are in no way responsible for burglaries. It's relevant in the context of the deliberate, politically motivated myopia surrouning the complexities of the history of African slavery and the West's involvement within it. If...

SW1 wrote:

That actually seems like a really sensible strategy in terms of the division of roles between manned and unmanned.

The French would have insisted they have the pretty bit on top. As a result they have combined the worst bits of both tanks!!! 130mm CR3 for me please and then lets have a serious look at what the US is doing for 15yrs time. Agreed. Never before have the three nations managed to agree on a tank des...

Had a pre-Christmas catch up with an old class mate last night. He let slip that T31 was always intended to be a lightly armed flexible multi-mission ship in support of distributed operations. This was agreed with the RN several years ago to limit the impact of the manning crisis (now resolving), a...

The PM mentioned the Type 32 to the house in his statement a little while ago. Will be interesting to see if any further detail emerges about this in the next few days, though I suspect we will have to wait for next year. It’s certainly a real oddity at the moment. Wondering now what the settlement ...

Just had a read through the Telegraph article (paywalled). They are suggesting the full settlement over 4 years amounts of £24 billion including £16.5 billion in new money. They suggest the Royal Navy will be the big winner with Johnson stating his intent to restore it as the pre-eminent naval force...