The Guardian says: "Discussions on the state of play in the talks will take place over a two-hour lunch at an informal summit in Austria, at which leaders are likely to instruct the EU’s chief negotiator to work with the best of Theresa May’s Chequers proposals .[what might that be?] The EU27 ...

So one FFS for each carrier, and Fort Victoria, for however long she can soldier on for, along with any excess capacity from the two FSS when the carriers are not deployed, take care of the rest of the fleet??

5. Two design contracts will be awarded fairly soon: Babcock's Arrowhead 120 & Cammel Lairds' Leander I'm a bit confused about this, how much are the designed contracts worth? Presumably, these contracts are not included in the £250 million price cap? The design contracts will undoubtedly have ...

Ron5 wrote:
5. Two design contracts will be awarded fairly soon: Babcock's Arrowhead 120 & Cammel Lairds' Leander

I'm a bit confused about this, how much are the designed contracts worth? Presumably, these contracts are not included in the £250 million price cap?

bobp wrote:Cant see this happening the whole worlds time is based around GMT, but then maybe the EU want to be masters of the world.

No "maybe" about it....

they are having marches throughout skirtland every week according to family i have in Scotchland, they say the poisoned dwarf is only a few months away from calling another referendum I can't see May allowing another referendum until she's got Brexit in to the rearview mirror. Indeed, there would a...

It isn't a frigate. I totally agree. Calling a 250m GBP ship a frigate is dishonesty. It's not a corvette either because that implies short range, littoral. So does OPV with the added implication of not being built to full naval standards. Sloop sounds sucky and really old fashioned. What's left? I...

That is basically Leander, with a few other minor add ons...and BAE say it will cost £250 million if built to RN standards for crew accommodation and damage control... No, BAE were told it had to cost £250mn, there is a big difference. Cut the thrills that pad out the price and ask BAE what it woul...

It will never happen, but the MDP is the right time for the government to put its hand up and say to the public that we cannot afford 19 FFs/DDs with the focus on public spending being on the NHS. Money for 13 new warships to be built in Scotland is not available, but we will put more money via the...

why not re-use the Mk.8's. It's still perfectly good for NGS That's a bit of a stretch, the bigger guns with guided multiple round simultaneous impact are excellent. The MK 8 is a bit of a relic that will become increasingly unusable. Absolutely spot on. The Mk8 isn't excellent for NGS once other n...

Thanks for the info guys

Gabriele wrote:Definitely the first thing to do if cuts can't be avoided. The loss of the Waves at this time would cause minimum damage anyway.

How much would it save? Fairly insignificant I would imagine

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/08/27/row-brewing-boeing-wedgetail-jets/ It seems that discussions with Boeing are quite advanced for the wedgetail, according to the Telegraph, it would be 6 airframes for about £2 billion. The sticking point at present, apparently, is trying to increase th...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45314954 Seems like this is moving forward, an announcement due this week for £100 million for a feasibility study.... Is it merely a negotiating tactic to try to remain a full participant in Galileo? How much would a rival system cost? I've seen £3 bil...

I'm personally not that impressed with what or how French ships are equipped. They design ships primarily for export which need to look good in brochures. Paper tigers. Could you expand in that Ron? What about the FTI don't you like? Considering it looks like (on paper, vs current designs bandied a...

That's thinking outside the box! Odd tone and content of the article, sounds like a hatchet job. All the press releases regarding Williamson, the MDP and defence funding generally have been rather positive re Williamson - that he was well intentioned and fighting for extra funding....whoever leaked ...

Out of genuine interest, is there a price that you would not be prepared to pay for Brexit? For example would you accept (or not) an independent Scotland & a reunified Ireland as a price worth paying? Neither such outcome is likely. However, if the people of Scotland or N. Ireland decide they n...

Not really. It's difficult when families and friends become so split over this issue, and this debate has had a negative impact on some of my closest relationships. It's fair to say that both sides of the fence have said some pretty stupid things, but the level that some people have reduced themsel...

Not sure how reliable, but UK DJ says https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/type-31e-frigate-programme-to-be-restarted/ We spoke to a contact in the Ministry of Defence who told us on condition of anonymity: “The issue here is cost, nothing else. The designs put forward aren’t meeting that requirement fr...

;) ;) Wouldn't Tempest make an F-35A buy less likely? I thought you were of the view that Tempest is a faux project, merely a slide of hand and merger of Typhoon upgrade budgets and other small pots of money masquerading as a future fighter programme...so no, it won't affect the speculative "A&...

I can't see anything good coming out of a split buy. However, if it were to happen, I would favour an unequal split, (very roughly 5:3 in favour of the F35B). Making the nominally "RAF" fleet the smaller may help to mitigate the dangers arising from the "fleet within a fleet" sc...

My understanding is that 10 PPA authorised, 7 funded to date, 5,830 / 6,270 tons FLD, three versions, 2 Light; 3 Light+; 2 Full. The Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono advocating 10 new PPX a 4,500 ton ship similar to the new French FTA in place of the 3 PPA as yet not funded, which seems to be involved...

Some news of the Italian PPX program. The PPX is a program started to create a new class of light fregates to field together with the PPA and FREMM Class ships. The class will also be proposed on the market for export as a Fregate. The total displacement should be of 3,500 tons, it will be a little...

I agree with Donald-san in asking why is everybody getting so excited about GFE, the 1.25 billion has to include GFE and that has been true since day one. What folks here and elsewhere have been hoping for is that GFE would be provided at a cost exclusive to the 1.25b i.e. free. That has not happen...

So where does the ban on F35 deliveries leave Turkey now? Their economy is tanking, so that's their 5/6th gen out thr window too. How urgently do they need replacements fast jets, and what are their options?