3Cdo headcount:

~2000 = 5987
~2011 = 7381
~2022 = 5816

the FCF process is not yet finished, which makes me wonder how much further there is to fall?

that's a lot of stuff.
gonna benefit from well-decks and (higher-speed) LCU's, right?

A lot of love for the Hl-Cap OPV do we need a well dock? lots of questions i don't see 3Cdo being a cost efficient use of a brigades worth of resources if its capability to deploy at scale is fundamentally crippled by the absence of LCU's. deploying at scale being ultimately a mathematical calculat...

"The point to make is that we can’t afford large fleets of billion dollar warships."
Very good of you to devise a bargain-basement RN.

"These smaller vessels are an attempt to..."
Make room for 'higher' priority items elsewhere in Defence...?

Having two carrier groups is what the Navy has been working towards for years, and it is still a realistic goal. No, when the escort fleet was scaled back in SDSR 2010 it was only supposed to support one CVF and one LPD. I am not suggesting putting the second CVF into extended readiness but operati...

i tempted to say: "meh!" if 3Cdo can't be bothered to define a goal for what capability they want to provide, why should we care about LPD's that may or may not be needed? FCF is becoming a joke, if only because in refusing to define a structure and goal they will always be an open goal fo...

Agreed. It seems clear to me that the low-speed / low-capacity LCVP is a liability in future.

To the extent that davits remain relevent it is as much for raiding style options like CB90 as it is for amphibious deployment.

Replacing the LCU's (and their docks) is what actually matters.

gonna be nearly 1000 of these pootling around eastern europe in short order.

will the NATO-firsters jump on the bandwagon? it would at least be a logical proposition.

More details from the same visit to Warton...apparently there is some embargoed big news for next week as well... BAE bought aeralis as "Next Gen Hawk", and are 'in discussions' with HMG to purchase said aircraft to replace the existing Hawk trainer fleet...? Don't think that's true. Do y...

Timmymagic wrote: ↑05 Jul 2023, 15:39 More details from the same visit to Warton...apparently there is some embargoed big news for next week as well...

BAE bought aeralis as "Next Gen Hawk", and are 'in discussions' with HMG to purchase said aircraft to replace the existing Hawk trainer fleet...?

Interesting that clear distinction between some who try to reflect the (admittedly very slender) limited details that we know about FCF in their proposals. And some that choose to ignore those limited details of FCF to fit in with their own viewpoint(s). i'd love you to expand on that thesis, if on...

Accommodation for 100 RM comfortably or 200 for short stints, four landing craft on davits and hangar / flight deck space for three or four helicopters and jobs a good un. Seems to me that must be cheaper than acquiring two separate vessels? Hasn't the argument always been that for amphibious vesse...

What does doing the T32 concept properly entail? i.e. What roles/platforms would you anticipate T32 taking over? Any/All of the above: a) Light Frigate b) MCMV (offboard systems) c) Commando raiding platform All this talk of mega flightdecks and accomodation makes me worry that people are talking a...

If RN really wants to do the T32 concept properly then the hull size will have to increase. Effectively a supersized T31 will work but within the current hull parameters you just get a tweaked T31. A 155m X 22m T32 could have it all including the damage control but don’t expect it to be cheap. One ...

If you want a “carrier” capable a/c it needs to be designed in from the start as it will size in particular your wing area, landing gear, keel beam, spar and pylon mounting structures. It’s not something you add later! Carrying on the SAAB GCAP accession - and the possibility of a ITAR-free light s...

never been much of a fan of the T31, but by far the most interesting part of it for me was the 40mm bofors. "where does that leave the T26 and T23? It’s either relevant on all escorts or not relevant on any, it can’t be both." agreed, that was precisely my point. would this indicate that f...

TheLoneRanger wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 18:23 https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-air-p ... 3-May2023/

>> Not sure how true it is - but as a UK tax payer i would object to the UK policing Irish airspace for Ireland.

is this really news?

this was being talked about 12 years ago.

Great. Here we return to my distinction between committed forces and contingent forces: Any security grouping that is important enough to justify military commitments ought to be able to call upon contingency forces at need. But what RN/RM/BA/RAF forces are committed to the Joint Expeditionary Forc...

Re: "Britain’s contribution to the JEF includes personnel and equipment from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force, with the maritime element headed up by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines." What RN/RM/BA/RAF forces are committed to the Joint Expeditionary Force (...

The JEF/Nato vs Aukus/IndoPac resourcing conundrum seems like one that should be defined as commited-forces vs contingency-forces. Units can have both a committed and a contingency role. e.g. an RB2 committed to Oman, but available as a continecy resource to deploy into the pacific. e.g. the gurkas...

The JEF/Nato vs Aukus/IndoPac resourcing conundrum seems like one that should be defined as commited-forces vs contingency-forces. Units can have both a committed and a contingency role. e.g. an RB2 committed to Oman, but available as a continecy resource to deploy into the pacific. e.g. the gurkas ...

3Cdo marketing and publicity still heavily promoting links to the high-north, indeed, forging new links not merely maintaining old ones.

If the high-north is dead for 3Cdo - for... reasons - then no-one has told the Commandos.

i worry about continueing the notion of making more understrength formations. two recognised negative trends in UK land formations in recent years: 1. pretend brigades - that don't have permanent and appropriately scaled CS/CSS. in the process of considering whether to add 3Cdo to that sorry list: ...

i worry about continueing the notion of making more understrength formations. two recognised negative trends in UK land formations in recent years: 1. pretend brigades - that don't have permanent and appropriately scaled CS/CSS. in the process of considering whether to add 3Cdo to that sorry list: &...

And there's the not insignificant problem of making the Type 31 meet the Type 32 requirements. That might cause such a design change it wouldn't be much different from designing a brand new warship. before we get too excited about continueing the T31 production run with an 'improved' version. ^this^