donald_of_tokyo wrote: ↑17 Dec 2022, 13:25
Selling T31 will not earn £2Bn they spent, and MOD is lacking money to build T32. I'm afraid your proposal will just result in losing 5 T31GP frigates to get 2 T31.
HMG can easily gift anything to Ukraine and provide funds for replacements if it so wishes. It just takes political will.
Ordering T32 to keep Rosyth busy is just pointless. Just wait for money to be prepared, and hope it can be ordered around 2033-2035. What is more important now is to order something else to Rosyth to keep it working. No hope any escort be ordered, but there will be other candidates.
The target is 24 escorts for RN.
It makes little difference to Babcock/Rosyth if some of the vessels that are constructed end up abroad or all stay in the UK. It doesn’t matter beyond keeping the drumbeat going.
Perhaps RN keeps the T31s and Babcock builds 8 to 10 fast patrol craft as Phil Sayers suggests before moving onto the T32 programme. Lots of possibilities but the Ukraine/Babcock link is already set.
How about the 4 LSV of MCH program? How about a block of FSSS? Or, Point-replacement?
Actually I am less and less convinced by the direction of travel set out in the IR especially now that everyone is having to adapt to a new reality, both financially and politically. The six MRSS and five amalgamated Frigate/MCM hybrid T32 vessels looks like a “cost cutting in plain sight” exercise for a different era. However in my opinion the LRG/LSG concept still looks credible if properly funded and resourced.
The ultimate outcome of these programmes is wildly unpredictable at present but IMO current planning may actually be the least likely to materialise in the end.