UK Defence Forum

AndyC wrote:If we can't afford extra P-8 could have eight Sea Protector UCAV carrying sonobuoys and torpedoes.

Wait until the extra Protector we've been told about get canned in the IR and we get a 1:1 MQ-9 replacement

AndyC wrote:sonobuoys and torpedoes.

Isn't the buoys dispenser quite a bulky item; can torpedoes be carried by the same drone? I only vaguely recall some 'concept art'.
- or, will we have some beating the bush, and then calling for a shooter with torps underwing

When the P-8s were selected, the idea was that they would be the shooter. Next question: will we have enough of them for that always to be the set up

Top man Wrote:-

RAF St Mawgan is still open.

UNFORTUNATELY
RAF St. Mawgan (the unit by name) may still be there, but it is no longer an air base, The Runway and other.Airfield facilities having been handed over to become the civilian Newquay Airport.

I know that. I was just pointing out it's still open and not closed.

A reference to trials held off the coast of California this summer.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... customers/

Must be something going on up here just now. There's 4 USN P8 flying from Prestwick. The 3 (4?) RAF at Lossie & they've been joined by another 3 USN (i think from Italy)

Exercise or Russian subs snooping again?

Dahedd wrote:Exercise or Russian subs snooping again?

The long-term plan is to have a Scotland-Keflavik- Norway triangle to sustain enough missions
- perhaps the 'extra' US a/c are there to simulate the 5 that Norway will pitch in, and they are just seeing how the turn-arounds on the ground go?

I suspect Vlad is reprising the Xmas silly buggers the Northern Banner fleet liked to inflict on NATO (north).

jimthelad wrote:the Xmas silly buggers

You see, their Xmas is only in early Jan... it will be quiet then

Because of the discussion in the R.N on the anti-shipping missiles ,I thought it might of interest to speculate if the R.A.F could benefit by the inclusion of the L.R.A.S.M being carried by its Poseidon
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/austr ... o-pacific/
I can appreciate that the Eurofighter is likely to acquire the Marte er anti-shipping missile
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... p-missile/
but the Poseidon and L.R.A.S.M would appear to have the advantage of longer range and hitting power

Marte-ER is under contract for Eurofighters bought by Kuwait(lead= Italy). Does not mean that ours would get any as the ship-strike capability should be a priority for carrier-based jets.

LRASM would be 'nice to have' on Poseidons, but again, we should first reserve budget (quite a lot of it) and take the step mentioned in that article " new investments in an enhanced integrated air and missile defence system and very high-speed and ballistic missile defence capabilities for deployed forces’. This is likely to be the SM6 missile, which would also give a ballistic-missile defence capability within the atmosphere"
- while being agnostic about which missile to use

Would the sm-3 block11a meet this aim
https://www.google.com/search?q=sm-3+mi ... e&ie=UTF-8
This article provides some then differences between classes of the missiles
https://whitefleet.net/2016/08/05/sm-2- ... -missiles/
A further comparison here between ASster and the sm family suggests political interference
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... stem-82486

Are the Norwegians fitting NSM to their P-8s by any chance?

Lord Jim wrote:Are the Norwegians fitting NSM to their P-8s by any chance?

JSM not NSM

You'd assume so, but the Australians were the ones who were driving it a number of years ago. And they've been ominously quiet recently over it, they've have ordered LRASM for their F/A-18E/F fleet in the meantime. Despite the Australian's collaborating with Norway on the JSM (Australia developed and manuactured the passive RF sensor) they've yet to place an order. There may be a real chance that they won't now as LRASM's integration costs will be paid for by the US for all 3 Australian combat platforms (F-35A, F/A-18E/F and P-8), that situation is comparatively new as the US has only recently confirmed that P-8 and F-35 integration will happen.

Meanwhile JSM would only be integrated to F-35. So far the Norwegian's seem to be reticent about speculatively integrating JSM or NSM with platforms in order to prompt sales (see helo's, P-8 and Typhoon). In order to get JSM on P-8 and F/A-18E/F the Australians would have a substantial bill. It might be that when Norway receives their P-8 they will look to finance integration, but they may have missed the boat...Pity as it would then make an awful lot of sense for the UK to buy JSM for P-8 and F-35B (LRASM is too close to FCASW and would be politically difficult).

Genuinely shocked that this wasn't already on P-8...

Hopefully the RAF will be looking to integrate our own towed decoys (of which there will soon be some spare sets from Sentinel...)

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... a-poseidon

Just another item to add to our growing "To do" list.

Spiral development

Number 5 on its way

State Department approves possible $1.77 billion deal for five P-8s and other equipment to Germany.

Boeing awarded contract to integrate LRASM missile onto P-8A Poseidon

https://www.navyrecognition.com/index.p ... eidon.html

According to information published by U.S. Department of Defense on April 22, 2021, the Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $73,951,846 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001921F0876) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This order provides for the design, development, and test of software and ancillary hardware necessary for the integration of the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile onto the P-8A aircraft for the Navy.

Maybe a joint purchase between the RAF and Navy?

I'm not too sure who owns the weapons if I'm honest, I don't know if the RAF would have access to them if the Navy picks LRASM for its anti ship missile.

Number 6 coming along nicely.

From Gabs twitter feed.

In the past we have known about 2 at the same time but after 5 there was a bit of a gap, wonder if its was the Cv19 or is that where we split our order?

Jdam wrote:

From Gabs twitter feed.

In the past we have known about 2 at the same time but after 5 there was a bit of a gap, wonder if its was the Cv19 or is that where we split our order?

I think the current delivery is to have the last 4 aircraft in the u.k by the end of this year.

And now Germany is buying 5 while reassuring France they're still committed to the new French MPA project (eyes roll).