UK Defence Forum

Are these replacing the Mirage 2000-9? They sere planning to upgrade the latter platform so have they changed their mind. I cannot see them replacing their F-16 Blk 60 Desert Falcons already.

Great video enjoyed the explanation of the Main mast antenna.

Firmed up France has order 169 H160M helicopters for its armed forces

SW1 wrote: ↑22 Dec 2021, 16:10 Firmed up France has order 169 H160M helicopters for its armed forces

160. Be nice if the UK ordered a decent amount of its future Helicopters, but cannot see that happening.

Bare minimum is always the UK approach!!!

What are they going to do with 169 light/medium choppers though ? Thats a huge amount. Are these replacing the NH90?

Nh90's subtle replacement would be likely...

No it is not replacing nh90.

Once delivered, the Guépards will replace a cross-section of light and medium helicopters, including the Navy’s Aerospatiale Alouette IIIs and multirole AS 365 Dauphins and AS 565 Panthers, the Air Force’s AS 555 Fennec light attack helicopters and SA 330 Pumas, and the Army’s Puma transports and SA 341/342 Gazelles used in both light attack and reconnaissance roles.

The French Navy will use its new units for anti-ship missions, fleet protection, and at-sea rescue. Delivery of the first H160M to the service is expected in 2029. The Navy will ultimately receive 49 of these helicopters.

The French Air Force plans to utilize its helicopters for airspace protection, search-and-rescue, intelligence-gathering, and deep forays behind enemy positions. All of the Air Force H160Ms are to be capable of performing air-to-air refueling duties.

The French Army’s helicopters will be allocated for reconnaissance, fire support, medevac, and special forces infiltration duties. The French Army Guépard delivery timeline has been accelerated, with the original 2028 date brought forward by two years to 2026.

So the NH-90 is still replacing the Sea Lynx then?

French CSG Retasked With NATO Support Role

The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its strike group are being retasked to support NATO following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. The French CSG which is currently deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea as part of the "CLEMENCEAU 22" mission is currently conducting a logistics stop in Cyprus. It will then be reassigned to assist NATO a French Navy (Marine Nationale) spokesman told Naval News.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... port-role/

Thanks Xavier.

so just over the last two day there has been a lot and mean a lot of activity in the air combat range above my farm with 2 v 2 and 4 v 2 ACM plus yesterday 3 A-400M at very low level in in combat spread

Ah, good, confirmation from someone who knows what they are talking about. The Mail reported this two days ago - but, like so much of their stuff, not worth repeating without confirmation elsewhere - they didn't even seem to know whether they were SSBNs and mentioned nothing about the SAMP-T test. Is there anything in the public domain about what we are doing?

Caribbean wrote: ↑25 Mar 2022, 11:55 Ah, good, confirmation from someone who knows what they are talking about. The Mail reported this two days ago - but, like so much of their stuff, not worth repeating without confirmation elsewhere - they didn't even seem to know whether they were SSBNs and mentioned nothing about the SAMP-T test. Is there anything in the public domain about what we are doing?

Not really cause the French won't confirm it and news sites don't report unconfirmed stuff.

TSharpe28 wrote: ↑25 Mar 2022, 13:11 news sites don't report unconfirmed stuff.

Hmmmm - I'll just have to take that as your opinion

Didn't the French Navy at one time have a CASD of two boats and then scaled it back to one?

Lord Jim wrote: ↑25 Mar 2022, 20:10 Didn't the French Navy at one time have a CASD of two boats and then scaled it back to one?

Yes - they used to have five SSBNs, with two at sea

Caribbean wrote: ↑25 Mar 2022, 14:57

TSharpe28 wrote: ↑25 Mar 2022, 13:11 news sites don't report unconfirmed stuff.

Hmmmm - I'll just have to take that as your opinion

Hmm I'll take that your don't understand journalists.

TSharpe28 wrote: ↑26 Mar 2022, 03:25 Hmm I'll take that your don't understand journalists.

I'll take it you don't read that many newspapers, then. Both the Mail and the Times reported the "unconfirmed" story of France (France is the same as the UK - it never confirms or denies anything to do with movements or deployments relating to it's nuclear forces) putting three SSBNs to sea on the 23rd.

From my reading of the British press, I would say that it varies according to the newspaper, with some only occasionally reporting speculative stuff and others (such as the Mail, which is why I discounted it as a hard fact until confirmed elsewhere - I hadn't read the Times story) being prone to reporting rather a lot of "unconfirmed" stories (though they have got a lot better in recent years at saying that the story is unconfirmed, they still print it).

It's far more likely that the UK has simply slapped whatever the modern equivalent of a "D" notice is (DSMA?), on all stories to do with movements of nuclear forces, rather than rely on the judgement and discretion of today's journalists. Never underestimate a reporters desire for a "scoop" and you can't go far wrong

Apologies if that is too cynical for you, but we don't have the same press in this country as we used to have only 30 or so years ago, where facts were more important than opinion and speculation.

I can see some members of the Government being deleted to be able to use "D" Notices in greater numbers. Has the legislation behind them kept up to speed with on line reporting?

Launch of the first of four new AOR for the French Navy

Satcom on the move