– on the catapult, I figure the best would be for a ship to have a landing pad + hangar + catapult. that way aircraft can land, go into the hangar, and than be launched in the other direction, for a one-way system. but inlikely because it would require new ships (although I’m also a big fan of the idea of converting tankers)

I can see this coming at some point, but its the landing that worries me most. Having a UAV perhaps armed with say a couple of 500kg Bombs/missiles/torpedos trying to self land even in a modest sea state will make most skippers on any frigate think very hard. I suspect initially until there is a high degree of proven reliability weapons will get dumped along with surplus fuel before any attempt at an automated landing.

Wasn’t one of the advantages with CAMM suposed to be that a large production run (and hence lower unit costs) was likely as derivatives would be used by all three services ? I always understood that this project was to use low risk technical solutions so that costs would not balloon..

So essentially Jet A1 is still diesel, which is exactly what Deano said in the first place? :p :diablo:

If you look closely at the fueling points on some RAF/army/navy Helicopters there is a sticker that says that it is okay to use diesel in an emergency. I had an interesting conversation with a navy pilot on this very point a couple of years ago.

Even if the money was there for 4(for example) patrol subs it’d be spent on 1 more Astute(and quite rightly, assuming every other issue has been dealt with).

Its looking increasingly likely that the RN will get an extra Astute anyway to keep Barrow busy due to the further planned delay on the Missile Boats.

Did anyone see the film of the propulsion system on the TV news ? Considering they went to so much trouble to keep it covered during the launch phase and then to have it revealed to the world in such ignorminious circumstances must really have upset them at the admiralty.

Given that the Nimrod had a humanitarian role as the command and control asset in a serious offshore incident, what would they now deploy to say the mid North atlantic (say two tankers collide or a 747 comes down- both have happened before) or perhaps one of the Oil rigs in the North North Sea has a serious incident ? The UK will remain effectively responsible for a large bit of the North Atlantic despite the cuts.

Will they be updating the E3’s to fill in as required ? Anyone know ?

If really pushed in an emergency you could easily land an Islander on the CVF without arrester gear and possibly even a twin Otter as their landing speeds are so low. With 30 knots from the engines and a 20 mph headwind both should get off without drama as well assuming they can cope with the ramp (If fitted). :diablo:

However, being sensible I suspect a few more, extra long range tanks will probably get bought for the Chinooks or Merlins.

It seemed to suffer a surprising amount of winglet and tail flutter/vibration in that Youtube vid from about 6:30 onwards.

Interesting concept though.