Its bound to attract some interest and the importance of a raillink shouldn’t be ignored. I suspect it may nick some Busjet business from Luton because of this. Its importance will increase for a few short weeks during the Olympics as the railway does go to Stratford so daily ‘fly ins’ of Olympic visitors from around Europe would be possible. As to whether its going to be a success beyond that, who knows ?

A lot of those things sound fixable but at the further expense of weight.

I was speaking to a guy who has been in one and he reckoned the thing he noticed most was the surprising lack of space inside. Its not as big as it looks apparently.

Will the Americans get involved on the British side ?

The Americans would take a dim view of an American owned oil rig being disturbed when going about its business. I have no doubt the Argentines know this all too well. Energy security is a very hot topic with the US Government and it would actively encourage fresh oil supplies in the South Western Atlantic which is very much within its field of influence

Is it correct to say that even though they are very limited in numbers that the Typhoons are currently the most capable fighters in the Southern hemisphere ?

Good call Swerve, lets have some updates ?? 😎

Re the undercarriage. They look substantially stronger than the Flanker at the rear and the tyres look slightly oversize. Could they be thinking about a Carrier derivative and stealing a small advantage on the American carrier aircraft ?

In the broader sense I have no doubt that such projects exist in Europe although they may not all be about UAV’s. What chance a ‘black’ version of a current aircraft or Helicopter for example ? Its been done before, the Nimrod R1 being a famous one.

Satellites are another example where it probably goes on as well and special munitions for certain situations are likely to be in the frame as well.

I am as uncomfortable as many others are with carrying on with the A400. However, in 25 years time the A400 will be a mature and relaible design, whereas the Herc will be something of a museum piece. I think the C-130 has gone as far as it can and they need to move on with something new.