The carrier capability could swing it for the Rafale. The only downside i see to the Rafale is that its primarilly French weapons* and india is likely to have to carry the costs to integrate AMRAAM etc

Any possibility though of an Airforce Tiffy (primarily air defence – big radar)and Navy Rafale buy

* limited supplier choice not a slight upon French weapons

I had a random thought the other day, and this seems like the perfect topic to ask about it, Can, and do, passenger aircraft carry defibrillators? I have seen them on air ambulance flights i have handled, but never seen any signage to one on a commercial passenger aircraft. Can the be used in a metal lined, pressurised aircraft? Or are special adaptions needed? I assume airlines make sure they crews are first aid trained to a certain extent.

Last question, do airlines that divert due to medical emergencies ever claim from the passenger effected travel insurance?

cheers in advance

The defribulators on the air Ambulances are not used when the aircraft is airborne.

i do not believe anything more comprehensive than a basic 1st aid kit (excluding oxygen) is carried on a commercial aircraft.

Cheers H_K for the great pics and the link to the little tugs.

I’ve found that the Horizon/Daring shape is an acquired taste – but I’ve more than acquired it!:) Handsome and proud ships in my eyes.

I’d imagine that a La Fayette has already come in fairly useful, given her speciality? I’m a huge fan of these handy and pretty ships, and their offspring.

On a superficial note, leave it to the French to have assembled the best looking force since we all got rid of sails (IMO)… a group shot of CdG, a Mistral, Forbin and a La Fayette would make my month… especially if it included a fly-past of Rafale, Mirage 2000, Panther and NH90… if anyone could arrange that for me….:D

Mistral good looking – goes to show it takes all sorts i personally think the French should be thanked for building the mistral as it stops the Daring being the ugliest thing afloat.

Given the Cavours modest airgroup, and that she appears to be somewhere between an LPH and carrier in concept. You could argue that on her the (local) area defence weapon makes sense.

Im of the school that thinks anything not required for ship ops or supporting flight ops is a waste of space and weight on a Carrier (excluding CIWS).

Thats what escorts are for.

Are you saying there shouldn’t have been any defence cuts at all? I don’t agree with that. The United Kingdom presently faces minimal threats to its fundamental defence interests and can safely hack away at both the Army and to a lesser extent the Air Force as necessary to serve the broader national interest. After all, that’s what the services are there for, The problem is that the service that could least afford cuts without compromising those basic defence interests (the Navy) was hit harder than ever and the service which by all rights should’ve borne the brunt of the cuts (the Army) got off lightly on account of the same short-sighted politicking that was partly responsible for getting the nation into its current predicament in the first place!

Whilst I agree that we need a strong Navy and we can get by with a smaller army it was felt that swinging cuts to the Army whilst they are heavilly commited to Afghanistan might not be the best idea, something I happen to agree with. Happen if the armed forces had been properly funded and previous government(s) hadnt wated billions pissing around with PFI and (Carrier) Build schedules MOD finances may have been in better shape (MOD Procurement not withstanding)

Rest assured the army faces reductions come 2015 ie post afghanistan (to about 85K i think) – hopefully some funding can then be diverted to the navy.

Sadly the most immediate threat to national security is the National Debt.

However im pretty sure that if some workshy thieving scrounging scrotes were not paid to breed, and given so much in benifits that they need the equivelant of a 40-50K year job to keep the same money. we could sort it a lot quicker.

(Minor Rant as yet again that (large) section of my extended familly are booking summer/winter hols whilst that section of my familly that works is struggling to get by).

Lindermyer, please don’t cry, it’s just a joke!:rolleyes:
PPP & I are old buddies of sorts!

Besides, have you checked the referred-to post #238?
Have you seen his link?
If you pick one up but not the other, mwell, Perfide Albion?

Tay.

There was no Critisism implied to you there Tay – youre post was justified in the face of PPPs .

I wasnt even upset by the link, I was merely commenting on the content of the website.

Obviously beyond saying it is an amusing joke, but historically incorrect the page PPP linked to didnt offer much scope for comment.

Another hypothetical thought I’ve had regarding the future fate of the Falkland Islands is this:

What if, in another two or three generations time, the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands decided they wanted to come under the sovereignty of Argentina? Would the British Government be able to deport them to another Country and replace them with Welsh hill farmers? Or would there have to be a genuine consideration of their decision to want the Islands given to Argentina?

Purely a what if, because I can’t see that ever happening.

Regards,

kev35

Then they vote to do so and the falklands become a province of Argentia.
The Falklands arent a colony they are a protectorate and as such the day they decide they dont want us we leave (we can hardly claim to be honouring their right to self detemination otherwise) – mind you the armed forces would probably call them a bunch of ingrates etc.

Re France – like swerve I have also lived in France and mostly the french are like every one else reasonably pleasent, they can come accross as rude and arrogant sometimes but as other french people feel the same I put that down to an individual/ regional/cultural thing and not nationalistic, I prefer parts of france to parts of the uk.

Only once in 4 yrs was i ever singled out for a torrent of abuse based on nationality, and that was by a member of airport check in staff – who delivered a torrent of rapid french at low volume leaving me completely unaware i was being abused (I know little french). I was oblivious until my other half (French) suddely went off like a claymore mine leaving 1 extremly chastened and embarrassed member of staff.

Looking at Lincolns posts he seems to have heard that France is our natural enemy and that is our duty as englishmen to kill the french, sadly he has missed the joke.

So if the F-35 tanks, you rank replacements at:
1. Hornet
2. Rafale
3. Typhoon

Reality is lost in military fighter aquisitions, the F-35 was begun as a low cost auxiliary fighter, its only real selling point being stealth. If you compare specs with the Rafale or Typhoon, I see little reason to dump rediculous amounts of money into the problematic F-35. Here’s my list:
1. F-23 (honestly, which would win in a dogfight? F-23 or F-35?)
2. fixed wing Tornado (it was a mistake to make this FBW jet a swingwing)
3. Typhoon

If the UK is smart they will see that the F-35 is not going to pull through on any of its promises, there are better existing options that completely outspec the F-35

I disagree regarding swing wing on tornado.

as for 1 and 3 while you may be right, i was considering the issue soley as regards carrier capability and none of the above are carrier capable.

As a carrier aircraft I rank Typhoon below 3rd – i really do think it would be better to operate phantoms off CVF if the only other option is Typhoon
(I have no axe to grind with the tiffy as a land based aircraft)