Yes, but they were too slow to decide. Then line closed. Where is your farm in France? Did they have a grey or brown belly?

They were green and grey top side can’t say about the belly as they were always turning from West to North around the farm and over the airfield . I am in Lussat not far from Montlucon/ Gueret airfield

The tanker conversion of the A310 sold six, to two air forces. 707 tankers are being replaced by 767 or A330 tankers. The A310 & 707 are about the nearest in capacity to a 757 tanker.

The 757’s been around for over 30 years, but no tanker conversions have been sold. I think that probably says that there isn’t a market for it. I’d expect Bedek to have identified & met any demand by now.

I am not saying you are wrong. I am saying if you don’t want a new 767 or A330 size tanker a 757 tanker could be a good option lets not forget that the US and UK are trying to do the same tanker work load with less air-frames. lets also not forget until now the 707 , VC10, Tirstar have been doing the job and only now do they need replacing.

Maybe a 757 MRTT would be a good bet there are a good number being covered to freigther’s able to carry a 39 ton load

BAE Systems are proposing two solutions; one low end closely based upon the Amazon/Batch II River OPV called Avenger and a high end one based upon the Khareef Corvette called Cutlass:

Neither is a particular inspiring prospect imho.

Saw this one as well and if they were to stretch the Khareef class out to say 115 -120m’s what we will end up with is a modern day Type 21 same size speed range it is not a happy thought and in no way a replacement for a type 23. however if someone said the navy was to get 10 type 26’s and 6 of these it might be ok

None of the things you just said is what anyone thought, or believed. You’re just stereotyping.

To my mind a lot of people in the UK did vote on what Boris and Nigel had to say. and most of what they had to say was ****

In terms of a Hawk replacement, whilst the T2 is well intended, and may well be a completely new aircraft under the skin, that skin is still that of a Hawk with the limitations that it has, and that’s why the proposal for the USAF with the Hawk aircraft never got off the ground…excuse the pun.

I’m tempted to suggest that the USAF’s drive for a trainer has come too late. BAe in association with one of the US heavy weights with a clean sheet of paper suggestion, that would have been given some UK development funding as well, could have won. The result being British parts, and possibly even an export version production line.

The Typhoon is Ok for the moment, as long as it keeps getting developed and upgraded. The Radar upgrades and new weapons integration are essential.

I’m hoping against hope that BAe will announce in the near future their intention to an up-scaled Taranis, as the base for a Future Strike aircraft, perhaps optionally manned, the lead of a flight of 3 being manned with a pair of ucav wingmen, so that final confirmation is still given by someone on the scene so to speak. Or fully autonomous where it’s well known that there isn’t civilians near by etc.

What we have with the Hawk T2 is good avionics and a well developed engine that needs a new airframe. as for Typhoon yes this will be good for another 20 year but it take that long to bring a new type in to service

For me what the UK and Europe needs to do is start working on replacements for Hawk , Alpha jet , Typhoon and Tornado as I see the F-35 as a replacement to Sea Harrier ,Harrier and Jaguar in RN/RAF service