Another one for Liger30 to digest

http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=18127

The head line is a bit off putting but appears the 1st SL is confirming plans that the MOD wont reveal officially till next year !.

Interesting in what it implies, as according to SDSR they dont need the mapower for 2 carriers as 1 would be mothballed/sold off. So the 1st SL is pointing out that whilst they are considering a use for QE be it LPH or ideally CATOBAR carrier, the manpower will need to be increased to allow for this.

I get the feeling he will get the manpower increase to be able to lean man the ship during its refit/reserve role with enough slack to make it operational whilst the other services are trained and qualified to provide and operate the airgroup aboard the ship should they agree to retain both ships.

I meant ambiguous when refering to PAAMS rather than directly saying Sea Viper so as not to tie it to a specific missile and launcher types as quite possible some customers may want the longer range anti-aircraft missile without having to do go for a full Aegis or Horizon type Destroyer

I suspect the list is some of the possibilities that were banded about when selling the GCS idea.

Its what comes of of the current discussions to set the actual design parameters that should prove interesting. Especially if thery are looking at the ASW & GP as seperate type 26 variants.

Won’t it be better to wait and see what baseline specifications the MOD have selected for the Type 26 which is due anytime now? Once those are made public then we can assess the pros & cons of the specification whilst the design is developed towards main gate over the next couple of years.

Not sure why I am offended on behalf of Jo but C-Seven you really need to learn to read an article before opening your mouth and calling someone a troll, as obligatory points out the Taurus has done very much more than be photographed on a Eurofighter sat on the runway.

Yeap i reported that post as well, as that’s is totally uncalled for. In some aspect i wish the Indians would make up their minds quickly to put an end to the Rafale/Typhoon/F-35 sniping, but even then the winner fans will be lording it up whilst the runners up will still complain about unhnaded tactics or bribes.

In fact the moderators should really come down hard on those polluting each others aircraft threads. In a typhoon thread i want to read about the Typhoon news & developments and not what Rafale or F-35 can do and vice versa in the Rafale & F-35 subjects 😡

G

Yeap the flight deck has to accomodate a Chinook sized helicopter and allow it to loaded/unloaded by its rear ramp.

The trouble is this month they meet to discuss the requirement before early next year they award the design contract. Therefore whilst some of the system and capabilities have been selected the actual look and feel of the ship is probably going to change from what been represented so far as the designers get to work.

Yeap the $50 million is for the spares, the aircraft deal should be known this week from the sounds of it.

It does sound they are being sold as a going concern if they are being used to replace F18D night attack aircraft. Its probably cheaper to refit the Harriers for the USMC use than refit some of the older Hornets to cover the gaps till F-35B can replace them and plays to the USMC strategy of going all STOVL.

I don’t think the UK taxpayer are being ripped off, at least we can sell the Harriers as a going concern, i rather doubt we could do the same with the Tornados should they have been earmarked for the chop under the SDSR.

The crying shame is that we were left having to take such drastic action to balance the books in the first place 😡

None really as Yak are no-longer working in the combat aircraft sector. So no team, the prototypes that survive are in a museum and no production line.

The Mig-29 stayed in production (just) and the team have been developing the aircraft on a regular basis so it was alot easier to re-look at the Naval Mig-29 and revamp that than it would be for the Yak.

It wouldn’t be impossible, but it would cost alot and the Russian don’t have a requirement for the type.

Somebody would probably propose it should the F-35B be culled as a Supersonic VTOL solution, but the costs to bring it upto date and westernise it for US tastes would be prohibitive