I would place money on the Swiss buying the Gripen (actually a quick £100 bet seems like a good idea – I’m not a betting man but it seems quite a good idea to me … wonder what the odds are?)

Absolutely Gripen should have Switzerland sewn up and i think Brazil would do well to purchase the type too. Unfortunately I suspect they may buy Rafale.

India is the interesting one….

Its the merchant shipping companies own fault really, their insurance companies paid the ransoms teaching the warlords that its pays leading to the situation we have now.

Well the other problem for the shipping companies is that they have to raise crews, if you let one crew get slaughtered instead of paying the ransom you wont get another and ship companies simply can not afford that. Not to mention the loss of custom that they would suffer if they lost a cargo and the way their insurance rates would go up. For business purpose once a ship is hijacked the best thing they can do is pay the ransom rather than risk crew, cargo and reputation.

They are indeed.

But how many countries can you find like that?

Will Eurofighter face the “Real” competition Typhoon and score sale??

Who cares?

Reading other postings on here and it seems as if the Eurofighter seems to be losing an increasing number of competitions for sale to several other nations. Several reasons are given but could the Eurofighter flop as a major export model due to competition from Rissia, America and even other European nations?

It has already not flopped. Saudi Arabia has brought a bunch with rumours of a further order floating around and Austria has brought an example not to mention the 4 original customers. 6 airforces is a pretty good tally and already better than the rafale and the Gripen.

One thing that can almost be guaranteed is that the MoD will make a complete mess of the speccing and acquisition process of any RAF Chinook upgrade programme.

After all they’ve such a spectacular past record of incomptenence and waste in this area.

Not necessarily the use of off the shelf components and a deep enough rebuild should avoid such a mess. The Thales top deck system was mentioned when the plan first emerged to sort out the special ops birds.

?! :confused:

Faina left on the 25th, Neustrashimy left on the 24th.

So how am I wrong? It was en-route already?

You are implying that Neustrashimy was redirected from another deployment, there is no evidence for that. Everything points to her having put to sea with the sole mission of sailing for Somalia.

What the Faina did is irrelevant, she is a Ukrainian ship carrying a Ukrainian cargo to the Kenyan government. The small number of Russian sailors on board is really not an issue. Neustrashimy’s deployment is related to international prestige.

It was already deployed – I’m saying this for the 4th time now.

You are wrong Neustrashimy left Kaliningrad on the 24th September, at that time the purpose of the cruise was unspecified but was described as long range. Captain 1st Rank Igor Dygalo announced that the ship washeading for Somalia on the 26th September.

They certainly are getting hammered in the Ghan;)

Watched a BBC news report recently with an RAF crew guy proudly showing some field repairs. It was real belts and braces stuff with bracing frames and plates bolted together.

At least one Chinook flying there is half a stuffed RAF example and half ex Argentine Falklands war booty!

I really hope that nothing too bad happens to “Bravo November” as she just has to survive to be placed into preservation.

Its not just damage, the chinooks are amongst the most useful in the theatre and they are operating at a very high intensity in hot and high conditions and that is taking its toll on aircraft and systems.