Ok, as this topic is misunderstood I had a look at what really was decided. The coalition treaty says “Bei dem zu beschaffenden Eurofighter haben sich die Koalitionsparteien darauf geeinigt, zukünftige Exporte auf die noch in der Tranche 3b zu beauftragenden Stückzahl anrechnen zu lassen.”

In English this means, that any future export would be made from T3B. So effectively, if we found a buyer we would sell him T3B tiffies. And if we don’t we’ll just decide in 2012 what we do as we planned to all the way.

Sounds suspiciously like nothing, or at least little has really changed and this report is just a load of hot air.

Sorry, Russia’s Carrier Program has been put off.:( See the possible interest in the ex-Gorshkov!

That may well be the case, they seem hell bent on rebuilding a shadow of the Soviet Navy using the same ships (modernised Kirovs, Slavas, etc), but that doesn’t mean they still don’t intend to build their own carriers.

The number 75 used as an airgroup for CVF probably comes from the original intention to buy 150 JSF for the two carriers, 150 divided by 2 is 75 after all and yes, I really do think that journalists are that lazy/ignorant.

PICTURE: UK’s Mantis UAV demonstrator makes first flights
By Craig Hoyle

BAE Systems has conducted the first few flights of its Mantis unmanned air vehicle under a technology demonstration effort jointly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence.

Performed at the Woomera test range in South Australia, the flights have seen the fully autonomous design “successfully complete a series of trials demonstrating the capability of the system and the potential of large unmanned systems to support future UK operational needs”, says BAE.

The work has also “helped build confidence in the feasibility of a UK-derived medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial system,” says Air Vice Marshal Simon Bollom, director combat air for the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support organisation.

Mantis had originally been expected to fly early this year, but BAE says the milestone still took place within 19 months of concept work. “This achievement is testament to the can-do approach of the whole team working on this programme,” says Chris Allam, managing director of the company’s autonomous systems and future capability business.

The Mantis programme also involves companies including GE Aviation, Meggitt, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and Selex Galileo.

Powered by two turboprop engines, the all-electric Mantis air vehicle has a 20m (65ft) wingspan. The current “Spiral 1” design was unveiled at the 2008 Farnborough air show as a UK alternative to designs such as the US General Atomics MQ-9 Predator B/Reaper. The domestic system is intended to carry a variety of advanced sensors and precision-guided air-to-surface weapons.

BAE says a production version of Mantis would have a maximum take-off weight of about 9t, operate at altitudes up to 55,000ft and perform missions including intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance, plus close air support for ground forces.

News at last

Well same price for equivalent stuff of course. France would pay the cost of fitting the nuclear powerplant. Besides the UK might as well get nuclear ones since we’re revisiting history.

Nic

Since we’re revisiting history and building twice as many economies of scale would make UK going nuclear a great deal more sensible as well.

A very good thing if true, a decent alternative to the ‘Medium rotocraft programme’ after all I can’t see any real chance that a big batch of Merlins would be delivered to soon and blackhawks would add another type to the MOD fleet which wouldn’t really be ideal.

Further details/speculation here:

http://www.military-world.net/Afghanistan/2738.html

This bit:

The entire Merlin fleet is likely to be “marinised” so it can be used by the Royal Navy but still available for land operations.

Sounds pretty interesting as it opens up the opportunity to replace the RN Seakings with aircraft the RAF have which are in turn replaced by new Chinnoks.

To be honest I think the CDG is too small, I’m sure there are very valid reasons why the Marine Nationale rejected the design when options for PA2 were considered.

UK could arm its Watchkeeper UAVs
By Craig Hoyle
The UK could integrate a lightweight weapon with its Thales UK/Elbit Systems Watchkeeper 450 tactical unmanned air vehicles, operations of which should begin from late next year.

“We are conducting analysis to investigate the contribution that an armed Watchkeeper UAV system could make in current and future operations,” confirms minister for international defence and security Baroness Taylor. The work is being conducted as part of the Ministry of Defence’s “routine capability planning process”, she says.

Taylor’s comment represents the first time that the MoD has acknowledged the possibility of arming the British Army’s future WK450 air vehicles. However, the ministry adds: “We are still at an early stage of considering the benefits, and as yet no decisions regarding which munitions should be used have been made.”

One likely candidate for a weaponised version is Thales Air Systems’ lightweight multirole missile (LMM), which has previously been shown at exhibitions with a model of the WK450.

Unveiled in mid-2008 and based on elements of Thales’s Starstreak ground-based air-defence weapon, the precision-guided LMM has a launch weight of around 13kg (28lb), including a 3kg warhead. Thales has previously said that production deliveries of the up to 8km (4.3nm) range weapon could be made from 2011.

Thales/Elbit joint venture U-TacS is building WK450 air vehicles at its Leicester production facility in the UK. Flight-test activities involving the type, which has already undergone extensive testing in Israel, should start before year-end at the ParcAberporth UAV centre of excellence in west Wales.

Watchkeeper air vehicles have already undergone testing in Israel

Thales UK provides interim tactical UAV services for the UK armed forces in Afghanistan using unarmed Hermes 450s leased from Elbit. The larger WK450 design is derived from the Israeli system.

The WK450 will have a maximum take-off weight of more than 450kg. It has a twin-payload configuration comprising an Elop Compass IV electro-optical/infrared sensor and the Thales I-Master synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indication payload.

Being acquired under a deal worth around £900 million ($1.48 billion), the Watchkeeper system is intended for use during intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance tasks.

The UK Royal Air Force already operates armed General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper UAVs over Afghanistan, with the type carrying Raytheon GBU-12 Paveway II precision-guided bombs and Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/11/03/334323/uk-could-arm-its-watchkeeper-uavs.html