EFV is a very nice piece of equipment, but its pretty expensive, so I doubt if many will be exported in worthwhile numbers (USMC wants 1000+).
It would be nice if the Europeans made a joint purchase, the UK, Netherlands and Spain for example. I would like to see the Royal Marines get a few with cannon, missiles and mortars. It would be an improvement over a rigid raider!

For the longer term, the USAF and USN are already looking at an all-new missile that could eventually replace the AMRAAM. The Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM) would be a single design suitable for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. Intended for use on the F/A-22 Raptor, F-35 Joint Strike fighter, legacy fighters, and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV), it is expected to offer enhanced propulsion, agility, and lethality, allowing engagements at longer stand-off ranges. The project is still at a very early stage. Studies of potential capabilities and platform integration have already begun, and work is underway on the development analysis process.

This sounds like what I was talking about in the MULTI-ROLE METEOR thread.http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=29303

Jonesy

I have to agree with what you are saying about BAE systems, it seems to have concentrated on buying itself up the defence league table, rather than delivering on targets.

As you know a bit about shipbuilding, do you have any info on the Type 43 and 44 destroyer designs?

OK, lets compromise.

Build two 20-30,000 ton carriers which operate 20-30 STOVL aircraft each. These will replace 2 Invincibles and leave 1 Invincible and HMS Ocean to do the LPH job. UK shipyards are capable of this now.

Then, on completion of this class, the necessary skills and shipyard improvements can be put into place to build two 50-60,000 ton carriers at a affordable price. Then Ocean and the Invincible can be paid off and the 2 smaller carriers can take over the LPH role.

We will then have 4 carriers and a lot more capability. The 2 big carriers can concentrate on air strikes and the 2 small carriers can provide air defence and ASW.

I also think that airships should provide AEW for the fleet and that RAF tankers and AWACS can support air strikes like they did over Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pretty good film, read about it at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118641/

SSN’s are deadly in deep water where they can attack and then go deep and escape at high speed virtually undetected. But when in shallow water they run into trouble.
Shallow water restricts movement, allows for mine fields, reduces sonar performance and brings the danger of visual detection from the air. Active sonar and convoy tactics would be used to reduce SSN’s chances too.

JSF equipped with stand off missiles.