imho, USN should license-build QE class (UK supplying powerplants) in lieu of future Ford class CVN probably costing over $10b per pop long term. Maybe could retain/mix 5 Nimitz, 1 Ford with 6 QE by 2025? USN should at least LEASE one of the QE, if nobody else knocked.

Wah! I missed this one when posted.

Can you imagine the uproar in US if the USN did this?! I type this as someone who has pointed out how much licence-built euro-designed kit the US has used. But buying capital ships from the UK?

Having said that (and being pretty clear in my mind that this will never happen) I like the idea. It might break the USN’s grip on biggest! most massive! best! mindset and it might even start USN and US shipbuilders start thinking about lower personing levels. If EMALs (or similar) could be integrated with the skijump it might even give the USMC the LPH/Strike Carrier they want.

Then the French, Koreans and Japanese all buy one or more and we have an allied forces common design. We cross deck, share extacs, have an economy of scale on spares, spiral upgrades across a larger virtual fleet.

Next step integrating CAAMM properly and allied land forces have the same SAM and it gets used on Visbys, Valours, Formidables, T125s, K130s, Albions, CVFs

Back in real land we all **** about making our own parochial, gold-plated, short run designs to do pretty much the same thing. Still at least that’s something which the UK can lead the world in, eh?

Build 2, load them full of Lynx with Sea Skua and sit one in Red Sea and one in Mediterranean to wipe out FACs

This is fantastic news ^ and perfect timing too

French Navy showing the RN that they’ve forgiven us for sinking their ships to prevent the Nazis using them.

Wars are not peacetime-budget voices, and should have never, never, never been financed from peacetime MOD budget.

I’ve read some of your previous ascersions (sp) of opinion as facts and shaken my head but ………. on this one I absolutely agree.

I don’t think senior officers ever failed to point out what they needed to get the job done. Either publicly or privately, they always present their facts.

Gosh, Italian VSOs much be far more competent than British ones then 🙂

Interesting comment on the wireless t’other day by an ex senior special forces chappy along the lines of ‘one makes plans for the kit one has, if the plan calls for 30 helos and we only have 10 then we need a new plan‘

Politicians then regularly ignore the warnings.

That they do, and the ones which they don’t actively ignore they quite possibly do not understand.

I’m happy to speculate as well.

If B and C models are cancelled HMG will jump with joy, shout ‘breach(sp) of contract‘ and cancel JCA altogether.

FAA MIGHT be allowed to keep what’s left of Joint Force Harrier or RAF might have to have a token number to act as a figleaf (no STOVL JCA means it doesn’t meet the requirement, see?)

RAF MIGHT be allowed to keep all of their EFs (and if they’re really lucky they might even get some Tranche IIIbs or some of the Luftwaffe’s ‘excess’ airframes), luckily some new simulations will show that EF is sufficiently stealthy and STOL performance will be good enough for future operations anyway

II’ve even read that the fines for speeding in Finland are based on income – now there’s taking social equality to the point of near insanity.

What?! Why?!

If one accepts the need for speeding fines (not everybody does of course) then its either to garner revenue (in which case means testing is likely to push the money gathered up rather than being a lovely liberal sop to let poorer people pay less) or as a DETERRENT TO EXCESS SPEED. If a deterrent it has surely go to deter. No? As such it seems to make sense that someone with pots of cash is deterred rather than merely facing a minor inconvenience.