We’re looking to buy B models which are more expensive than the average however those figures are roughly what I’ve seen from other sources, though lets not forget that they are only going to rise as the program will almost certainly face problems or delays..

The Carriers keep on getting pushed back however the last estimate I saw was Lizzy being in the water by 2015. The RAF want B models to replace the Harrier which was to be OOS by 2015 however the entire fleet has racked up far more airframe hours over Afghan than was planned for.

Even at the ‘average’ cost quoted above I would doubt we’d be ordering many, if any at all. If you made it out of solid gold it would come in at $500 million, the price is simply breathtaking for performance which is questionable.

Which, is why early production models are so expensive.

I don’t see this as a valid argument, LRIP is still over 100 airframes per year. Many militiary aircraft projects produce fewer airframes than this in their entire production run.

A variation on the Arsenal ship would be the modern equivalent of a gunboat, and cheap as chips to run as well.

I’d much rather see the bulk of the funding spent on capable C1 vessels.

The info I’ve seen on Iranian F14 operations is only sketchy at best but I was under the impression that all Pheonix kills claimed were also WVR. There were a few instances of multiple kills claimed from a single missile due to the large warhead and close packed Iraqi formations though.

Personally I’d like to see the C2s as cheap gun trucks for use in the littorals. No point adding TLAMs etc, it isn’t a warfighting tool and adding the C2 for targetting would up the price dramatically.

Something somewhat along the lines of the Arsenal ship only using Fireshadow VLS tubes and a (hopefully) VL 155mm. Add in a few Aster 15 silos for self defence and a millenium gun but nothing too fancy. Minehunting is going to be an important secondary role so being able to carry a couple of role specific containers would be useful.

You’d be looking at a big flat ship with a large flight deck (possibly to operate future UAVs) which would probably need escorting in a seriously hostile environment. A couple of Merlins should suffice for ASW and I’d leave ASuMs to the helicopters to prevent mission creep in the design.

Funds are pretty tight but with a small crew (the arsenal ship was planned with about 50 which was ridiculously small) and limited sensors you could easily make such a vessel stealthy without it costing the earth. Park it anywhere near a hostile coast and it would be a serious threat.

It would basically be a cheap DDH which could be upgraded as the potential threats evolve. The key would be lots of VLS cells and a large capacity for 155mm NGFS. Lets be honest we’re unlikely to risk a Daring or C1 anywhere close to an enemy coast so something that would support our amphibious forces and show the flag around the world with the ability to bring some pressure to bear would be ideal.

Deck space would be paramount in order to get as many cells on deck as possible (Freshadow is only 3m long) so a catamaran design might work well, and would provide some measure of survivability seeing as though it’s likely to be in harm’s way. Should also help with stability in the NGFS role. Spare berthing for mission specific crew and sneaky beaky types. Speed not essential, 20+ knots so diesels should suffice.

5 confirmed kills where made for sure in BVR ( 4 with AAM’s and 1 with gun).

I assume this should be WVR, it’d have to be a BF gun otherwise!

You know wrong.

Not according to my sources I’m not. One of the Mig29 kills was by a Viper, missing with his first two AMRAAMS (almost taking out a 117 in the process) and splashing it with his third at 6nm. He fired a fourth at another contact and missed. Hardly 100% or BVR..

Found something else about two Eagles splashing two 29s, they supposedly fired at 18nm and closed to with 5nm when they saw the Migs explode. Seems very wrong. The pilot quoted was trying to get winders off his rails but couldn’t get tone. I suspect someone else did, surely an AMRAAM would hit before an Eagle could over 13nm…

Countering the air threat isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are 11 major air bases in South Korea (numerous other airfields which could be used but probably without a significant presence and support) of which 7 are within 100 miles of the border….

Don’t forget that North Korea has huge stocks of ballistic missiles (Scud C and D capability) which could make any airfield in theatre a dangerous place to operate from. Whilst the CEP of these weapons is open to debate it is probable that they could make operations difficult at the very least.

The MiG-25 was a sitting duck in most parts of its flight envelope and only excelled above Mach 2.

Hardly!! One Mig25 from the gulf war evaded 2x AIM54, 3xAMRAAM and several AIM7s in the same engagement. Admittedly it didn’t shoot anything down itself but the missiles left in its wake were almost certainly worth more than the airframe.