UK Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

[FORBIN]

Intersting.

The Trenchant was the fifth Trafalga commissioned in 1989. She was expected to decommission in 2019.

Interesting tat they would pour so much money into her refit for less than three years.

I think she will serve on a bit longer perhaps.

Until the last Astute get commissioned in 2024 RN have between 6 and 7 SSN a little handicap.
Now 7 next year 6.

 

[Jeff Head]

Until the last Astute get commissioned in 2024 RN have between 6 and 7 SSN a little handicap.
Now 7 next year 6.

It will be interesting how the hand over actually occurs between Trafalgas as the Astutes come on.

At commissioning? After commissioning at IOC? Or when they become FOC?

 

[Jeff Head]

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​

The British Ministry of Defence has confirmed the sale of HMS Illustrious light aircraft carrier to Turkish company Leyal Ship Recycling for around £2 million.

It is anticipated that the former Royal Navy flagship will leave her base in Portsmouth for Turkey in the autumn of this year, ahead of the arrival of the first of the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2017.

Both Invincible and Ark Royal, the sister ships of Illustrious, were also recycled by the Turkish company.

In 32 years of service, between 1982 and 2014, HMS Illustrious covered over 900,000 nautical miles. Operations ranged from stabilization efforts in the immediate aftermath of the first Gulf War and delivering humanitarian aid after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines in 2013.

In October 2013, the MOD launched a competition to seek bids to retain the aircraft carrier in the UK. The aim of the competition was to see part or all of the ship developed for heritage purposes and, while a number of bids were received, none proved to be viable, the ministry said.

Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin said: “We have done all we can for over two years to find a home for the former HMS Illustrious in the UK, and regrettably all options have now been exhausted. It is with a sense of pride for her and her crews’ achievements that we say goodbye to the ship, and we look forward to the arrival in Portsmouth of the UK’s next generation of aircraft carriers.”

Mike Utley, former Commanding Officer on HMS Illustrious, said: “Lusty provided a world-class service to the Royal Navy for over three decades. We will bid her farewell with a heavy heart but in the knowledge that everything has been done to find a use for her.”

Sad day.

 

[Jura The idiot]

Navies
See the graphic for 2015

UK
Royal Navy + Logistic Fleet/Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Royal Navy 33000 pers whose 7800 Royal Marines, sailors not enough numerous, RFA 2000 pers
ASW helos : 54 whose 30 big Merlins after only 20, others used as AEW helos
AEW helos : 9
MPA : 0, 2020+ : 9
LACM LR : 100+

...
View attachment 29959 ...

...

 

[asif iqbal]

UK has had planned or built since WWI 53 carriers out of which 41 were built not including the two QE carriers

43 if you include the two latest ones

Surprisingly only 3 laid and completed since WWII

Plus now the two 2 QE

USN in comparison is on number 78 with 38 coming after WWII

Up till end of WWII Royal Navy was almost matching the USN in carriers

 

[Jeff Head]

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​

August 16, 2016 - The United Kingdom’s (UK) Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded MBDA a £184M production contract for the supply of the highly capable infra-red (IR) guided air-to-air missile, ASRAAM, to equip the UK’s F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet.

ASRAAM will be the first British designed missile to enter service on the F-35. ASRAAM’s large rocket motor and clean aerodynamic design gives it high kinematic capability to deliver superior end-game performance compared with other countries’ in-service IR missiles.

MBDA is currently under contract for an ASRAAM capability sustainment program for the Typhoon fast jet and this new order to equip the F-35 will see the production of additional missiles. Value for money is ensured through the re-use of components from other MBDA products such as the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM), whilst also ensuring the benefits of a single IR missile across the fast jet fleet is retained.

The missiles will be produced at MBDA’s new £40M Bolton manufacturing and assembly site with engineering activities carried out at MBDA sites in Stevenage and Bristol. The overall ASRAAM program, combined with associated workload around domestic and export programs using the core CAMM system, is employing 400 skilled employees across the MBDA sites and the UK complex weapons supply chain. Collectively these orders also ensure that ASRAAM remains available for overseas customers and future exports.

 

[Jura The idiot]

related to "a new RN Frigate"
Jul 17, 2016

...
previously in this context I read about the following design:

probably too expensive hahaha

but here comes the graphics:

 

[Jeff Head]

related to "a new RN Frigate"
Jul 17, 2016

but here comes the graphics:

That schematic looks like a decent FFG.

24 VLS + Eght ASMs, a gun up to a 5". two 30mm cannons, a dedicated helo hanger, and a lot more.

I like it.

 

[FORBIN]

Training the last RAF Tornado crews

With its out-of-service date now looming large in 2019, the last ever Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 Qualified Weapons Instructor (QWI) course is now under way at No XV(Reserve) Squadron, as well as the last ever ab initio aircrew course on the type.

You’d be hard pressed to find a combat jet in any air force inventory around the world that has anything like the service record of the Panavia Tornado GR4s of the RAF. The very same airframes that entered service as GR1s way back in 1982, that undertook some of the most hazardous missions in 1991’s ‘Desert Storm’, are still right at the leading edge of British air-power projection all these years later. Despite an out-of-service date (OSD) of 2019, the British Tornados are still playing a key role in Operation ‘Shader’.

In our current September issue, Combat Aircraft details how the drawdown in the RAF Tornado Force is reflected in the training requirement. The output of new weapon systems officers (WSOs — colloquially known as ‘navigators’) ended several years ago, and right now the final pilot training course is under way.

No XV (Reserve) Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth in northern Scotland has trained new Tornado aircrews since 1993 as the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). This year also marks the last ever QWI course on the type.

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[Jura The idiot]

...

I like it.

but it would EXPENSIVE; RN is more likely to choose between

• the derivative, called "Avenger" as far as I know, of
  

  ... to me, it looks like the OPVs for Oman:
  

  

  NOT ARMED FOR ESCORT DUTIES, or
• the derivative, called "Cutlass" as far as I know, of
  

  ...
  kinda lengthened

  

  
  (to fit for example a hangar aft and a big gun at the bow)
  
  ...

  NOT ARMED FOR ESCORT DUTIES either

(FORBIN was the first here to post about those two designs: https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/uk-military-news-reports-data-etc.t2437/page-180#post-405753 and realistic info is available in

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part Frigates despair)