Royal Air Force (RAF-UK) Discussions and Updates

Vulcan

Vulcan

Member
The pedant in me notices it's 16 + 10 options, lets see if it's another promise of capability to go unfulfilled (WRT the 20+ number from SDSR15)

Interesting to see the Lynx kits there, i'm guessing that might be where the Sentinel replacement will come in from then.
 
ASSAIL

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
That's a real shame but fairly typical of an enduring attitude from the British services and public ( certainly evident from my three years on course and exchange with the RN), that British designed and built systems are the "best in the world" and most everything else is inferior. (See comments re T45 v ABs)
Back in the 70s I certainly didn't subscribe to that, just about all systems, communications, sensors, weapons I used in the RN were decades behind my experience with RAN DDGs and on my reading of today's technology this is still, generally, true. R&D budgets produce the goods.

Better get my flak jacket:grab
 
Vulcan

Vulcan

Member
ASSAIL said:
R&D budgets produce the goods.
Click to expand...
The times, they are a changin'

Working with the US in certain areas isn't a slam-dunk decision to make, the more interesting sections of any proposed agreements aren't something we're likely to see.
 
S

StobieWan

Super Moderator
Staff member
Just crate the engines up and ship 'em stateside - I'm sure someone has done the basic due diligence.
 
ASSAIL

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
A4kscooter said:
Jets flown by RAF Red Arrows could be built OVERSEAS | Daily Mail Online

A letter signed by 120 MPs has been sent to Teresa May asking her to order replacement aircraft for the Red Arrows because if the MoD waits until their current out of service date of 2030 the replacements will most likely be foreign built and more BAe jobs could be lost.
Click to expand...
I would have thought the most important consideration would be to order suitable fast jet trainers when needed and the Red Arrows would use whatever aircraft is chosen.
It just shows the ignorance of politicians when they think a publicity fluff exercise has greater priority than training future combat pilots.
 
T

the concerned

Active Member
The best option would be to downsize the reds to say 6 aircraft and maybe look into typhoons as we use the reds as a marketing tool asweĺl as pleaseing crowds
 
S

south

Well-Known Member
This highlights how to a much greater extent than in Aus the UK military is in intertwined with industry. The fact is that the pollies only really care about jobs, rather than capabilities.

The reds though are an interesting case. As the concerned highlighted they are much more than just the recruitment/PR tool that the roulettes are for the RAAF. The recent international tour they completed encompassed Greece, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi, Oman and I think the UAE as well. All countries that BAE and UKMOD would love to sell some/more Hawk and Typhoon too. The reds have a much more global/defence engagement role as well.

There is no way known that the UK can afford to run Typhoon for the reds.

What is the best solution - it is to be fair likely more Hawk T2. But the RAF will not like the cost of 9 new red jets... Given what BAE get out of the reds they may be asked to stump up some of the ££££.
 
Vulcan

Vulcan

Member
Fed up of reading how 9 Hawk is supposed to "save" Brough and the like, it's 9 damn jets for goodness sake.

It's kicking the can down the road, it's not saving anything.
 
J

jack412

Active Member
A quick question for a guy who asked me on another forum about what was the french stuff..

There was an issue with procurement, where the french blackmailed us to buy a product or they wouldn't supply spare parts to another. I think helo?

During the Vietnam war, someone denied us taking their products there. It was euro, was it the mirage or something else?

The yanks weren't happy with Thales.au and a navy contract 5-10 years ago?. They had possible access to their stuff issues.


PM me if you don't want to mess the flow of this thread, thanks
 
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