I was thinking Israels Mirages and Taiwans M2000 both nations would have requirement and both were/are users of Mirage variants.
I am still really keen on V22 solution as it seemed the best combination on the STOVL carriers of range and ceiling a effective if extremely expensive for what it is. Im not sure if the V22 range so it might not be such a great solution if the loiter is less than Merlin though.
I fully agree it too expensive to buy unless its more than just RN using it although I would be very interested to see the usage by IDF as especially as they will buying a small fleet I seem to remember its about 14 frames (not at all sure) which would be the right sort of numbers for RN carrier duties plus few extra for other tasks (VIP ect)
The more interesting part of the island - the flyco station - isn't fitted onto the island, if you see the image on the RN's website, you can see the section where it should be marked out with red. If you had a big glass lump sticking out the side of it then there'd be issues when they lift it on because that's pretty much where the cables for Goliath (the crane at Rosyth) would attach to the yellow lifting rig.
A pretty hefty chunk of glass, i've attached 2 images. One being a recently (early April) arial shot of the ship (you really get a sense of her completion there) and one of the most recent lifts (early May); CB05b. Now she's her full length with really only a few sponson sections, a couple of lifts of her back end, aft island & skis jump & job's a good'un. All pictures courtesy of the ACA.
But here's the update I really wanted to see, the CO of Daring let slip a while ago that the ship would deploy next to the US west coast, and here's an article about it from the RN
9 month deployment, you Aussies get to have a gander at her too. The "science and technology" trials are probably the BMD trials which were talked about earlier in the year with the Type 45. Can't wait to see some picture of this when it happens, the ship is due to depart on May 27th.
Could have a big impact on the RN, if they want TLAM enough and MBDA have already started the groundwork now about integrating European missiles onto the Mk41. Seems pretty quick though, a CAMM launch later in the year? The benefits of the cold launch method I presume, quick and easy. It'll be interesting to see how this develops, the main reason I always saw the UK going for the A70 is because all they'd get to use in it is TLAM pretty much. This sort of development could give us the required flexibility to get the Mk41.
When I visited Dragon a few weeks ago a JO mentioned Daring world tour compared with their more run of the mill stuff in Arabia they mentioned a US and showing the flag. Also showed where the TLAM's would go and how straight forward it is for them to slot into it didn't look quite peerside but a short refit to add TLAM's (it seemed to me like they designed it for something like the old ABL to drop into space although the idea of A70's or MK41 is very interesting a perfectly possible in the space.
They use the space as an extra gym but everything is wired up and ready to rock from flooring and points for electric feed when funds are their and their looked liked their was room for strike plus extra a true plug and play when the funds are available it really impressed me compared with B3 T42(Manchester) which I was on previously and seemed much better designed and felt bigger than Lusty with wide corridors and much more logical CIC.
Welcome to what could be called "the Collins Effect". Just be glad you don't have Ian McPhedran writing articles about your submarines.
If they just fitted a couple of ships, it would surely be quite a modest cost in comparison to the capability increase, particularly when we are likely to remain a bit light on SSNs, for the next few years.
