British Typhoons and American F/A-18s have conducted additional strikes in Yemen.
Following stern warnings from Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden to Iranian-supported militants about potential further strikes on Yemen, the Royal Air Force has launched new operations.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS – Following warnings from Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden to Iranian-supported militants about potential further strikes on Yemen, the Royal Air Force has launched new operations.
This development occurs in the wake of the disclosure that elite US commandos were… pic.twitter.com/Ym0N2eDq1P
— George Allison (@geoallison) January 22, 2024
This is the second round of strikes that have involved British jets.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said:
https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1749558784513495231
Here is the Ministry of Defence statement:
“On 22 January, the UK conducted further strikes against Houthi targets. Four Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a pair of Voyager tankers, joined US forces in a deliberate strike against Houthi sites in Yemen.
Our aircraft used Paveway IV precision guided bombs to strike multiple targets at two military sites in the vicinity of Sanaa airfield. These locations were being used to enable the continued intolerable attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea. This follows our initial operation on 11 January, and subsequent US action, to degrade the Houthis’ capability to conduct such attacks.
In line with UK standard practice, a very rigorous analysis was applied in planning the strikes to minimise any risk of civilian casualties, and as with the previous strikes, our aircraft bombed at night to mitigate yet further any such risks.”
Paveway
For ground attack and close air support missions, Typhoon is armed with the GPS/laser-guided Paveway IV bombs, bombs which a flight of the jets used to great effect recently. Paveway IV offers cockpit-programmable impact angle, impact direction and fuse delay features for precisely tailored target effects.
The Paveway IV bomb represents a significant advancement in precision-guided munition technology. Developed by Raytheon UK (previously known as Raytheon Systems Limited), it is the latest iteration in the renowned Paveway series. This dual-mode bomb, capable of both GPS/INS and laser guidance, is an adaptation of the Enhanced Paveway II Enhanced Computer Control Group (ECCG) applied to a modified Mk 82 general-purpose bomb. This modification has notably improved its penetration performance.
A notable feature of the Paveway IV is its new ECCG, which includes a Height of Burst (HOB) sensor enabling air burst fusing options, and a SAASM (Selective Availability Anti Spoofing Module) compliant GPS receiver. This bomb can be launched either with IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) only, provided there’s sufficiently good Transfer Alignment, or using GPS guidance. Additionally, it offers terminal laser guidance in either navigation mode.
The Royal Air Force introduced the Paveway IV into service in 2008. Its first operational deployment was during Operation Herrick in Afghanistan. The bomb was also employed in subsequent operations, including Operation Ellamy in Libya, and Operation Shader in Iraq and Syria. In December 2015, the Royal Air Force began using the Paveway IV from Eurofighter Typhoons during strike operations in Syria as part of Operation Shader, marking the first operational use of the bomb from this aircraft.
I do wonder if there are plans afoot around sending a carrier, it looks like the Houthi are not going to give this up without significantly more pain than a number of limited air strikes.
USN have already got one in theatre.
It is election year so Op RE-ELECT [randomised name obvs] requires CSG.
So cynical….but I have to say the Conservative Party have turned up the we are the party of defence rhetoric….which is so ironic consider how appalling they have been at maintaining our readiness and ability to fight a war.
I might be being cynical as well however I suspect the mainstream news outlets will grow tired of this “News” as the months and years roll on. I doubt it will even warrant a mention in the Autumn.
Our election should probably happen in May, wouldn’t be surprised if the QE sets sail soon to try and keep the news on it, rather than the Conservative infighting. That’s assuming they can figure out the logistics issues.
we’ll have run out of weapons by then.
Kinda depends, we have joined in on 2 of the runs out of several dozen done by the US. Seems we are pacing ourselves.
Like the Americans are doing with our f 35 order
even the ukraine has gone out of the news.
yet theres no sign of the whip being cracked to get the yards going any faster.
that would require diverting money that can be used for vitally important tax cuts.
The money could be used to subsidise another tea break for the por rubbish.
They have nothing else left and now we will end up with a Prime Minister with no spine. How we ended up with no viable government and no viable opposition for decades will be taught in history classes in the years to come.
23/01/2023 Telegraph paper this morning.
General Sir Patrick Sanders will stress the need for the Government to “mobilise the nation” in the event of war with Russia in a speech on Wednesday.
Along with what you have said, and this ! plus other entanglements the UK armed services are involved in, its safe to say that things might become somewhat uncomfortable concidering our lack of personnel(cutbacks).
My question is this, what does the Gov gain by all these cutbacks and lack of funding ?
What is there agenda ?
Who has the Gov under there Thumb ?
Mobilise the nation??? I know of few people who would fight for the nation this govt or previous ones have given us.
I don’t agree with no viable opposition. They do a good job at questioning the government and holding them to account. The issue is our media is very biased and doesn’t report it. When a government has a 80 odd seat majority there isn’t much the opposition can do. Tomorrow sunak could declare that no more elections will occur and the Conservatives would rule as sole party and assuming his MPs vote for their meal ticket there is nothing anyone could do about it. Joy of first past the post politics you can get 40% of the vote but have… Read more »
The opposition are led by the victor meldrew(starmer) of u.k. politics
He lacks personality, but he has a proven track record of leading complex organisations and turning them around. His a proper leader unlike the clowns we have had recently that don’t lead at all. Whether that will result in positive changes who knows as politicians are politicians and its not a dictatorship.
“A warning from the head of the British Army that the UK would not be prepared in the event of a war should be “listened to carefully”, a former defence minister has said. Tobias Ellwood told Sky News there was a “1939 feel to the world” and that Britain was not equipped to deal with “what is coming over the horizon”. He was responding to a report in The Daily Telegraph, which said that later on Wednesday, General Sir Patrick Sanders was due to give a speech warning the British public would have to be called up to fight if… Read more »
We are the party of defence myth has been we and truly exposed. Wer in worse shape than the days of the Boer war.
That is a good Op name.
CSG? A DOZEN F 35’S, and a bunch of tomahawks lobbed from a submarine? It couldn’t strike a match.
You also wonder whether this will eventually lead to boots on the ground.
There have also been reports of UK SF in the area, we know US SF are currently operating there too.
I hope not, we do not want our forces involved in that snake pit..
23.01.2024Politics latest: Rishi Sunak doesn’t rule out ‘prolonged campaign’ against Houthis
“Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has told MPs the latest round of UK-US airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen was an act of self-defence – but he didn’t rule out a prolonged campaign. Sir Keir Starmer said Labour backed “targeted” action, but questions have been asked about its effectiveness.”
the problem is getting involved in a civil war…and ending up trying to run and hold a county in which everyone wants you to sod off…targeting and destroying Houthi capacity to attack shipping..ok…an ill defined war with the Houthi will, sap resources, sap will in the public and be used as a political warfare opportunity by our enemies….we would be falling into a trap set by our enemies.
Exactly, shades of Iraq spring to mind. And after Afghanistan, It’s the last thing the US would want, another long drawn out ground war.
Perhaps David Cameron could oversee it
It’s like Israel, these people have been at war with each other decades, it’s not a new problem. The world has turned a blind. Eye on it. But now that it’s hitting the stock exchange, it’s deemed important.
It’s not really his call either way. It comes down to what the US want to do. If they continue air strikes so will we, if they commit ground forces (they wont) so will we. All PM seem to want to look big on the world stage. We don’t however have the capability to do it alone, so will mirror the US.
then we WILL NEED OUR ASSAULT SHIPS to put them on the ground.
Not really, the only way ground forces would be deployed is if the yeman government supported it and that would open up airports to ship troops in and ports.
Don’t be daft. How would we maintain a bridgehead over the beach in Yemen??? Too many people living in the past here.
The whole country is a beach
What an idiotic thing to say.
I like it here. Not so happy when a W⚓R calls me an idiot
You dismiss Yemen as just a beach and think failed Ghurkas should be put in the Navy, ignoring the fact that as Hindus (generally) they are forbidden to cross the sea to foreign lands (the kala pandi that causes the loss of social respectability and the putrefaction of cultural chsracter) Perhaps not as taboo as before but you want to put them actually on ships. Yeh, mate, I’m the w@nker….
They do cross the sea to come to the umk to be n trained as soldiers. So make up your mind shouldn’t we use every opportunity to recruit sailors or not?
I have no time for the DEI garbage but it’s important to understand that although many/most people have no time for or understanding of religion it’s important to recognise that in some cultures it *is* important (and in some cultures it’s almost the only thing that is important.) Crossing the sea could result in a loss of status in the caste system and dispensation was needed to permit it. So although times have changed somewhat, to encourage the adherents of that culture to go to sea as a consolation prize (which is what it would be seen as) could be… Read more »
Thanks for the informed reply tw*t.
If taking the time and effort to educate and inform myself or acquire skills in order to understand that things aren’t as simple as we’d like them to be makes me a twit then I’ll take that.
The US has got itself involved in too many places support of Israel? Support to Taiwan, maintaining its own huge war machine. The American forces are complaining to Congress about miss overstretch the treasury is making noise for me severe pruning of their fleet so far up to 48 ships have been targeted for retirement before 2026. Congress is not signing off the order for the next ford class carrier. The whole LCS Classes are going, that is where the UK COULD PLAY A BLINDER, BUYING A HALF DOZEN OF THE FREEDOMS. Now THAT THE GEARBOX Issue HAVE BEEN REPLACED… Read more »
US ships all require more crew than UK versions. Not sure if that’s because the RN is cutting corners or not but it means the crew isn’t there to man US ships when the RN can’t man the ones it has.
The RN makes much more use of automation than USN.
Yep, but what we won’t know until a war breaks out, is if that automation was a good idea or just a cost saving measure. The finding behind the Nordic ships that crashed was that it happened because cctv was used instead of lookouts and that resulted in a reduction in awareness.
no one really has a choice on automation, we use to have 700+ crew on a heavy cruiser. 1500 on a battelship, no one has those numbers now. But its easier to put extra bodies on a ship that exist in a time of war than have no ship existing because we could not afford a crew
Some automation will for sure be a positive and way more efficient. Just a question of it if was all the case. I would imagine that the US would also try and automate as much as possible as they also have numbers issue and cost controls, just at a way higher level. And yet for whatever reason they have decided higher crews are needed. Could be for many reasons not related to war fighting but who knows.
Sadly used to, is long gone.
Watching the news today I think the dance of death has started at the red sea.
And does it far better than anyone else too
The u.s navy has always had overcrwed their shil
Yep, I just don’t know why. They have their own budget constraints so there will be a reason for it. No idea what their thinking is. All we know is the UK uses less.
And crew them with….who????
I like the name, “the wake” mate 👍
Nepales. The RN should offer place’s in 5 navy, to all the unsuccessful applications to get the 400 places in the British army. If a small percentage of the ten thousand of them took up the offer, we’d need more ships to put them on!
Monkeys!
The US. aree set to lose up to. 48 sshils by2926! Looks like the Americans are joining the the world that we are stuck in too many jobs, not enough ships and crews.
I hate it that the J.m has allowed itself to be a puppet whose strings are held by the Americans
He doesn’t rule out the endless point of giving the family jewels on the failing Ukraine issue.
no I’m Spartacus
I’m Spartacus
Soon to be unemployed man makes remarks about things he will not be able to influence soon. I don’t know what is worse. Roland Rat or Sir Fence Sitter.
Diane Abbott?
If it’s going to drag out, we should send a CSG,the french, Italian and Spanish should too.
correct we deffinately don’t. we’ve seen enough body bags of british soldiers coming back from that part of the world.iraq,kuwait,afghanistan. work on getting the saudis to do it for us.
UK SF will absolutely be on the ground. Based in Oman and launching clandestine reconnaissance and targeting, probably moving onto raids.
This is as far as it goes, we must absolutely ensure this goes no further than airstrikes, naval strikes and SF operations.
Agree, no need for anything more than SF on the ground, we can probably get in too a position for round the clock drone coverage able to knock out their launchers before they can fire. Just like we did to the Taliban in 2001 we can probably also rapidly degrade the rebels to the point that the Yemeni government can destroy them and we can put sufficient quarantine around them to stop Iran resupplying.
Morning Jim, with the exception of getting rid of of the C130J, the UK’s SF and SF support capability is the one area that’s actually grown instead of declining in defence.
A whole plethora of SF support units have been created, so we are in a good position for Special operations of this type.
Agree, our SF is in a pretty good place, overtime as technology replaces more people in the military we will probably find more and more forces be designated as SF.
my dads brother ‘mick’ reeves was a sargeant in the SAS he’s on wiki and was a bit of a legend within them he used to tell stories about missions carried out all around the world. he joked if he told too many tales they’d put him in the tower.
He spent years in Oman and Yemen said that it wasn’t b worth jack sh*t
Jim agreed however our SF organisations are now running at top speed, with fewer numbers! SFSG are now doing “nearly” the tier 1 jobs which a few years ago was not theirs to do! SF are going at it 24/7 and with a smaller army there’s a smaller recruitment pool, which leads to either less men per selection being “passed” or lower standards to ensure the same number passes! Top lads, hard working but getting a bit threaders from bouncing from one op to the next with little down time! Cheees mate 👍
Morning mate. Simply because of the amount of operations conducted in sandy places since the early 2000s, plus Sierra Leone. Example, 18 Sig Reg has a Sqn each for the SAS, SBS, SRR, and SFSG. Previously at the height of the Cold War only 264 and 63 (v) Sqns existed. If Labour withdraw to Europe and NATO, I fear for those assets too. Regards air support, 657 AAC was also cut previous to 47. For me a growth area, as you say, given the importance of the CT and Grey Zone areas, alongside the Rangers and FCF. I hope I’m… Read more »
If Trump comes in a pulls out of NATO labour might have little choice but to focus on Europe, that being said the Red Sea and Middle East is still very much Europe in labours thinking.
Labour wants two thing better relations with the EU and they want to keep high tech jobs rolling. AUKUS and GCAP are the two most important industrial projects in Britain they will be safe.
CSG 28 might not be going to the pacific, other than that not much will change.
Hi Jim.
I’d take that, actually.We need to be in the ME.
Agree, we can live without iPads from Asia but gas from Qatar is pretty vital.
Indeed. I would rather we take over the American role in the Med in the event of a China war than try to show off and put a carrier on the other side of the world.
Practical assistance should be chosen over willy-waving.
The Med is pretty hot right now with the Israel conflict. Syria is still going and Iraq has things happening too. It would be a huge commitment to ‘take over’ from the Americas, requiring far more Typhoons in cypress and probably a carrier on station at all times.
Yes, it would be a big commitment to take over from the US, but entirely achievable, from a NATO perspective. Not sure why UK should have to do it alone though. We could put more Typhoons into Akrotiri, along with some US F15s. It’s only about 240nm from Cyprus to Gazaz well within their operating range. As for carriers, there is the UK, France and Italy who could contribute on a rotating basis. That would free up the US carrier in the Eastern med. In fact didn’t we just sign some form of cooperative arrangement with the French wrt use… Read more »
Trump isn’t pulling out of nato. If he had any interest in doing that he would have done last time. His all talk, like Mexico paying for the wall.
All true but this is likely to be a different Trump presidency.
He’ll still be the most dangerous thing on the planet.
Morning Daniele, totally agree, it’s a bizzar situation to be in that we massively increase forces that come under the wider SF umbrella, then virtually eliminate it’s specialist transport, like 47 Sqn’s C130’s. Twenty years back, I regularly shot alongside a 47 Sqn pilot, (whilst obviously never saying where), he quite often used to chuckle and say you simply wouldn’t believe me if I told you were we landed last week! Loosing 47’s specialist capability was a mistake, one that will bite us on the arse, of that I am sure. One can only summise they are heavily reliant on… Read more »
It was imbecilic, in my view. One of our gold standard assets ( UKSF ) that are in demand, appreciated by the US, with a world wide reputation. So we ditch their enablers.
No point going into the Atlas debate again, it’s been done to death and like every other dwindling resource can not be in two places at once nor properly replace Hercules in its niche 47 role.
Absolutely, apart from its physical size, you only have see an A400 flying low tactical profiles, to realise you hear it well before you see it, it makes one hell of a racket!
Hardly conducive to sneaking its an unfriendly country, landing on a road somewhere to pick up/drop off assets, something 47 sqn used to excel at….
We need to buy a dedicated fleet of 12 C130J’s for 47sqn, perhaps along with the ‘gunship light’ kit, of wing mounted targeting and rear door mounted bushmaster.
Agree, in an ideal world.
Buy a fleet of airplanes that were just sold!? Sounds so illogical it will probably happen actually.
This is the time to have still have had tornado l.
Just about every decision the , the U.K has made over the last forty years has come back to bite us
Hmmmme So if we withdraw for these operations and become ‘good Europeans’ then how precisely are our LNG supplies going to efficiently get to us? There is only so much tanker capacity in the world and that allows for so many ship miles per annum. If you are always taking the long way round the number of journeys declines, supply falls, prices go up. OK ATM USA is exporting lots but given how insular their thinking is it is a worry. Also the idea that UK gas is all exported – there are significant transit costs in shoring it offshore.… Read more »
If you read what he wrote he is very much in favour of the UK staying in the Middle East.
Sport should have been clearer I was referring to Labour’s ‘defence’ policy…….
I think we may need to break out the broomsticks soon.
SB, I knew you were. I know by now after all these years we share the same scepticism over what Labour might do.
Do labour have a defence policy? I wonder what bit is.
He knows, Jim. That’s not how I took his reply. 👍
Officially the manifesto has not been released, there are strands at the moment but Starmer is basically saying nothing and letting the Tories destroy themselves.
Funny how the MOD trumpets the multi national exercises but we are against the nation kof a combined European defence organisation
Spot on mate, the supporting arms are now, and going to be supporting a smaller “teeth” arm within SF. Previous commitments have forced an increase of these groups but with a reducing army and a reduced perceived operations area, there is a reducing need and a reduced recruitment pool, for all SF organisations. And as I have alluded to in another reply, I am fully aware that SFSG role has increased, albeit quietly and not quite publicly, to a more pro active tier 1 type activity in which it was not initially intended for! But the blokes are good and… Read more »
Hello my friend.
I’d noted that, but had seen you post occasionally.
As always..Respect.
And you 👍
Air support was the harrier and tornado bread and butter job they’d have been perfect for the Yemen.
I don’t think Harrier would get anywhere near to Yemen without carriers, and I doubt Oman would give permission to use its territory. Tornado, I agree, another cut where the capability has been replaced, but not the aircraft.
supporting anybody against britain should be made a dangerous game indeed it might notbe too long before our sights are trained on them. as they should have been years ago. they’re no different to saddam hussein.
Let’s hope unlike 2001, and the Talibs we get the job done and leave! We should have left Afghan in no later than 2003 as AQ, who were the real enemy not the Taliban, had moved back to East Africa by then mate! And agreed with the drone coverage, atm little need for SF boots on the ground doing surveillance as we have plenty of tech stand off assets to do the work!
our special forces will already be there.i’ve no doubt if only for searching out targets for elimination from the air.
I would hope even this incompetent government has enough sense to keep ground troops out of this mess. Short of a permanent occupation the problem can’t be removed.
I’d rather we focus on cutting our oil dependency, accept the hit on rerouting shipping away from Suez, cut all dependencies on the middle east and just let the bastards fight it out for centuries to come while we stay out of it.
I agree Marked, my concern is if we get dragged into a ground war with the USA. I’m sure this might have happened at some point in the past 😜
Probably not able to deploy without U.S. assistance and given how few aircraft she could add The RAF is more than capable of selected sorties.
I would imaging they could put a squadron on there, which is plenty..the issue would be they want to have 2 squadrons for the 2025 deployment and if they deploy 617 squadron now it’s not going to be able to turn around and regenerate ready for deployment in 2025…which would mean only one squadron for the 2025 deployment.
Just one squadron of F35B would run out of targets pretty fast and could provide some over head persistence but in this instance would be much better to deploy with a USMC squadron and an RN/RAF squadron as well. If the US gets to pull back a CSG and ARG for 6 months the least they can do is lend us a squadron and a destroyer.
Actually last time the USN pulled all its carriers out of the region two years ago it beefed up USMC and USAF squadrons in the region to compensate.
A USMC gator carrier would be fine for this job. Just as QEC would be.
USN may well request RN provide a QE class carrier for duty sometime during 2024, either in the Eastern Med or in/around Red Sea. If that proves to be the case, believe USMC/USN would be obligated to provide all support deemed necessary, including, but not limited to: squadron(s) of F-35Bs, any necessary tanker and ISTAR assets, solid stores vessel(s), surface escort(s), and an SSN. Believe Eastern Med to be a more probable request at the moment, since it would be a deterrence mission to reduce stress on USN in Euro-Atlanric theater. Speculate that this is the type of scenario originally… Read more »
If the USN is providing all the assets for a CSG, they can provide the actual carrier itself. Even if it’s an LHA with F-35’s.
May be able to accomplish same effect w/ multiple LHA/LHD, if available, but a single vessel will not have the same capacity as a big deck carrier. If selected for this mission, would anticipate a complement of 24-36 F35Bs.
There was design work done on this early in relation to the performance of the Invincible class over Bosnia and it was found to be too small to significantly dominate a region. It was one of the driving forces for making the Queen Elizabeth this size it is.
I think that that is the point Chris, the US are severely stretched in terms of CVN availability. They need the pressure easing, there are 4 other NATO carriers (including the French), which, don’t appear to be doing much of the burden sharing.
Yes a US CVN has far more capability than the others, but an increase in fighters out of Akrotiri could offset that.
Yes, USN has allowed multiple deficits to develop which need to be addressed, especially in the case of coordinated, simultaneous actions in different theaters by multiple opponents. USAF will be able to address some, but not all, maritime issues. Firmly believe a crisis is coming which will require all hands on deck, the only question is precisely when.
The USA has plenty of aircraft and enough escorts, they are shot on carrier hulls especially large ones. That’s why we need to step up, that’s what QE class was built for, that’s why it’s can operate US aircraft as well as our own.
We are short on aircraft and escorts.
👍
…Euro-Atlantic…🙄
I posted something further up, but agree the Eastern med would be the more likely scenario. A Sqn or two of Typhoons and the same for F15SE out of Akrotiri, and a rolling deployment of UK, Italian and French carriers would/should suffice imo. Am of the firm belief that the rest of NATO (maritime assets) should be stepping up to assist in any way they can to alleviate the pressures on the USN. Would go a long way to redressing the notion that we rely to much on the US(which we do). The US always has a SSN in the… Read more »
👍 (Suspected but couldn’t confirm USN permanently assigns a SSN to the Med.)
Would be a good all round solution.
👍
We have deployed 20,000 soldiers to Oman right next door on several occasions with no assistance from Uncle Sam.
But this is not a British war, it’s a war against the international community. It’s not our job to go in solo only contribute to international coalition operations.
The french and Italians should be doing a shar they are not.
Agree
I believe it’s likely we are to replace the US carrier, they already had to replace their CVN in eastern Med and they are struggling to keep another in the 5th fleet area while meeting pacific commitments. Queen Elizabeth class was literally tailor made for such a situation and very much designed from the outset to support US carrier persistence in the Indo pacific. The USMC can easily put a squadron onboard and lend us a destroyer as could Australia and the Netherlands who are all participating. Bahrain is onboard also so we can support resupply ops form their without… Read more »
I ageee the Eisenhower was meant to replace Ford in the eastern med..Ford has had to go home with nothing covering the eastern med..which now has two wars going on…unless the U.S. decides to strip back from having 4 ready carriers in the pacific ( which it will not do under anything other than the most pressing need ) there is a big hole….it many be time for the UK to carrier up.
I believe our two carriers plus the America class was the reason the USN decided it could do with less carriers. A CVN is a massive over kill for dealing with rebels and an ARG is far more effective for rescuing citizens from Israel than a CSG.
The QE class is a nice blend of the two, ideal for our needs and able to replace a CVN if enough aircraft are onboard. QE class with 24 F35 onboard is more capable than a Nimitz class with 40 F18 onboard.
Agreed and to be honest the Red Sea/ gulf of Aden, probably does not need more that 12 F35Bs to manage..The Eisenhower is probably better placed to act as a stabiliser around the eastern Mediterranean as that is were its very hot at present. The UK did after all invest in these carriers for a reason and that reason is occurring…I think people will being to ask valid questions around what is the point if we do not deploy them…the set piece deployments are all lovely, but the point of a set piece deployment is to show capacity and deter….it… Read more »
“QE class with 24 F35 onboard is more capable than a Nimitz class with 40 F18 onboard.”
Downright comical. No it’s not.
What’s the exchange rate at red flag between F35 and 4th Gen aircraft, 20.1
Not a big difference, but they carry 48 F-18E/Fs (or mix with F-35Cs) plus a squadron of EA-18Gs plus 4 E-2 AWACs planes. I think the QE could be surged to 48 aircraft as well – but in the 80s nimitz classes normally deployed with over 70 fighter/strike aircraft (they weren’t multi-role though which meant they needed more on board). Im curious if they would ever surge with 70-80 aircraft in the future if a war broke out in the pacific. i’d love to see how that looked. i know during the iraq war they turned some of their LHD… Read more »
Would have been good to have ocea with the treated deck to allow the F 35. To operate from it.
You would only get 2 or 3 F35Bs on the deck of Hms Ocean! A F35B is bigger, occupying 15% more by area, but more than twice the weight of a Harrier!
So the deck would need to be reinforced.
I didn’t know that my horse was a blacksmith, until I turned my back and it made a bolt for the door.😁😁😁.
Agree.
It would be daft to use Bahrain as a supply / support base as to do so you need to Transit the Straits of Hormuz. It’s way worse than the Straits of Bab-Al Bandai is only 20 miles wide Its the IRGC back yard and 33% of the Worlds LNG and 25% of it Oil go through it. So turning it into a war zone is best avoided they have 000’s of missiles, mines and swarm suicide boats.🥴 However I am happy to say that HMG (RN) can read a map and have an alternative which is nearer and has… Read more »
Yes but you should be aware that Bahrain in conjunction with Canada, Australia and the Netherlands are supporting US and UK operations in the Red Sea and Oman is not.
That’s why we can’t use the Joint Logistics Support Base at Al Duqm.
Either way if the burden of the mission flight time could be greatly reduced..by having a carrier to operate from, halving the Physical strain put onto the pilots would make them more efficient in the target zone l. It beggars belief that both QE and POW are sitting in Portsmouth.
What would be the point, given that Eisenhower is already there with plenty of capacity to launch sorties?
As Jim points out it would sort of depend on what the US would also want to be doing with their carriers…the focus of the US carrier fleet for the past few years have very much moved from lots of active deployments to making sure it’s carriers are at operational readiness..with a specific focus of having round 4 carriers at operational readiness ands available to operate in the western pacific if China kicks off.. At present the U.S. only has 3 carriers deployed 1) Eisenhower in the gulf of Aden/Red Sea area supporting activity against the Houthi/protecting shipping in the… Read more »
Much the same as our issues with the T23 program after continued delays to T26 the massive delays caused by the Ford class will continue to impact the CVN readiness rate. As they already have a 50 year life cycle it’s hard to see how much they can be extended via LIFEX. The USN also has limited ability to conduct nuclear refueling. Time for the rest of NATO+ to step up, a QE deployment as part of a joint task force with a mixed USMC/RN air group is the prefect way to do this even if we have to cancel… Read more »
Indeed, as the U.S. pointed out it does actually need to preserve the reactor fuel in its carrier fleet…at present the can only refuel around one carrier every 6-7 years..where as it planned for refuels to take around 3 years…Stennis started in 2021 and Reagan is due to start in 2029….then we go to the fords….The Ford itself is still not really up to high intensity ops ( it’s catapult still fails after 500 launches) the Kennedy is not due to be delivered until 2025 so operational readiness is not until 2026/27 if nothing slips…the original plan was for it… Read more »
I believe the 10 carrier decision was primarily based on the assumption of A) America Class standing in as lightning carriers and B) Queen Elizabeth class rotating into the 5th fleet area.
It will take decades to reverse if ever given the cost and time of building Ford class. The US would be better off building more America class.
They’ve had the catapult issue on the Ford sorted out for a while now- since before its first deployment. this cruise was its second iirc.
That’s not really true Patrick..the USN changed the metric to suit the failure and try and hide the problem..the DOT@E ( director of test and evaluation for the DOD) made or very clear that changing how you measure and report something does not change the problem and the DOT@T we’re going to keep holding the navy to account for the failure rate ( which is still as far as any report I have seen still every 600 or so sorties)…as of June 2023 the DOT@E still held the catapult as a primary risk to the carrier…and was firmly ignoring the… Read more »
thanks, i’ll read more into it.
More timely news. I wonder when the new engines will be available to us and the cost per air-frame. FOC? No doubt we will not be the first in the queue. F-35 to get Meteor, SPEAR 3 ‘by end of decade’23 January 2024 The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning should receive additional UK-specific weapons “by the end of the decade”, the government said on 16 January. “Answering questions in the House of Commons, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) James Cartlidge said that, with the MBDA AIM-132 Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) and the RTX Paveway 4 precision-guided… Read more »
Meanwhile! Germany to equip Eurofighters with Brimstone23 January 2024 “Germany is to equip its Eurofighter combat aircraft with the MBDA Brimstone air-to-surface missile, the government revealed on 17 January. Revealed in Bundeswehr budgetary documents disclosed by Der Spiegel, the Luftwaffe intends to acquire 274 of the low-yield missiles to equip its Eurofighter fleet, with a contract to be awarded in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024. No further details of the planned procurement were disclosed, but with the Brimstone requiring the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) capability package, the missile will be compatible with all of the Luftwaffe’s 70 Tranche 2,… Read more »
We know Austria isnt going to order them. Does it not only use its tranche 1 typhoons with 1 irst missile for air policing only.
As for the missile east countries what weapons do they use?
Good evening Mr Spanker,
A question for Mr GOOGLE me thinks!
I think we are going to ask the Houthi to hold off till 2025.
Now that’s what you call political warfare..ask your your enemies nicely to hold off doing anything bad until you are good ready and prepared….do you mind awfully not shelling us until we have dug this trench….
We should borrow a couple of escorts, get Victoria to sea, put 8 UK and 8 USMC F-35B on QE and relieve USS Eisenhower. Chance to help out US-UK relations and prove the value of the carriers. But hey, why do sonething useful when you can have a pre- war style grand Imperial tour.
Agree the best way to show the use of the carriers to the British public is having them protect shipping coming to the Uk from attack..the best way to send a deterrent message to china,Iran, Russia etc is to have the carrier working in a kinetic opp…not saving it for a world tour….
if there were plans afoot i’d have expected one to be there. conducting real missions in a threat environment. is the best way to test the ship,its crew, the systems, and its ability to do what it was designed for. its like letting ggrass grow too long then finding out that the mower won’t start.
They won’t give up even after 1,000 sorties. The guy with the election year comment nailed it in one.
We should have retained the Vulcans and then carpet bomb the buggers
Just the job for an unarmed defense less target to be sent into.
Anyone know how many US jets were committed to the strike?
22 F18s I believe.
Thanks. More than I expected. I could not find the figure anywhere.
The Eisenhower was commissioned over 48 years ago. and as yet hasn’t operated the F35. The deployment of the C variant is taking even longer than the F35B. Interesting that UK has opted for long range Typhoon missions from Cyprus rather than carrier strike.
F-35Cs are currently being committed to PACOM based carriers until the numbers build up.
If you just want the odd raid it’s cheaper to use Cyprus, the USN has a carrier there now, no need for us. It’s likely we will now be looking at deploying later in the year to replace the USN assets in region. If we rushed the Queen Elizabeth class down there now it would have nothing to do and in 6 months time when the USN was pulling back we would have nothing to send and nor would they.
Both Carriers are in Portsmouth.
RN fleet management has been awful. Last year BOTH carriers were at sea at the same time. Now neither are deployable. It shouldn’t be too difficult to have one at a medium state of readiness.
Operating both at the same time strains other assets; RFA, crew services, transportation, logistics.
No real excuses for this.
The typhoons are already there, in Cyprus with munitions forward deployed. The 4 typhoons, 2 Voyagers strike package is now quite familiar. It’s a long range flight probably requiring multiple AAR. Hats off to the typhoon pilots. That’s a long time in the cockpit.
Distance from Cyprus to Yemen
2,643 km 1642.284 miles both ways
The fastest way to get from Cyprus to Yemen is to fly which takes 8h 26m both ways plus loitering time over the target area.
A UCAV would seem like an ideal platform for these types of missions.
Make a stealthish aircraft able to fly at fast jet cruise speed with the ability to carry a storm shadow or 4 bombs or brimstone and fly a few thousand miles. From Cyprus they can cover a lot of trouble spots.
Agreed. I think it was called TARANIS at the time which turned into a demonstrator. And guess what, after turning out to be a great success, the funding for phase 3 was pulled.
All very cutting edge at the time and most probably still is.
TARANIS was a technology demonstrator. It was never intended to enter operational service.
As per the original Plan. Flight testing “On 25 October 2013, the UK Ministry of Defence revealed that initial flight tests had already taken place. Ground tests were conducted in 2010 and flight trials occurred in 2013. The MoD did not officially comment on the Taranis until the initial trials programme had been completed. On 5 February 2014, BAE revealed information on the Taranis’ flight tests. The UCAV’s first flight occurred on 10 August 2013 at Woomera Test Range in South Australia. This flight lasted for approximately 15 minutes. A second sortie was launched on 17 August, and subsequent flights… Read more »
It might work out for a Formula 1, but I don’t see a Typhoon going at 330 km/h
“The drone above, called the Taranis, is one of the most cutting-edge drones in production. Capable of reaching speeds of more than 700 mph, it could come and go without anyone on the ground noticing it, but for the sound of its sonic boom.”
Taranis was a Prototype design Concept…. It’s not being produced.
Hello Frank, I know, The funding for it stopped. Initially, it was designed as a UCAV to fly autonomously or as a Loyal Wingman and to be operational around 2030 with the RAF. GOV.UK 2009 “Taranis has been designed to be an unmanned, stealthy autonomous combat aircraft ultimately capable of delivering weapons to a battlefield in another continent. it will be able to hold an adversary at continuous risk of attack; to penetrate deep inside hostile territory, find a target, facilitate either kinetic or non kinetic influence upon it, assess the effect achieved, and provide intelligence back to commanders. Originally… Read more »
I think the Eisenhower will be decommissioned by 2027. So not worth upgrading anymore.
The new John. F. Kennedy will be deployed to the Pacific next year with a Squadron of F35C, as well as FA-18.
I had forgotten how old the Eisenhower is. For non peer operations, the F18 is more than adequate and remains popular with the USN because of its serviceability and relatively low operating costs. I wonder how long it will remain in service alongside the F35C?
The carriers need updated engineering facilities to operate F35C. It’s not a simple case of sticking the jet on the carrier and off you go. Nothing is straightforward when it comes to carrier aviation
If US and UK Defense Officials really believe that these very expensive pinprick attacks against expendable, cheap targets are going to stop religious fanatics who embrace martyrdom, then they are living in a false reality. Unfortunately, escalation where the Houthis are really hurt is the only military response that might succeed. And that might take massive air strikes against Houthi infrastructure that will affect civilians.
Unfortunately I agree with you, they are not going to stop this…and Iran will keep feeding them drones and missiles…I think this is going to end in a longer term commitment and bombing campaign.
Did RAF Bomber Command cause the Hitler to surrender? Did the Blitz cause Londoners to turn on Churchill? From the bombing of Somaliland to Napalm in Vietnam, bombing campaigns don’t have a stellar record on forcing a policy change in other countries. Especially if they don’t have a boots on the ground component.
There’s usually an exception to the rule, but I’m struggling to think of it.
I remember reading somewhere in the distant past that the Nazi regime thought that if the allies had firebombed more cities in the way they did Dresden then there would have been a complete collapse of morale within the population which would have made it difficult for the regime to continue and finished the war sooner.
The allies though had scruples and there was lots nervousness about the casualties it would of caused as it may have been entering war crime territory.
I believe the Nazi comments attributed to Gerbals were in 1943 after the Hamburg raid.
The British did try and replicate Hamburg again but failed to produce another fire storm then switched their attention to Berlin which was largely a waste of time.
By the time of Dresden German moral was largely irrelevant, much of the country was already occupied and it was clear the Nazis would fight to the end.
Thanks Jim for correcting my dodgy memory I knew I’d heard it somewhere just couldn’t remember the exact details
regards
Hiroshima, Nagasaki. 🤔😉
I can five you some examples 1) the colonial control of Mesopotamia and other airs of Uk control between 1919 and 1939..in which the Uk exerted control and reduced the need to fight bush wars using air power. 2) The destruction of the third Reichs ability to make war..through the destruction of its industrial capacity as just one example of this bombing probably reduced capacity of German tank production by around 2500 vehicles in 1944..with some specific tanks plans have 80% damage…panzer IV production was often hit and significant bottle necks created in engine production by targeting the Maybach transmission… Read more »
but apart from those…. 😉
Although Im not too sure of the 1st one…still I suppose there weren’t camel borne anti aircraft guns available
Three of those examples are Iraq, which I believe is partly where we are still bombing ISIS. 100 years of bombing. Unfortunately that illustrates what can happen if you don’t change will and only change ability. ISIS attacks were down again last year, but as soon as we stop, the clock starts ticking to the next flare up.
Not that I have any handy alternatives to offer. If kicking the can down the road is all we have…
Sometimes all you can do at that time is reduce capacity…the whole issue of the Houthi and wider groups is a bigger problem that has developed over decades and been very mismanaged my many different groups for their own gains..that needs both a massive political warfare approach ( heart), giving people better options for a good life ( mind) and blowing the crap out of our intractable enemies….(in the end some people will always hate and violence is inevitable)…all you can do is try and reduce the level and frequency of violence with good policy, politics warfare, making as many… Read more »
Their not trying to change their mind their trying to destroy their weapons. They have a limited supply of such weapons and it’s difficult for Iran to resupply them now.
It is pointless to attack the Houthis, it is Iran that should be attacked.
You may well be right. Unfortunately that’s a much bigger war and I don’t think the West has the appetite. Perhaps we need to develop grey zone tactics to hit Iran.
I don’t disagree…but kicking of that war is not something the west can really manage, in the realms of political, material and public will we are just to exposed…if the west had to engage in a major war with Iran..others are waiting,..it would be an ideal time for china to attack Taiwan ( and we know they are looking at when is the best time),…Russia may also then think what the hell lets see if we can nip of a Baltic state or three..North Korea would undoubtedly have a go if china and iran were at war… The west has… Read more »
We can try and diminish/deplete the stockpiles of their weapons, and at least that should reduce the number of attacks they can carry out.
But you are right in the fact that it is difficult to defeat ‘non-state’ militias.
We have our hands tied by a judging media and the left-leaning X (Twitter) mob who always seem to side with whoever we are fighting.
However, militia mobs like the Houthis/Hamas have no such restrictions.
We have to keep hitting them until they stop attacking merchant ships. At least we’ll try as hard as possible to avoid collateral damage, unlike the Russian & seeming Israeli bomb & kill everything approach. Yemen really needs peace.
When peace starts falling apart, if you’ve been underfunding your forces it soon starts to fall apart & cost lives needlessly.
I don’t think there is any hope of peace for Yeman to be honest..unless one side destroys the other…they have been fighting each other for 10 years and the two sides only wish is to see the other dead.
We have been pretty successful against ISIS for 10 years with close to zero collateral damage. These guys are firing ballistic and cruise missiles, those are not small and they are in a near complete desert environment. It’s not like we are trying to find IED factories.
Our Airforce especially typhoon with Brimestone and Paveway IV is tailor made for this job
He meant the ongoing campaign of airstrikes, not the ground war. The airstrikes do indeed seem to have worked well with near-zero civilian casualties.
The RAF documentary, though glossing over the failures in the service, did show combat ops very well.
I am talking about air war too.
There was no propaganda source in the ground with access to media compared to Ukraine or even less Israel.
Operation Inherent Resolveby October 2019
Between 8,214 and 13,125 civilians killed by Coalition airstrikes in Syria and Iraq (per Airwars) –
continued.
1,335 civilians killed by Coalition Operations (per Coalition)
From wiki.
This don’t appears in the “news” so as usual news distorts what happens by what it shows and what it does not.
Wow are you quoting wiki as a reliable source 😀
So you expect more than 30000 air attacks to not have some with serious mistakes?
“Between 8,214 and 13,125”
It is ludicrous to use numbers to a precision of 4 and 5 significant figures as the lower and upper limits over a range of almost 5000 it MIGHT indicate a lack of reliability. It certainly says that the source does not understand maths.
Just a wider point: yet again UK politicians are very quick at volunteering UK forces, but very slow at funding defence and all that entails. At best there is a high level of ignorance amongst many in power in the UK (at worst the undermining of the UK may even be deliberate). However, I think the thin veneer of competence, across all sorts of Government activities, has finally slipped and many ordinary people are finally starting to twig.
Understand your comment but it really doesn’t matter whether they twig or not. Joe Public is ill-informed, distracted, divided and not inclined to investigate. Only people in the know, know how perilous the situation in our armed forces is now with essential equipment shortages, pie in the sky in service dates and loss of experienced personnel. Joe P won’t be interested until bombs are dropping in his back garden, the forces are so far removed from his/hers/theirs perception.
Yes that is indeed the danger. However, events like the Post Office, Manchester Paedo rings, Blood transfusion etc. etc. are all adding into a clear picture of systemic incompetence of politicians, civil service, and industry over the years. The Public do wake up when they see a good telly programme if somebody is brave enough to make it. A root and branch shake out is what is needed. If the Public twig that, then there is a chance for some good to come out of it.
Oh, perhaps the BBC would make a programme on the state of UK forces…. NOT!
CSG21 took most of a year and involved one of our new carriers plus other nations’ navies, travelled thousands of miles, many port visits, etc. And what was the coverage from the BBC? Zilch.
Ethnically I identify as Welsh (Ancient Briton-99%), although I was born and live in England. So of the 2-3 million Welsh, I am now an ethnic minority in the UK, Mainstream BBC content in England contains no Welsh content; no Welsh history; no Welsh culture. It is therefore not surprising there is no meaningful patriotic content – be it military events or other important topics outside of the BBC’s “narrative.” They have also dropped “Ukraine” and coverage of the actual war there, like a hot potato. Shame on them and no wonder UK military have a recruitment crises. Something that… Read more »
The whole nation is infected by a kind of mental covid; stuck in a psychological groove. Pope Francis said last week that politicians are ‘possessed’. I guess the modern diagnosis would be some malign delusion of unreality; an unbreakable fusion of OCD and PTSD ; a seemingly permanent obsessive state of frustration and resentment – a top down malaise which has been transmitted to all the public services. We are destroying ourselves. Lord West and Richard Dannat can see what is happening. Wakey, wakey…Is anyone listening?
It’s been like this for years – certainly post WWII. It is not just a creeping malaise. Let’s face it lots of people, especially those in power, have no idea of the UK’s history and capability, and are also – frankly – thick. There is also another component, as the late Alan Clarke MP said in his diaries about his time in Defence and the Foreign Office: “there are people here working actively, 24/7, to undermine the UK and her interests.”
I agree your point about history. Those in power select the school history curriculum so as to reinforce their position. My own opinion is that there is not enough emphasis on the early middle ages, the period where England, Scotland and Ireland came into being as ( Christian) nation states: Aethelstan, McAplin and Brian Bru. As regards how long we have suffered from our malaise; i would date it from the English civil war; the time when we tore ourselves apart. Nations go through bereavement just like individuals. Empire was how we kept busy doing something useful with the anger… Read more »
Yes, the politics of history and how we selectively interpret it is a dangerous thing.
I myself would like to see schools study these Isles and their people. Especially the origins. How we all used to come together in ancient times for a Winter festival, Scotland pre-Scotti (Govan in Glasgow used to be basically Welsh!). All children should be made to watch the films of Leslie Howard – a true patriot of these Isles.
People are aware politicians are hopeless. Yet still vote for the same ones. Yet still surprised when the politicians are still hopeless and gutless…..
Some potential good news on that front. “The UK plans additional variants of the Boxer armoured vehicle, Janes learnt at the International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference being held in London from 22 to 25 January. The first priority is to order Boxer Repair and Recovery Vehicle, Armoured Mortar Vehicle, and Armoured Vehicle Launched Bridge variants in 2024, with initial operating capabilities (IOCs) at the end of the decade. This could be followed later by the Serpens Deep Find radar, Mounted Close Combat Overwatch (MCCO) anti-tank vehicles, and counter-unmanned aircraft system vehicles, and if the UK selects it for the… Read more »
Thanks. I think that may be the first ordered variant breakdown I’ve seen that includes the extra 100 Boxers.
👍🇬🇧
As usual, the number of C2 vehicles is an eye opener compared to infantry carriers, which must surely be priority given how few mechanized infantry Bns we will have left after Warrior.
“The first prototype of the Challenger 3 main battle tank (MBT) will begin trials in the coming weeks, Janes learnt on the first day of Defence iQ’s International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference being held in London from 22 to 25 January. The MBT will feature Epsom armour and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Trophy-MV (Medium Vehicle) armour protection system (APS), a fully digitised turret, and Rheinmetall’s 120 mm L55A1 smoothbore gun, which conducted its first firing in 2023. The UK’s Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation announced on 18 January that it had awarded Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) a… Read more »
Brilliant. Pity we’re only having 2…..(!)
Any tracked versions amongst those?
I’m not sure but clearly possible.
“The BOXER tracked was developed to meet current international requirements and addresses the need for a small logistics footprint, low costs and a simple digital operating concept. More than 20 mission modules are already available thanks to the interface commonality with the wheel-based BOXER system.”
Well lets hope we get some then.
Boxer seems a decent piece of kit. Sobering that we couldn’t make such a vehicle ourselves given Finland (4-5m pop) can. (Patria APC)
As long as there is takeaways and Premier League on the TV most people don’t care about anything. “Bread and circuses”. The Roman Emperors knew this.
We are sleepwalking to disaster.
Ill informed….allow an example. Colleague (young female paramedic) watching news in crewroom on situation in MidEast…..”so is Gaza the capital of Israel then?” This is why I despair.
Cyprus SBA’s showing their worth yet again. Seems like this 4 Typhoon, 2 Voyager package is in bombing range of 90% of the world population of angry fundamentalists.
Yep but let’s be honest that’s pretty pathetic really.☹️ What would make sense is to offer to loan it to the USAFE for a while. A squadron of F15E packs some clout or some Lancers.
I do have to wonder if anyone in MOD regrets scrapping the Tornado GR4A ?
I think its in proportion to our capabilites in the region. Anything more at this stage and we could be accused of being an aggressor. We aren’t at war with Yemen or the Yemeni people.
That is the question, why not since they attacked British ships?
Nope. Typhoon can do everything GR4 could do and much, much more.
Like?
Like. Being a true multi role platform with air dominace capability. Along with StormShadow, Brimstone, Paveway 4, Litening 5 targeting/recce pod. ASRAAM, Meteor.
A whole FOUR Typhoons…..
It’s a real tough one this. There are Billions of Dollars worth of international warships patrolling in the area, prepared to fire off million dollar munitions to cover the possibility that, on any particular day, a couple of dudes in a pickup might roll up and fire off a relatively cheap missile or drone at a passing ship.
Yet again the great “democracies” go to war without congressional or parliamentary approval. I suppose call me Dave wasn’t going to make that mistake again since he was cockblocked from helping ISIS to overrun Syria.
They don’t need parlimentary approval & they haven’t gone to war.
Exactly
Ah, a special military operation?
If you prefer to think of it like that then please feel free to carry on.
We are going to get dragged into a regional conflict.
Bombing doesn’t work unless it is part of a larger joint operation.
When Trump is back in the White House in Jan 2025 hopefully US (and it follows UK) involvement in the Middle East ends.
The Western power is based on control of the seas all over the world.
If West lets Houthis take the Red Sea then the narrative of last 70 years is lost.
It might be the best decision, but first we must understand what it means.
Outside of the US and UK, none of our ‘allies’ seem much concerned with losing control of the Red Sea.
The same ones thought the US and UK were lying about Russia planning to invade Ukraine. How’d that work out.
👍Certainly!
If so, a fair part of Egypt’s economy goes south as Suez tolls are lost and our economy takes a hit as the additional cost of driving a single container ship around S.Africa (is RSA friendly? Better hope so) instead of the Red Sea is an extra million dollars. Per ship, per trip. And of course these ships are going to be doing fewer trips.
Working in the MoD trends department back in the day it was becoming increasingly clear that due to UK demographics, our direct military involvement in the Middle East would be ending around 2022-2028.
UK demographics need to change back prontos or intervening or not in the ME will be the least of our problems.
this is not the time to find out we don’t have enough jets. these missions are exactly wat typhoon excelled at so another mistake in retiring them comes back to bite us.
This is actually what the Tornado excelled at. It was designed for long range strikes from the go.
Except. We won’t use T1 Typhoons for such strikes because they are far from the latest avionic standard.
I believe (might be wrong) they are the basic Air Defence subtype. Perfectly good for shooing away Russian Bears. But then, so would BAE Hawks and probably a lot cheaper. I think (**naivety alert**) we should build or buy Gos/hawks as the RAF/RN have long experience of using them (Hawks) and could be put on a carrier. I’m sure there is a shedload of reasons not to do this however. But we have not enough planes of any kind so a cheaper (?) adjunct should be an considered. (I remember seeing the notion of buying F/A-18s thoroughly and rightly shot… Read more »
You’d think putting them into service as our basic Air Defence would be an idea, wouldn’t you?
Completely off topic, saw a headline from Reuters that Germany is donating six Sea Kings to Ukraine. Good logistical idea and should tie in nicely with the UK’s three Sea Kings. Disappointing that Aus here couldn’t donate the ex-Army Taipans but maybe it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.
…wonder how many of the UK’s Sea Kings sent to Ukraine are left? Bet they served well.
I hope we’ve enough bombs of our own and that we didn’t give them all to the Ukraine.
It’s magnificent to see how well the T45 is performing it certainly reinforces the order of just six was a joke I think the next RN destroyer should be a batch 2 version. Type 83 is going to be a elephant in the room that the defense budget will suffer for.