The Royal Air Force Red Arrows are to receive new jets to replace their ageing Hawk aircraft as part of a £360 million recapitalisation of the military’s jet training system, the Defence Investment Plan said.
The plan committed the money to what it called the full recapitalisation of the Jet Training System, intended to deliver both sovereign and international training with what it described as a significant UK workshare, and said the new aircraft would also let the Red Arrows retire the Hawk, a change it said would go on “inspiring young generations for decades to come.”
The commitment comes as the strain on the Hawk fleet has become hard to hide. The Red Arrows have flown the Hawk T1 since 1979 and are now the type’s only remaining operator, and this year the team cut most of its displays from the famous nine-jet Diamond formation to seven aircraft to ease the load on airframes that are due to leave service around 2030, a visible sign of a fleet running down.
The bigger problem the plan is trying to solve is the advanced training of the RAF’s future fast-jet pilots, which is carried out on the more modern Hawk T2 at RAF Valley on Anglesey under the UK Military Flying Training System. That fleet of twenty-eight aircraft entered service from 2012 but has been dogged by engine reliability problems that have limited how many jets are available on any given day, and the Strategic Defence Review last year called for both marks of Hawk to be replaced by a single cost-effective trainer, with the work prioritising British industry.
The plan does not name the aircraft that will replace the Hawk, and the choice is expected to be settled through a competition the RAF has been preparing to launch, with the Chief of the Air Staff having said earlier this year that he wanted a contest under way. Several aircraft are in contention, among them the Boeing and Saab T-7A Red Hawk, which BAE Systems has been promoting for a British build, the Leonardo M-346 and the Korean T-50, while a clean-sheet British design from the start-up Aeralis fell away after the company went into administration.
The promise of a significant UK workshare matters politically, with former Red Arrows pilots having petitioned against the selection of a foreign aircraft for so national a symbol.
Unmanned then ? 🤔
Haha! brilliant!
£15bn in extra defence funding over 4 years they say! Sounds shit enough on the face of it, but let’s look at the numbers:
£10.3bn has actually been identified and committed.
£4.7bn couldn’t be identified and has been pushed to the next government to find, so let’s park that.
On top of that, they want the MoD to find £10.7bn over the same period.
So doing the maths:
£15bn − £4.7bn − £10.7bn = −£0.4bn
So after a year of work on the DIP, we’re down £0.4bn… with no Wildcats. 🤔
Ah but Panic Yee Not…… We will soon get to 3.5%…. Kier (whatever his name was) said so.
Might see a large delivery of Man Size Tissues to No 11 soon, I can hear RR sobbing.
That’s a bit unfair. The 4.7b is for the next budget not the next government. The 10.3b has been committed in buys but not in money. Aka a blackhole.
Plus the 10b is coming from other non defence areas, as the choice is either increase tax or cut something else if you want to spend more as a government. There is borrowing but truss has messed that up for the long term.
It was only a bit of fun with the HW! 😄
On a more serious note though, they’ve had a year to work on the DIP and are grandstanding about an extra £15bn, yet they can’t even fully fund it. What have they actually been doing for the last year.
It’s all largely academic anyway. Burnham, the next DS and the next Chancellor will review it all.
Burnham will no doubt be running the country from ‘No. 10 in the North’ in Moss Side… God knows where the other two will be based!
I here on the grape vine, President elect Burnham bounce, has already commissioned a large new build on Mossside to be called Stone Roses House, this will be the new seat of Northern power.
I also hear Costa will be leasing No10….
Will It be a Drive Through ?
Yep, pay at no11, pickup at no10 mate..
Our Rachel from accounts will be on the till, so carefully check your receipt!
🤣
Hear even, sodding predictive text!!
Truss hasn’t messed anything up for the long term at all, she was there for five mimutes. Bond yields have been just as high during this government as Truss had, did Reeves crash the economy too?
Truss premiership has made zero difference to the economy right now.
Yes she has. Everyone is now terrified of a repeat run on the pound that she caused, which has resulted in no one wanting to take even small risks when it comes to borrowing.
Nonsense. Bond yields are the same now as when Truss was in power.
Nothing to do with overall yields. It’s about reputational impact to the UK government and how quickly the market reacts to budget decisions Vs pre truss. Now everything has to be extremely careful.
Ah yes, bond yields were the most important thing when it was Truss. Now it doesn’t matter.
Nonsese labour messed it up nobody else .
Loss of Wildcat for a system that has barely got off the ground. I’d have hoped this SDR/DIP would have put an end to the flawed strategy of Capability Gaps, especially when all the rhetoric is about war with Russia in 5 years (if indeed we don’t believe one has already started). Frustrating that the current government have put benefit uplifts and a return to nationalisation ahead of defense.
👍
Loss of Wildcat for a system that has barely got off the ground. I’d have hoped this SDR/DIP would have put an end to the flawed strategy of Capability Gaps, especially when all the rhetoric is about war with Russia in 5 years (if indeed we don’t believe one has already started). Frustrating that the current government have put benefit uplifts and a return to nationalisation ahead of defense.
All that’s been confirmed is they have no replacement for Hawks!
It will be the T7. It will keep Wroughton busy for a few years
Given the reported issues and cost spirals the USAF is facing with the T7, you sure that’s a good idea?
So you think the government is going to let redundancies happen at Wroughton? That’s the alternative
A trainer that cannot fly in the rain is not much good in Britain
T7 assembly at Warton or M346 assembly at Yeovil? RAF pilots have already been to Italy to train on M346 and I think Leonardo are on record as saying they would consider an additional European assembly plant. I would make them favourites. We could lease a ‘starter pack’ of planes to spread the cost.
They are racking M346 orders. The idea of an assembly line for them in Yeovil, when it is already the best option available, should make this a rubber-stamping exercise.
Actually the Leonardo offering is much better than Boeing’s. The M346 does not have as many issues as the T7 (reliability as well as capability is key). Also, Leonardo are upgrading the M346 to a level needed for future pilots of GCAP. As they are a partner in the GCAP programme it also makes sense and also a production line in the UK can be made as well. I wouldn’t buy the T7 with so many development issues. This will be the last trainer needed as I doubt there will be a seventh generation fighter jet. Best to go with a robust and cheap option and use the savings on GCAP. It also reinforces the links with Italy binding further into the GCAP programme. Alternatively we could collaborate with Japan on the Mitsubishi T-X trainor….indeed perhaps Leonardo could join as well. Now that would be interesting.
I felt during the NMH AW149 negotiations that the govt wanted Leonardo to hang in despite probably not making a lot of money on our small AW149 order. I suspect the decision for M346 was made a long time ago and assembly at Yeovil for UK jobs creation was always the plan – govt industrial policy. As you say T7 is high risk anyway.
M346 also have version with radar that should be good for anti drone.
👍
Wroughton outside Swindon??
I’ll bring it up at the Village meeting tonight. I think they might be able to reallocate the WI meeting room at the back of the village hall for T7 assembly, but the WI and Scouts won’t be happy, expect trouble Ron!!
Lol. Back when the RAF Was bigger wasn’t that a hospital?
Yes mate, very good hospital it was too….
I doubt it… It’s got problems that chief among them is an issue of water ingress due to poor sealing, aka leaking… In a country known for rain, not great.
With that amount it looks clear they’re not going to buy but outsource instead
We got wildcat scrapped, storm shadow scrapped and also t45 for the reds. Honestly would rather we lost them then everything else what a utter embarrassment
Another mong that doesn’t read the articles
Your living in parallel world
No Ron. I talk within the realities of the budget that’s available. And the guy above mentions StormShadow being axed, but doesn’t mention anything about its proper replacement. Stratus. And StormShadow will be around for a few years yet. In 2018 it was announced it would be out of service in 2025. So it’s done well to last this long. It first entered service in 2003.
Milligan is spending 23 billion a year and rising. You ars trying to justify cuts so labour doesn’t lose more vote to the green party.
Have I mentioned cuts? No. I’m ex Royal Navy. I’m as pro military as they come. And before you make assumptions, I don’t vote or support Labour. Never voted for them and certainly not the greens. I’m just realistic about what can be funded rather than just banging on about fantasy wish lists. Or fantasy budgets. Id like us to be at 3% now. But the economy is struggling and borrowing more isn’t a realistic option, or tax rises. 18 government departments want more money. The budget is going up, not by as much or as quickly as we would like, but an upward trajectory all the same. 3 years ago most people would have been pretty happy to see defence at 2.7%.
Yes, as always, balance is needed.
2 of the examples AB gave were poor, as STRATUS is underway and T45 will be around for years.
But Wildcat, that’s a cut no matter how you dress it up.
I’m curious what Drones they intend to use, both Army and FAA side.
Yeah, didn’t see that one coming. A drone can bring some obvious advantages like persistent, reach, senors and weapons. But it can’t do SAR. It can’t assist during hurricane relief etc As a warfighting option, it could be a very good capability. But a ships flight doesn’t just do high end fighty stuff.
I was shocked when I read about the wildcat . Very true it’s a cut without a doubt .
DM – Something i can’t understand,if BA and RN Wildcat are being phased out in favour of Drones,what exactly is the point of NMH ?.
Totally different roles!
NMH, Chinook, you still need to move troops around.
Also, the military is not always in a peer war with a FEBA.
If we take this attitude might as well get rid of transport aircraft as well, which would cripple Defence.
Wildcat is meant to fly further forward, so Drones can replace it in THAT role.
But, I’d not just throw the asset away, use it elsewhere.
It’s a cut, pure and simple.
Please explain how you can do ABM with 1000-1200 hull. How can you see over the horizon with a lower down radar. The inverse square law and the curvature of the Earth doesn’t disappear because you say AI and drones
Its a down grade. The type 45 is going with nothing to replace it.
Do you even read the articles? The autonomous warships will have radars that are networked together over many miles. Its not just one big radar. It’s many radars. That’s the point. It’s not like the T45s Sampson is 20 stories up in the sky.
I dont think you understand what an ABM needs Robert. Having a dozen Artisans dont make it ABM capable.
You cannot put an S1850 in a 1000t hull.
Yes you can definitely network radars together. However, a lot of the detection range is determined by the frequency used, the size of the antenna, and the power output. Not to mention how good the signal processing is.
For example, the SAAB Sea Giraffe 1X, this radar is used on lots of smaller vessels from small patrol boats up to corvette size. It is an X band (8 to 12GHz) active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. Where the antenna array weighs around 100kg. The SAAB blurb states: “Sea Giraffe 1X (the naval variant of the Giraffe 1X) has an instrumented detection range of up to 100 km (about 54 nautical miles) for surface and standard air targets. For small, low-flying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and drones, the dedicated detection range is around 4 km.” A standard air target in this context is a maritime patrol aircraft.
If this radar was fitted to a number of autonomous vessels, the overall detection range will still be pretty poor, especially when compared to the likes of Sampson or the S1850M. Even with four vessels using Giraffe, it still won’t match the range that a single Sampson offers, especially in detecting very high altitude threats. Which will be critical in detecting and tracking very high diving or ballistic threats. As an X-band radar unless with a lot (huge amounts) of power behind it, won’t be able to see threats in the ionosphere and higher.
For anti-ballistic missile defence (ABMD), you require a radar that can detect and track threats in low earth orbit at the very least. Which both Sampson can just about do, whilst the S1850M can most definitely do. However, the S1850M antenna array on its own, which is a passive electronically scanned array (PESA), weighs 6200kg. The newer AESA version is around 1t heavier, but has significantly better detection performance. I would say the smallest vessel this radar could be mounted to, would most likely be about the River Batch 2 size. As these radars will need the wider beam, to balance the rotating weight, as well as the necessary electrical generation. Long range AESA radars require a large amount of electrical power. a lot more than PESA or older legacy radars.
I find the idea of using small autonomous vessels as networked sensor platforms, especially for air defence and ABMD, as fatous, i.e. complacently foolish, silly, and entirely lacking in intelligence, substance, or careful thought.
Hi Davy. It sounds from the initial plans that the Drone command vessels or whatever they will be called will be at least T31 size or potential based on the T31. Could they be large enough and generate enough power to support such a radar? I’m guessing power capacity could be increased from what’s provided from the T31s in production.
Yes T31 class have size to be a drone with a good sized radar,
Caveat 1 this drone ship need CAMM, 40mm and X band radar for self protection, Caveat 2 current ABM radars are very large, bigger than S1850.
What are you quoting – Carbon Capture and Storage spening by Ed Miliband?
(Spike died in 2002.)
That is £22 billion over 25 years.
Or do you mean something else?
You’re
There’s a lot of them about on here.
For heavens sake, on contention a load of foreign shit…..again, a foreign plane does not give us an independent plane industry, the ability to build more when needed nor the jobs in return for the money. bUY BRITISH for defence, always BUY BRITISH, the f35 has been a disaster, half of them not working, they won’t be available when we need them to defend the Falklands, they rely on the yanks, friends of Putin, to let us use their servers, we aren’t allowed to repair them,. We trashed tsr2 for a supposedly better tank plane for it to be late, more expensive and less useful. Its time our civil servants were sacked.
Which British designed and manufactured Plane would you buy?
Both Leonardo (Italian company, manufacture in Somerset) and BAE (who had pitched at least a concept) could and would do it faced with money. This would create jobs in the UK and expertise.
Not with the timescales left, decision should have been made years ago under the previous government, we might get an assembled in but that’s about it
We can start with that, but lets be honest we need to rebuild ALL our industry, this government has done nothing more than the last because the ONLY common thead through ALL our governments of the last 100 years is the civil service that has progressively weakened this country, deliberately.
2 years Vs 14 years, no comparison at all.
“Deliberately” what a strange thing to suggest, do you believe that every civil servant for the last 20 to 40 years has been working to “destroy” the UK?
The evidence points in that direction, every decision made is ditrectly in conflict with our best interests.
Please provide the evidence that you feel supports your point, plus I would love to here the motive that you ascribe to these people.
Every cut that has left us more defenceless…. how many tanks do we have now – oh yes a hundred – about what Russia loses a week. How many planes? Not as many as we sent to the Falkland, how many ships – not as many as we sent to the Falklands. We had to spend all our money on American weapons in ww1 and ww2 because of decisions made by civil servants. Even the Spitfir and its other Merlin powered siblings lost out because a civil servant decided not to let people use fuel injection which was already known i the UK and worked better. TSR2 scrapped and totally destroyed, all plans, prototypes that flew, jigs everything because it was too good on the advice of a botanist. You can go through the last 100 years and EVERY decision made has been shit and when EVERY decision made is shit there HAS to be a pattern ad the motivation is normally ideological or financiial
Need to sort the stupidly high cost of energy that is crippling industry first!
Totally agree, the energy costs are partly milibrains stupidity over net zero – cover farms with solar panels instead of covering roofs on schools, offices, houses etc.and covering carparks. The guy is an arsewipe of the highest order – probably another russia agent – affter all how else do you explain closing the north sea in order to buy russian oil? (probably also suggested by a russian plant in the civil service – one of the many civil servants defending the stupidity)l. By the way, the proces for setting the cost comes from the EU energy rules we still implement because we havent left the EU This is of course compounded by the ridiculous sight of us PAYING the europeans to take our energy while still charging homes and business the highest prices in the world.
There isn’t one. Please go back, to boring people in the dog and duck with all the other reform cranks
We can start with that, but lets be honest we need to rebuild ALL our industry, this government has done nothing more than the last because the ONLY common thead through ALL our governments of the last 100 years is the civil service that has progressively weakened this country, deliberately.
OK, what do you propose? Do you propose we abandon the dog and duck and take up resiidence in your living room where we will suck who – Putin, Trump or who? We NEED to stop this stupidity like yours and understand that buying foreign goods means money and therefore jobs leave this country for ever. We NEVER get it back. We bankrupted the country in ww1, we couldnt frankly affordww2 and ended up paying off the debt until the 2000s This was precisely because not jobs like you think it is clever and smart to spend money abroad. I wonder if you did it o your kids… sorry kids you cant cut the grass or wash the car for payment because I already employed the neighbours kids to do it?
No you’re clearly the bozo for taking the time and effort to write that stupid, pointless comment.
Sorry, you dont seem to be able to answer any of the points just try insults. Now the money we spend on foreign goods does NOT support UK jobs and it does NOT come back. If you read David Lloyd Georges war diaries from world war one you will be able to read the first hand account of the bankrupting of this country b civil servants.
They’re aren’t points, they they’re the incoherent ramblings of someone who doesn’t understand economics or international trade, and is living in 1916 rather than 2026.
“they are are not”… ” well you said it.
So, tell me how with your genius economics spending money on importing foreign goods of any sort, but wih particular reference to defence material, provides jobs, investment and money to the UK economy. I am just on the edge of my seat waiting to be educated.
According to the World Banks figures the UK is the 10th largest manufacturer by value at $324billion per annum. (The difference between 7th and 10th is marginal, before then reaching South Korea at number 6.)
But I suppose you want the UK to return to high-volume, low-margin, and low-skilled manufacturing jobs rather than the highly skilled, high-value, lower-volume specialist manufacturing the UK now does.
Far better we regain blacksmithing skills so that we can churn out swords and battle-axes than drones and missiles.
I also imagine you want women out of the workplace and confined to the kitchen with children sweeping chimneys and working down coal-mines too.
You seem to be a bit bonkers. 10th largest manufacturer or not the UK government is sending billions of pounds and tens of thousands of jobs abroad. The difference between 1 (as we were once) and 10th is colossal, our manufacturing base is so shrunk we could no longer perform the miracle of production that kept us in the second world war.
We need low skilled high volume manufacturing AS WELL as more complex manufacturing, in a war we need bullets and guns, we need uniforms. The number of bullets consumed in a battle is immense, we need someone to make them. And you might consider yourself a total genius and an amazingly brainy fellow but a good portion of our people are not and frankly we need employment for ALL.
And yes, droes and missiles are great but bullets stop people as well, they are much cheaper.
Women have been in the workplace for a huge number of years, they will continue to be in the work place. Some women, just like some men, are really capable of large volume simple jobs, some are hugely skilled and can do just the same as men, we need to employ ALL of them.
Or do YOU want to reduce those who arent wandering around with ten doctorates to watching day time TV and claiming benefits their whole life ?It seems like thats what you want.
You really are out of touch with reality 😂
You think the UK, with a population of 70million could manufacture more than China and India (population 1.4billion each). 🤣
The UK has always been a trading nation, both exporting AND importing what it needed. That’s why Britain became the foremost maritime power and with it, the largest empire ever seen. With that it was the UK that pioneered free-trade and freedom of navigation because we realised it made us richer.
Even in WW1 the UK was secretly importing dye from Germany’s BASF for British Army uniforms.
NO country on the planet, not even the USA or China, is able to produce everything it needs.
So you’d like to double or triple the cost of munitions, uniforms, etc, etc by making it in the UK. Do tell where the money comes from, as you will undoubtedly be amongst those who squeal the loudest should tax rise by even a penny. Such huge taxation and forcing people into large state enterprises manufacturing munitions… sounds like you want to recreate the USSR in the UK.
As for your argument about bullets being cheaper than drones… in WW2 it’s estimated that 45,000 rounds of ammunition were fired just to kill one enemy combatant.
Did you forget your meds today?
No, but I can work things out. Lets take a scenario, lets assume for arguments sake that you managed to have a child. The cld wants to buy something – maybe a present for your birthday, maybe something for which ever desperate woman you managed to get pregnant. Now the child offers to do the washing up, clean the house, cut the lawn, wash the car – all worthy activities for which a small payment might well be justified. You turn round and say, sorry, but no, the next door neigbours kid will do all that. Then you pay the next door neighbours kid to do it all. Then of course your kid has no work todo , the next door neighbour is not as stupdas you are so doesnt pay someone elses kid to do the job so you have to give your kid ‘dole money’. Next month you once again expect your neighbours kid to do it only to find out the father has had secod thoughts about your suitability as an employer and refuses. Your kid doesnt know how to wash a car, clean a floor and frankly can no longer be arsed. You are out of pocket and out of skills.
Now who is the one in need of medication – the bozo whose kid is sitting idle or me?
Seems you have managed to block replies to your last comments so I will reply here.
I am not out of touch with reality, I am a realist, we cant survive with such a high number of unemployed as we have, particularly as many of them turn to drugs, prostitution and other crime to feed habits.Sadly for those that think everyone should have a degree and a job as a rain surgeon many of the population are not up to this and would be gainfully employed manufacturing.
We have ALWAYS had a smaller population than many countries and yet we were the global super power, we had what some say was the largest ever empire (not he largest purely land based empire, that was the monguls). We did NOT get there by bleating we cant do anything. We were for many years the worlds greatest exporter of goods, largely because we harnessed the power of coal and steam and the brain power to create the machines to make mass production possible. It is odd to think that you seem to believe that small powers cant manufacture and challenge China, yet the Germans, Italians even do just that. Heavens the Russian economy is smaller than ours as is the Swedish yet they can manufacture jets, drones and so on where we seem to find it impossible to manufacture a dumb grenade.Free trade DOES make you richer when you are the top manufacturer and exporter – if I export 200 quids worth of goods and get paid then by 50 quids worth of goods that leaves 150 quid better off doesnt it (well discounting the cost of making the goods I suppos). But now we export 50 and import 200, this is certainly not making us richer. As to the importing of dye, yes we did in 1914, but in 1915 we set up British dyes to become self sufficient in the UK because it was clear importing from your enemy was hardly intelligent. Had the government pre 1914 seen that we were buying dye abroad and set up British dyes then the issue would never have arose.
I disagree with the idea that no country can be self sufficient in everything,many larger countries can, they have people, raw material and can therefore manufacture what they need. Companies may sometimes decide it is cost effective to import but governments trying to defend the country need to avoid that. Take Ukraine as an example – not self sufficient in much before the current war it is now manufacturing significant amounts of ammunition of various sortsbecause it HAS to.
As to your sprius argument about cost. Lets say a at item of munition costs 10k to make in the UK and say 4k to buy. Well in the UK case that 10k stays in the UK, A guy gets paid, that is someone not on benefit, saving a k or 2, that is a company paying tax on the profit another k or 2, hat is someone going out to the local shop and buying their lunch or something for their kid, another job secured and someone else not on the benefits. Keynes was right because he was writing up what had happened in the UK and later in the USA when governments spent large amounts of money (in our case to rebuild the navy, and later during the 30s with the loan scheme for other works while the USA had build massive dams to create hydroelectric but in reality to employ people after the great depression. The problem with Keynes is people dont read it properly, you borrow and spend in YOUR economy to kick start growth, you dont do what Blair/Brow did and borrow for a scrappage scheme that imported millions of foreign made cars, you dont borrow and buy hugely expensive and useless American built jets or grenades because one of that creates a single job in your country. We have huge taxation today because we are buying so much abroad and paying so many unemployed here to sit idle, or worse we are employing many in non productive jobs in the civil service.
Yes bullets are much cheaper than drones, if you can produce drones for the prices claimed – 300 quid for a basic one a US bullet comes in at 15 pence, so the maths on your statement is i your favour 2000 bullet s for one drone, The 45k estimate you use is towards the very top end (50k from some), the bottom end was 25k but the uses of bullets when you dont have drones has to include suppressing enemy movements, when drones ar around this can be done just y the presence of the drones, I suspect the cost of the SAS bullets per kill is somewhat lower. None of this detracts from the fact we need to be buying more and buying it locally We dont have enough to defend ourselves and we dont have the manufacturing capacity to catch up when we need to and buying abroad makes the matter worse.
“Seems you have managed to block replies to your last comments”
Seems you’re paranoid too. No there’s a maximum depth of responses in comment-threads on this site. If you used this regularly with your brain engaged you would know this.
“we cant survive with such a high number of unemployed as we have”
The current rate is 4.9%. Given your grumpy old-man persona you must remember the 1970s where it was 4.3% or the 1980s when it was 11%.
We don’t have a high rate.
“particularly as many of them turn to drugs, prostitution and other crime to feed habits”
I think we’ve heard that claim since Dickensian times, wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true today. What it does show is that you’re completely out of touch with society, which explains you’re lengthy tirades on here.
“rain surgeon”
Given the current weather we obviously have a shortage of these 😂
“to think that you seem to believe that small powers cant manufacture and challenge China, yet the Germans, Italians even do just that.”
No the Germans and Italians do not challenge China. Both are small scale manufactures, like ourselves, compared to China. Nations of under 100million cannot compete against nations of 1.4billion. To suggest otherwise is plainly stupid.
“Russian economy is smaller than ours as is the Swedish yet they can manufacture jets, drones and so on where we seem to find it impossible to manufacture a dumb grenade.”
You are either seriously out of touch, or just a liar. Britain builds Typhoons, drones, missiles, frigates, carriers, SSNs, SSBNs, etc, etc. Russia is barely able to manufacture jets these days – as demonstrated by Putin recently firing Aleksandr Bobryshev, Tupolev’s CEO, for failing to deliver warplanes.
“Free trade DOES make you richer when you are the top manufacturer and exporter – if I export 200 quids worth of goods and get paid then by 50 quids worth of goods that leaves 150 quid better off doesnt it (well discounting the cost of making the goods I suppos). But now we export 50 and import 200, this is certainly not making us richer.”
We are not a corner shop, your retarded example is nonsensiscal. It doesn’t account for the fact that:
• we trade, both import and export, with many countries
• most manufactured goods have components sourced from many countries
• you’re only citing manufacturing and not including services (many of which are needed to actually do manufacturing)
• you have a Trumpian zero-sum attitude to trade.
The empire was so successful because we enforced freedom of navigation through the RN and promoted free trade: we abolished nearly all tariffs by the 1860s.
Quite frankly I neither have the time nor patience to address the rest of your deranged/ dementia-driven rantings. The above is enough to demonstrate that you don’t know what you’re taking about.
Britain in the 1950s lead the world in aviation. 75 years later we cant build a training aircraft! Or more precisely theres no politic will to build one because we do have the capabilities. Imagine if we said we were going to hold a competition to buy foreign frigates there would be uproar. There’s something very wrong with Britain today!
Great watch is BBCs When Britain Ruled the Skys.
BAE decided not build a replacement for the hawk and the government didn’t pay them to develop one.
If the government paid them to I am certain they would, but they arent going to build a plane to watch the UK government go abroad instead are they? TRhe British government needs to buy local in order to keep manufacturing here.
Given the state of the Hawks, are you really suggesting that right now is the time for BAE to go off and design a new trainer and then get it into production just so its “Buy British!”? The training pipeline already has enough issues.
And we ruled the seas in the 1800s… are you advocating a return to sail powered ship-of-the-line?
Sssh, Miliband might find out that they are net zero, and impose them on the UK!
Flettner rotors would be more likely, given they’re appearing more in the commercial sector.
Red Arrows.
British Aircraft and Pilots, Showcasing British Brilliance On the World Stage.
Hmmm.
If we buy the T7 or M346. Once it’s painted red with a Union Jack on the tail, and a RAF pilot sat in the cockpit. The vast majority of the watching public won’t give a monkeys where the aircraft was manufactured.
Ha, A bit like MG owners then 😁
We at least a T7 or M346 won’t be built in China. So that’s something 😄
Jaecoo do a banging Range Rover Clone…
About a third of the price of the Indian version.
You can spot all the Cheapskates driving them, a mile off.
I wonder if anyone has looked up the word “confirmed” in a dictionary. Every single part of this DIP is smoke and mirrors and hollow promises of spending disguised as cuts or cuts disguised as spending all of which are total dreams and left to a left wing tee-shirt wearing student politics light-weight to sort out one day soon.
Give me that budget and I’ll re-start manufacture of Gnats or Jet Provosts. What’s not to like?
Make mine a Hunter please.
Yeah 🙂
RIP Langley and Kingston
🤡
Given they cost £28million a year, seems like the Red Arrows are an expensive luxury that we can’t afford in the build up to war.
The REDs have had their time. Time to move on and get down to real defence business.
Agreed.
To run a full sqn. Its peanuts in the grand scheme of things compared to 200M to run a Typhoon sqn for a year.
If it’s peanuts you won’t mind finding them yourself then.
In the context of operating costs for fast jets. The Red Arrows are cheap. And worth every penny. I don’t see the French, Spanish, USA, Russians, Canada, Italy, South Korea, or Saudi disbanding display teams. And neither should we.
So you think we should follow the military thinking of the Russians, Saudi, etc?…
The UK has previously disbanded the Black Arrows, Blue Chips, Blue Diamonds, Poachers, Red Pelicans, Sharks, Skylarks, Tigers, etc, etc.
Perhaps we cancel some benefits instead… maybe yours?
Touched a nerve have we. I work full time Popeye. I Love the Red Arrows. Long may they continue 🇬🇧
👍
You must be hyper-sensitive if you think you’ve touched a nerve.
So you work full-time, congrats. Noticeably you didn’t deny receiving welfare though. Plenty of benefits being paid to people in full-time work: working-tax credit, statutory sick-pay, child-benefit, paternity leave, etc.
No doubt once you reach your 60s you’ll also want to claim full-time welfare though the ‘state-pension’ too.
I am in awe of our brave armed forces and want the money spent to protect them, not on some outdated PR stunt.
M-346.
I like all three but the M6 does have that lovely coupe body.
How much do the armed forces spend on display teams, horses for parades, all the fancy dress touristy stuff?
If we genuinely don’t have enough money to defend the nation, how does any of that stuff get put on the MUST DO list? It’s surely all on the NICE TO HAVE list?
If we’re facing a real and urgent threat, how does this stuff keep getting funding over basic equipment?
Don’t raise my taxes to feed your horses and buy fancy dress.
Amen
So – Bin Wildcat and keep the Red Arrows!! That’s increased lethality tenfold. Atrocious, the only industry that will benefit from this will be the hotel industry!
Before anyone gets too excited, how is this going to work? £360m to “recapitalise” the fast jet training system. The planes mentioned all cost, in rough terms, about £15 to £25 million a piece, before you add on all the associated spares, training and services that come with any purchase. So barely enough for the basic cost of about 18 – 24 aircraft. Probably about 12 when all the extra costs are added in.
It will be a leasing arrangement for the RAF. The real prize HM govt is after is an assembly plant in Yeovil.
In the context of operating costs for fast jets. The Red Arrows are cheap. And worth every penny. I don’t see the French, Spanish, USA, Russians, Canada, Italy, South Korea, or Saudi disbanding display teams. And neither should we.
Exactly.