Ukraine

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Meanwhile the UK is to add to its nuclear warhead capability ffs. Would have thought we could better spend the money on military headcount, or aircraft carriers actually with some airplanes.
Or better still maybe even an extra hospital or more - but that's another budget I imagine..

And funding to VSO cut. Nasty Tories. Nasty Conservative and Brexit Party. Damn nasty Johnson and Gove - shysters.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
The stated 138 airframes was always a fantasy IMHO. It's now being said that 60-80 is the ambition and I think that's likely to be achieved. That's certainly enough to fill one carrier and let the other work as a helicopter carrier with maybe a handful of F-35 for self defence. If that's the case, then the Royal Navy have done not too badly out of the programme. That being said, the RAF lost their entire fleet of Tornados on the understanding that F-35 was coming so interservice squabbling over who gets the aircraft is likely to be a bigger issue.

Is there a full complement of Admirals and their Bat Men. The public need to be reassured these carrier bags are correctly staffed.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Tell that to the Socialist & Communist EU/Merkel & Democract/Biden.

$$$ talk and votes walk.
There is a huge difference between Democrat and democrat.
Democrats believe in left centrist US democracy.
democrats believe in democracy, be they Republican or Democrat.
Trump used to be a Democrat and then he became a Republican, who I assume believed in deomcracy.
Today he appears to be neither Democrat or democrat.
Many politicians find they struggle with democracy when they don’t get elected


As for Biden after 3 months, it is a little early to judge him , don’t you think. After all he seems to be going along with his predecessors policies at the moment, massive stimuli to the economy, troops out Iraq. I have notheardany plans for military cut backs yet!
 
Is there a full complement of Admirals and their Bat Men. The public need to be reassured these carrier bags are correctly staffed.

The Admirals vs Number of Warships argument is examined with a great deal more knowledge than I could bring to the discussion.

In short, there's lots of jobs that need to be filled with flag officers, especially when you take in our commitments to NATO etc. You also need a career path to keep highly skilled officers in the service. The single biggest issue facing the RN is manpower. There's certainly an argument that you'd lose a heck of a lot of good officers if they were all fighting over two or three Admiral's seats.
 

Ashtree

Member
Trump is a Republican .. you do read don't you ?

Trump didn't preach "Peace and harmony" .. he enforced peace and harmony by ensuring the military were well equipped.

Compare and contrast to where Biden spent tax payers $$$.

For a man who avoided service multiple times, he sure got a whole lot of military credibility.....
Oh, ..... he’s no Republican! Not by a long shot! He may have them captured by his take over of the rednecks, but he sure no darn proper hometown Republican.
 
Or the Tempest. :D
A lot of commentators are saying that Tempest will be merged into the Franco-German effort at the first opportunity, whereupon the French will do what they did with Tyhoon and hoover up all the research before exiting the programme to go their own way. Others reckon Tempest will be quietly forgotten about entirely. For what it's worth, I think Tempest will materialise as Boris seems to have attached himself to it quite publically. How many we'll get is another matter...
 

Muck Spreader

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Limousin
A lot of commentators are saying that Tempest will be merged into the Franco-German effort at the first opportunity, whereupon the French will do what they did with Tyhoon and hoover up all the research before exiting the programme to go their own way. Others reckon Tempest will be quietly forgotten about entirely. For what it's worth, I think Tempest will materialise as Boris seems to have attached himself to it quite publically. How many we'll get is another matter...
I would very much doubt it will ever see the light of day and a lot of prime ministers will have come and gone in the meantime. But it may well rest on what level of orders or development partnerships BAE can get globally for it, as the UK's requirement nowadays just to small to justify its development alone. Dassault are already developing, along with a number of EU partners a 6th generation fighter that is due to fly in 2026.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
The TSR-2 of our time.

No longer able to afford such 'white heat of technology' without partners - now where might they be, ah, across that bit of water called the English Channel? Or the pond called the Atlantic.
 
A lot of commentators are saying that Tempest will be merged into the Franco-German effort at the first opportunity, whereupon the French will do what they did with Tyhoon and hoover up all the research before exiting the programme to go their own way. Others reckon Tempest will be quietly forgotten about entirely. For what it's worth, I think Tempest will materialise as Boris seems to have attached himself to it quite publically. How many we'll get is another matter...

I'd just let the French have the tech and buy the resultant jet they produce. Should have done the same with the Rafale and flown it off the new carriers. Now they have realised they are stuffed without any catapults as they can't launch anything drone-like.
 
Depends on how you define British? Constructed in the UK from US supplied components by a US company.

The F35 was designed as a multi-role fighter with a ground attack and air combat capability and as such with the exception of stealth is unsurprisingly compromised in both areas. To be honest, it must now be one of the last generation of piloted combat aircraft, which could be one of the reasons why the US military have cut orders for it.

The US relied on the British contingent agreeing to buy the thing to get the project off the ground. Would never have got through congress otherwise.
 
The Russian-Ukraine thing has been going on for years, it is the result of the EU making overtures toward Ukrainian-European ties. Russia doesn't like it- the Ukraine is a military, political and economic chokepoint for them and they know it. It was a mistake for the EU to cosy up and try to attract the Eastern European states into their sphere of influence so openly.

I have no doubt Russia will continue to press Eastwards. NATO has nothing to do with it really- lots of European and former Soviet states are members and have been for years but few have the economic or political value as the Ukraine- remember where the gas pipelines are.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
The Russian-Ukraine thing has been going on for years, it is the result of the EU making overtures toward Ukrainian-European ties. Russia doesn't like it- the Ukraine is a military, political and economic chokepoint for them and they know it. It was a mistake for the EU to cosy up and try to attract the Eastern European states into their sphere of influence so openly.

I have no doubt Russia will continue to press Eastwards. NATO has nothing to do with it really- lots of European and former Soviet states are members and have been for years but few have the economic or political value as the Ukraine- remember where the gas pipelines are.
You talk sone sh1t At time Ollie.
This has nothing to do with Ukraine pipelines, in fact the reason Russia is so confident in what is happening is the new Nordstream pipeline, skirting Ukraine to Germany which will give the Russians total control over German gas supplies, enabling them to shut down Germany in minutes. Putin knows the Merkel dare not object if they march into Ukraine.
It is a classic move by failing dictators, facing economic chaos in their own country, to start a war with their neighbours to distract internal opposition.
Our failing to admit Ukraine to NATO has allowed Putin to act in this way, Putin is doing everything possible to isolate and break up NATO sadly Trump gave him hope.
 

beardface

Member
Location
East Yorkshire
You talk sone sh1t At time Ollie.
This has nothing to do with Ukraine pipelines, in fact the reason Russia is so confident in what is happening is the new Nordstream pipeline, skirting Ukraine to Germany which will give the Russians total control over German gas supplies, enabling them to shut down Germany in minutes. Putin knows the Merkel dare not object if they march into Ukraine.
It is a classic move by failing dictators, facing economic chaos in their own country, to start a war with their neighbours to distract internal opposition.
Our failing to admit Ukraine to NATO has allowed Putin to act in this way, Putin is doing everything possible to isolate and break up NATO sadly Trump gave him hope.

Trouble is we're all facing economic chaos, so a large war would be an ideal distraction for most leaders.
 

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