Posted on 03/19/2012 8:51:26 PM PDT by U-238
It is reported that spiralling costs for the new aircraft carrier programme could force the Government to scrap the cat and trap version of the new Joint Strike Fighter in favour of a jump-jet variant.
The Guardian and the Telegraph newspapers both report Defence Secretary Philip Hammond wants a U-turn after projected costs for modifying the carriers to take the F-35C fighters reached as much as two billion pounds.
It is understood Prime Minister David Cameron has been warned the carrier programme could be delayed by as much as seven years – or until 2027 – if existing plans are not abandoned.
The Guardian says military advisors have told him the best option is to switch back to the F35-B jump jet version, previously ruled out as inferior and more expensive by the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
A Whitehall source is quoted as saying: "There will be short-term pain for the government, but in the long run, it is by far the best option. Adapting the carriers is skewing the defence budget out of shape, and there is every likelihood the costs will continue to rise. It has to be Cameron's decision, but the military advice is clear."
The Defence Secretary is said to have “demanded a vow of silence” from all senior MOD civil servants. They have been told not to speak to the media about any military equipment programmes without his authority before the budget for next year is approved
(Excerpt) Read more at bfbs.com ...
By 2021 or 2027 there will no longer be manned flight jet fighters. All of this is for naught.
We’ve been told we approach a future where a smaller deck can launch several dozen drones a minute, drones that act as a single unit, that are EMP-resistant, and that can stay airborne for lengths of time unfathomable by today’s strategic bomber pilots.
Stop unlimited Muslim immigration and stop giving welfare to foreigners and they could easily build a whole new navy.
I agree with you
That’s why the Harrier jumpjet was invented and it worked. Now that the Brits no longer have an aircraft carrier, they will have to build one. STUPID< STUPID, STUPID.
You are 100 percent correct
The UK is a welfare state and that takes priority over the military.
Good Lord, Man......quit chewing that locoweed.
And, we still need human pilots flying them, although dozens at a time.
Moore's law says that computer tech doubles in power every two and a half years. In ten years drone technology will seem literally like science fiction realized.
Today robotics is like the turning point when the first airplanes were introduced to warfare in 1918. Think of a WWI soldier seeing a Stealth aircraft.
Why don’t they buy one of our carriers we have in mothballs? It would be cheaper to re-furbish one than build one. The Old Kitty Hawk is out of service? We could sell it to them cheap.
They can use old Jump Jets or get some carrier planes from the old Russian Navy or from the French.
Let me restate that,
I live near Picatinny Arsenal, and have heard repeated stories about active programs to design the weaponry for mass drone squads.
Based on the off the shelf design concepts by IAI it will be cost effective and optimal to further develop designs of multitudinous drone fleets. It will happen pretty quickly as the biggest stumbling blocks regarding in-flight real-time self adjustment through heuristics has already been solved, we’re already in the late alpha implementation stage.
THe 2012 Budget cuts for military programs relies heavily on replacing as many humans as possible with drones. This has been the underlying program of both Bush and Obama (with Panetta) during the last 5 years. No amount of Congressional Defense budget pork programs are going to stop this process at this point.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/air-force-plans-for-all-drone-future/
Also, the Global Hawk surveillance drone from Northrop Grunman was cancelled because it is already outdated technology. The speed of development in the drone field is something like 10 times faster than the man jet fighter field. BY the time the UK gets their jet fighters designed today and delivered in 2021, drones will be 5 generations ahead, far superior to antiquated 2011 technologies in the JSF F35 or F22 or whatever the UK MoD decides on eventually.
Wait. The problem here is that a fighter aircraft with advanced sensors and performance is running into development problems, cost overruns, and in-service delays.
And you think that by adding an extra layer of complexity bu making the aircraft autonomous on top of everything else will make it easier and faster to develop?
Nice new weapons for the Islamic scum who will soon be running things in the UK.
Maybe they can buy some Brazilian Super Tucano fighters... a good third world solution.
So you say that computer technology has little to do with drones and that drones have not changed much in 60 years.
OK, so I did a search and understand that drones have been used since 1945. But, the most recent versions are significant improvements.
Advances in computer integrated communication is exactly what permits pilots to attack the enemy remotely using drones — and we didn’t have these computers and supporting networks even 20 years ago.
Now drones are widely used in current war zones. They can take out individual terrorists in a jeep. Why use fighters when drones can do the job?
Where am I wrong I wonder?
See this 2008 article from Military.com: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0%2C13319%2C159220%2C00.html
ping
The biggest recent immigration has been from Eastern Europe, although you are correct that we have too many from the ME, Africa, Asia.
We should also stop giving our own, native, lazy underclass benefits as well. Even if we didnt have any immigrants on benefits, we would still have a work-shy native underclass.
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