UK Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jura said:

no money for sailors but they
"... continued to explore the potential for the Type 45 Destroyers to operate in a ballistic missile defence role, including through active engagement with NATO partners."
right now I feel I'll go ballistic

Written questions and answers

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Q
Asked by

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(North Durham)

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Asked on: 04 July 2017
Ministry of Defence
Type 45 Destroyers

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To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.16 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what recent representations his Department has received from NATO on the Government's commitment to investigate further the potential of the Type 45 destroyers to operate in a BMD role.

A
Answered by:

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Answered on: 10 July 2017


Since the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, the UK has continued to explore the potential for the Type 45 Destroyers to operate in a ballistic missile defence role, including through active engagement with NATO partners.

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Jura said:

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Navy Betting Big on Unmanned Warships Defining Future of the Fleet
until communications are disrupted

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Jura said:

inside (dated February 11, 2019)
UK to purchase two Littoral Strike Ships

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:
Our vision is for these ships to form part of 2 Littoral Strike Groups complete with escorts, support vessels and helicopters. One would be based East of Suez in the Indo-Pacific and one based West of Suez in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Baltic.

global presence huh
money, Mr. Defence Secretary, not a problem?

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When British Defence Secretary

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announced in February that his ministry would create two “littoral strike groups,” some naval experts turned their heads in confusion.

The announcement, after all, came with few details about the cost, required trade-offs and the concept of operations. For those looking for more information, expect to have to wait until the first part of 2020.

In a recent interview with Defense News during his visit to Washington, Gen. Gordon Messenger, vice chief of the U.K. Defence Staff, said a study on the plan for the littoral strike groups will be out roughly “a year from now.” He added that questions about funding will “certainly” be part of the broader

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expected later this year.

“At the moment, the money has been found to examine the concept and develop the concept, and I think until we have the information that that phase will bring, it’s very difficult to put a timeline or a sort of hard figure against it,” Messenger said.

“Clearly that’s going to need to be weighed up against other priorities. But it’s a way of us understanding more about it. It’s a capability that is attractive, it’s a capability that we think will have relevance in the future, but until we really understand more about it, it’s difficult to weigh up against other priorities,” he added.

The operational plans that come out of that study will determine if new support ships are needed for the strike groups, but Messenger noted that the U.K. is already investing in new support ships, including the

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.

“We’re investing quite a lot in support ships and then trying to work out what the best [concept of operations] is, given that we’re never going to have everything that we want because we’re simply not a nation of that sort of size,” Messenger said.

The last point is notable, as some politicians in the U.K., including Williamson, have said Britain’s divorce from the European Union will allow the country to take on a more global military role.

Asked whether the U.K. has a fleet large enough to fill that goal, Messenger said the kingdom is updating several of its fleets and adding Type 26 and

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frigates. And he indicated some outside-the-box-thinking may be involved.

The military must “get that balance right between war fighting at the very highest end, and the sort of ubiquity that comes from platforms in, let’s call it the constabulary role,” he said. “Then you don’t have to just think warships. We get a lot of utility out of our amphibious shipping. We have offshore patrol vessels, which are [such] capable platforms that we’re just buying new ones. So you don’t have to be out-and-out warships."

As another example, Messenger cited the Tide class, noting it has a “really capable hanger on the back,” as well as medical facilities and space to carry other equipment. “Its principal task will always be to carry fuel for warships, but nonetheless the utility you can get from that fleet is considerable,” he said.

“So, you know, could we do with more? Yes, but do I feel that we’re about appropriately configured for what we want to do? Probably. And the fact that we’ve been able to have an LPD — an amphibious ship — and three frigates go to the Far East in the last year and a half is an indication of our ability to veer and haul and flex availability for areas that we want to prioritize.”

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Future HMS Glasgow, the first of the new class of Royal Navy Type 26 frigates, is beginning to resemble a ship as her manufacturing progresses on the Clyde.

The new City-class ships will be the successor to the Duke-class Type 23 frigates currently in service.

She’ll comprise more than 60 blocks in her finished form, and will be pieced together in two sections: first the forward part of the frigate, followed by the stern.

Once the two parts are joined on the slipway outside the shed, the main mast and bridge section will be lifted into place and the mostly-complete frigate will be taken downstream for fitting out at BAE’s yard on the north bank of the Clyde at Scotstoun.

While work on the £1.2bn warship has been under way since mid-July 2017 at BAE Systems’ yard in Govan, Glasgow is not expected to start trials before 2025 and enter service before 2027.

“You can now stand inside a Type 26 as the zones come together and get a real sense of HMS Glasgow as she takes shape,” Vice Admiral Chris Gardner, the new Chief of Materiel (Ships) at the Defence Equipment and Support organisation, said.

Three ships have been ordered from BAE: Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast, while the remaining five vessels in the class have been named: Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh and finally London.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Not happening. Would need a US Yard to build them.

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The Times published an

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last week focusing on the fact that under current MOD plans, the British Army will reduce its holdings of Challenger 2 (CR2) tanks from 227 to roughly 150 tanks.
This will give the UK a total tank fleet that ranks 56th in the world, down from the current position of 48th (according to the IISS), giving it a force smaller than that of Burma, Cambodia or Serbia.

Is this reduction a sign that the British Army is now outgunned and unable to pose a credible military threat, or is it a pragmatic investment decision intended to keep the Army at the very front of global capability?

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Broccoli said:

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Jura said:

is it true only 148 out of 227 Challenger 2 MBTs would be refurbished?
asking because the source is sensationalist

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