At risk of dragging this further off course into a discussion of Type 45...
As far as I knew Harpoon was to retire shortly, though I notice that it's been extended to 2023. In July last year, Janes reported that it was only installed on three of six Type 45s. From what I can tell, these are very old Block 1C weapons, so even if we allow that any given Type 45 has exactly half a chance of actually having them, is it really a plausible capability in 2019? Greater capability than this can be bolted on to a large fishing boat. And yes, the helicopter can provide some degree of ASW support, until it needs to refuel. I was thinking more of the lack of any sort of maritime patrol aircraft, which moreover, we're told, has the potential to compromise CASD because they were traditionally used as part of measures to ensure that ballistic missile submarines weren't simply followed out of Faslane.
Possibly I shouldn't be attempting all this analysis. Still, these are not particularly new arguments and I apologise for clogging up the board with them; I would be very happy to be told that none of this is a problem. Regardless, I think these are reasonable questions, and cast some doubt on the ability of the UK to make a good job of this newly proposed aircraft, which is what I've been getting at.
Last edited by Phil_R; 3rd Mar 2019 at 21:20.