UK Strategic Defence Review 2020 - get your bids in now ladies & gents
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Do raw numbers matter for UK defence?
Pinstripedline blog on the challenges facing policy makers of balancing aspiration with financial reality in affording new equipment to meet the threat.
https://tinyurl.com/bn2ytwny
Pinstripedline blog on the challenges facing policy makers of balancing aspiration with financial reality in affording new equipment to meet the threat.
https://tinyurl.com/bn2ytwny
Thread Starter
very interesting..."Individually the parts are still there, but the ability to fuse them together and work in a coordinated manner both within the UK and with allies is rapidly decreasing. With ever fewer new assets entering service, it becomes harder to do everything that was done before.
............................................................ ............................................................ .......................
The UK realistically is facing a tipping point where it cannot do everything it wants to do anymore and its credibility as an ally may suffer. Is it better to step back completely in some areas to focus on being a niche ‘ally of excellence’ in others- for example being clear that the UK will no longer do some activity but instead prioritising others – in military parlance becoming the Supporting Commander rather than the Supported Commander. Could the UK, for example, consciously step back from major land activity, ceding this space to other European militaries who have a more pressing land concern, like Poland, and focus more on air and naval power? This may be politically unpopular but would enable proper resource allocation and investment to future capability rather than spreading ever more thinly."
............................................................ ............................................................ .......................
The UK realistically is facing a tipping point where it cannot do everything it wants to do anymore and its credibility as an ally may suffer. Is it better to step back completely in some areas to focus on being a niche ‘ally of excellence’ in others- for example being clear that the UK will no longer do some activity but instead prioritising others – in military parlance becoming the Supporting Commander rather than the Supported Commander. Could the UK, for example, consciously step back from major land activity, ceding this space to other European militaries who have a more pressing land concern, like Poland, and focus more on air and naval power? This may be politically unpopular but would enable proper resource allocation and investment to future capability rather than spreading ever more thinly."
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I do sometimes wonder about the calibre of some MP's who ask erm strange questions.
Rosindell asked the Secretary of State for Defence, “what his Department’s projected spending on nuclear powered surface vessels for the Royal Navy is in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 financial year; and if he will make a statement.”
Not stopping there, he further inquired about the Defence Department’s plans, asking “what his Department’s timeline is for converting the remaining diesel-powered Royal Navy surface fleet to nuclear power.”
In a straightforward response, James Cartlidge, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, clarified, “The Royal Navy has never had any surface vessels that are nuclear powered and there is no programme or intention to convert the current fleet to be nuclear powered in future.”
Thus, the notion of the Royal Navy converting its frigates into nuclear-powered surface vessels remains firmly off the table for the foreseeable future, there are no plans to add warp cores or hyperdrive engines either..
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/tory...ered-frigates/
In a recent parliamentary query, Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell raised eyebrows with a question about converting Royal Navy warships from diesel power… to nuclear power.
For smaller surface vessels like frigates, the benefits of nuclear power do not outweigh the significant costs and potential environmental concerns. Furthermore, integrating such systems into existing fleet designs would pose significant engineering and logistical challenges.Rosindell asked the Secretary of State for Defence, “what his Department’s projected spending on nuclear powered surface vessels for the Royal Navy is in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 financial year; and if he will make a statement.”
Not stopping there, he further inquired about the Defence Department’s plans, asking “what his Department’s timeline is for converting the remaining diesel-powered Royal Navy surface fleet to nuclear power.”
In a straightforward response, James Cartlidge, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, clarified, “The Royal Navy has never had any surface vessels that are nuclear powered and there is no programme or intention to convert the current fleet to be nuclear powered in future.”
Thus, the notion of the Royal Navy converting its frigates into nuclear-powered surface vessels remains firmly off the table for the foreseeable future, there are no plans to add warp cores or hyperdrive engines either..
Thread Starter
Where do they get them?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Rosindell
He seems to have had a chequered career - In 2010, the BBC reported that Rosindell had breached Parliamentary rules by accepting subsidised overseas trips to Gibraltar and subsequently raising multiple Gibraltar-related issues in Parliament without disclosing the trips in the Register of Members' Interests.
In September 2010 Rosindell sponsored the first Erotica event to be held in the Houses of Parliament. Rosindell maintained that he was promoting the hosts, a Romford-based business, as was his duty as the constituency MP. In June 2012, Rosindell was criticised for expressing "huge admiration" for former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet. In February 2015, Rosindell cast doubt on the ability of Rachel Reeves (then Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) to handle that ministerial responsibility in a putative post-election Labour cabinet, as she would be taking maternity leave soon after the election and would then have a young child to care for following her return to the post in September. He was criticised for the remarks by Labour MPs, whilst Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron described his comments as "outrageous".
At the 2015 election Rosindell was re-elected with 25,067 votes, on a 51% share, and also gained re-election to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Since the start of 2016, Rosindell has also been a member of the Advisory Board of the UK-based 'Polar Regions' think-tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative.
In January 2019, The Times discovered that Rosindell's Facebook account was a member of a group supporting far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The group was specifically concerned with supporting Robinson after he was jailed for contempt of court. Rosindell said that he had been added to the group without his knowledge; however, according to The Times, it would be necessary for a Facebook user to confirm acceptance before being added to a group.[size=8333px] [/size]On 21 October 2020, Rosindell was removed as trade envoy to Tanzania, a position to which he had been appointed to by Theresa May in 2018, because of his highly critical views against Boris Johnson's three-tier lockdown plan to tackle the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.
In November 2021, during an interview on the BBC's Newsnight, Rosindell said he was cautious about the idea of MPs being banned from having second jobs. He said MPs are "human beings who have families and responsibilities" but the first duty of MPs "must be to Parliament, to our constituency and to the work we do for our country."[size=8333px] [/size]Politico reported in December 2022 that Rosindell was among a small group of about ten backbench MPs who have made a large number of overseas visits while in office. Rosindell's travel record included 16 trips to Gibraltar and 29 trips to other countries, valued at at least £45,247.[size=8333px] [/size]
In May 2022, Rosindell was arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of crimes including indecent assault and abuse of a position of trust. He had been under investigation since January 2020 for events occurring between 2002 and 2009, when he was a whip and shadow minister. He denies any wrongdoing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Rosindell
He seems to have had a chequered career - In 2010, the BBC reported that Rosindell had breached Parliamentary rules by accepting subsidised overseas trips to Gibraltar and subsequently raising multiple Gibraltar-related issues in Parliament without disclosing the trips in the Register of Members' Interests.
In September 2010 Rosindell sponsored the first Erotica event to be held in the Houses of Parliament. Rosindell maintained that he was promoting the hosts, a Romford-based business, as was his duty as the constituency MP. In June 2012, Rosindell was criticised for expressing "huge admiration" for former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet. In February 2015, Rosindell cast doubt on the ability of Rachel Reeves (then Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) to handle that ministerial responsibility in a putative post-election Labour cabinet, as she would be taking maternity leave soon after the election and would then have a young child to care for following her return to the post in September. He was criticised for the remarks by Labour MPs, whilst Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron described his comments as "outrageous".
At the 2015 election Rosindell was re-elected with 25,067 votes, on a 51% share, and also gained re-election to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Since the start of 2016, Rosindell has also been a member of the Advisory Board of the UK-based 'Polar Regions' think-tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative.
In January 2019, The Times discovered that Rosindell's Facebook account was a member of a group supporting far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The group was specifically concerned with supporting Robinson after he was jailed for contempt of court. Rosindell said that he had been added to the group without his knowledge; however, according to The Times, it would be necessary for a Facebook user to confirm acceptance before being added to a group.[size=8333px] [/size]On 21 October 2020, Rosindell was removed as trade envoy to Tanzania, a position to which he had been appointed to by Theresa May in 2018, because of his highly critical views against Boris Johnson's three-tier lockdown plan to tackle the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.
In November 2021, during an interview on the BBC's Newsnight, Rosindell said he was cautious about the idea of MPs being banned from having second jobs. He said MPs are "human beings who have families and responsibilities" but the first duty of MPs "must be to Parliament, to our constituency and to the work we do for our country."[size=8333px] [/size]Politico reported in December 2022 that Rosindell was among a small group of about ten backbench MPs who have made a large number of overseas visits while in office. Rosindell's travel record included 16 trips to Gibraltar and 29 trips to other countries, valued at at least £45,247.[size=8333px] [/size]
In May 2022, Rosindell was arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of crimes including indecent assault and abuse of a position of trust. He had been under investigation since January 2020 for events occurring between 2002 and 2009, when he was a whip and shadow minister. He denies any wrongdoing.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
How the US army is changing - artlillery, armour, C4I, logistics, AD - top to bottom.
https://www.defensenews.com/digital-...ar-in-ukraine/
Change of plans: US Army embraces lessons learned from war in Ukraine
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-...edic-training/
21,000 casualties in seven days: The push to update medic training
https://www.defensenews.com/digital-...ar-in-ukraine/
Change of plans: US Army embraces lessons learned from war in Ukraine
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-...edic-training/
21,000 casualties in seven days: The push to update medic training
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
The penny-wise pound-foolish Apache/JAGM saga continues.…..
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...038600673.html
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...038600673.html
Last edited by ORAC; 25th Oct 2023 at 09:44.
Isn't the basis of the AH-64E contract commonality with the US fleet, wouldn't a Brimstone fit would deviate from that by requiring software changes? If it was common across the fleet presumably the US would expect the UK to provide the additional funds for the enhancement program(me)?
My understanding is the airframes, engines, rotor blades, and avionics are all new and the parts recycled from the WAH-64 include the mast-mounted assembly for the fire-control radar, LM's Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor, the main rotor hub and other transmission elements, plus some structural elements.
Update: Having read further I realise the stated cost is £70m and that test firings have occured. I am lead to understand that JAGM uses the existing Hellfire body so is similar to the AH.1 fit and while it may not be as good as Brimstone in the Anti-armour role, its mult-ipurpose warhead may be effective against a wider range of targets.
My understanding is the airframes, engines, rotor blades, and avionics are all new and the parts recycled from the WAH-64 include the mast-mounted assembly for the fire-control radar, LM's Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor, the main rotor hub and other transmission elements, plus some structural elements.
Update: Having read further I realise the stated cost is £70m and that test firings have occured. I am lead to understand that JAGM uses the existing Hellfire body so is similar to the AH.1 fit and while it may not be as good as Brimstone in the Anti-armour role, its mult-ipurpose warhead may be effective against a wider range of targets.
Last edited by SLXOwft; 26th Oct 2023 at 19:50. Reason: Deeper reading
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
A new video by Strategic Command opens on this unknown drone on small catapult. AFAIK, not previously seen in UK service and one wonders if it has anything to do with "3D printed, delta wing, kamikaze drone" for Ukraine that was mentioned, then taken offline a few months back...
British complacency over defence has to end
Article by William Hague in The Times.
In the many years I represented Richmond, North Yorkshire, I lived just down the road from Catterick Garrison, Britain’s largest military base. A foreign visitor who happened to see only that part of our country would conclude that we are armed to the teeth. Fierce-looking Gurkhas stroll the streets, the shops are busy with uniformed personnel, machine-gun fire from mock battles fills the air and road signs tell the unwary to look out for tanks. Military life and the local community are intertwined. This, the visitor would think, is a country ready for anything.
But for most people, at a time when our army is the smallest since the Napoleonic era, the defence of the country is now remote from them. The majority probably know no one who serves in the armed forces. Only a fragment of the population possesses military skills. We enjoy the luxury of defence being someone else’s problem, of not needing to volunteer, and of signalling our virtue by not even investing in anything as grubby as making weapons. We expect the army to appear miraculously if we need ambulances driven, or border posts manned, or floods managing, but otherwise it’s out of our sight and our mind.
This luxurious complacency has to come to an end. In two democracies currently at war, Israel and Ukraine, defence is the responsibility of virtually the whole society. Israel has just mobilised forces three times the size of ours from a country one-seventh the size. Ukraine is a reminder that wars of more than a few weeks are fought not just by an army but by a nation, in which its survival depends on the ability to adapt technology, convert factories, defend its cyberspace — on civilians and factories deploying crucial skills in support of armed forces.
While Britain is much less likely to be directly attacked than Israel or Ukraine, a rational person would struggle to survey the world today and consider the emerging threats to be no greater than in the past 30 years. Dictators are on adventures, climate change is accelerating, terrorists and rogue states are ready to exploit new technologies. The US, our indispensable ally, is fully prepared to elect an utterly erratic president.
Is the world likely to be more dangerous in the near future than the recent past? Yes, I’m afraid so. Should we blithely continue with only one in three hundred of our population having deployable military skills, not minding if crucial hardware is made far away and considering investing in defence industries as unethical? No. The relationship between wider society and its own defence has to change.
Even without being attacked ourselves, our resilience to support a war is under strain. As Russia ramps up the production of artillery shells, Ukraine begs for more supplies, while a Nato commander says, “we are looking at the bottom of the barrel”. G7 democracies have a combined GDP 25 times that of Russia: we can easily outproduce them if we wish to. Putin can only win if westerners can’t be sufficiently bothered to stop him. But our economies have grown used to the luxury of peace and lack the capacity to sustain conflict.
To be fair, ministers and generals are already pushing in the right direction. On top of training 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers — good old Catterick again — the UK is putting billions of pounds into replenishing exhausted ammunition stocks. The Defence and Security Industrial Strategy has given new emphasis to increasing “onshore skills”. And inventive ways of expanding the pool of skills for the military are being tried — a Cyber Reserve Force, digital bursaries for students who might bring technical skills to the armed forces and more flexibility to move between a military and industrial career in a “spectrum of service”.
But some of these measures are only baby steps towards preparing for a potentially more violent world. As the parties plan their election manifestos, they should give defence greater importance than in recent years. The target of raising defence spending from 2.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent needs to be fleshed out by Tories and adopted by a hesitant Labour Party.
Future governments can do much more to encourage investment in capacity with longer-term spending commitments and to ensure growing research spending expands British abilities in the many areas that are dual use: necessary for a thriving economy but also critical in conflict. This includes AI, computer vision, big-data computing, robotics, drones and sensors. A new model is needed of public-private sector task forces, encouraging disruptive smaller companies and prizing speed and innovation more than bureaucratic tendering processes.
Fresh thinking is needed on the responsibility of citizens to defend their country, while enhancing their own skills. Our Armed Forces Covenant could be extended to central government but we can also learn from, and over time adopt, a Nordic model of service. Both Norway and Sweden have a form of competitive national service, in which young people are selected for places in their armed forces, serving for up to 16 months. While only 14 per cent of young Norwegians serve in this way, the result is a far bigger pool of trained reserves, as well as more young people with practical skills joining the economy.
But this is about more than government spending and military numbers. The attitude that the defence of a free society is an unethical activity must be abandoned. Fund managers and financial institutions should acknowledge that ESG — environmental, social and governance — investments cannot exclude defence. At the moment, companies making products for military use are denied access to many funds. Consequently, it is more expensive than in other sectors to raise capital or find insurance. It is time to insert a new “S” — security — in what might be better termed ESSG.
The production of arms is fundamental to a free society. There is nothing remotely ethical about a soldier defending democracy having to face an adversary with more advanced equipment, nothing sustainable about a free society that is vulnerable to attack, nothing environmental about losing territory to an invader. Ask the Ukrainians about the ecocide committed by Putin in destroying the Kakhovka dam if you think ESG is nothing to do with defending yourself. We all want to be virtuous but virtue requires us to be strong as well as caring.
A few months ago, two ministers, Andrew Griffith and James Cartlidge, made that argument, saying “there could hardly be a bigger or more positive social responsibility than investing in peace”. They are right. That should be part of a broader reassessment, involving political parties, citizens and businesses, in understanding that the defence of a country and its allies is once again critical to its peace and security as well as vital to a skilled, high-tech economy. In future, more of Britain needs to be just a little bit more like North Yorkshire.
But for most people, at a time when our army is the smallest since the Napoleonic era, the defence of the country is now remote from them. The majority probably know no one who serves in the armed forces. Only a fragment of the population possesses military skills. We enjoy the luxury of defence being someone else’s problem, of not needing to volunteer, and of signalling our virtue by not even investing in anything as grubby as making weapons. We expect the army to appear miraculously if we need ambulances driven, or border posts manned, or floods managing, but otherwise it’s out of our sight and our mind.
This luxurious complacency has to come to an end. In two democracies currently at war, Israel and Ukraine, defence is the responsibility of virtually the whole society. Israel has just mobilised forces three times the size of ours from a country one-seventh the size. Ukraine is a reminder that wars of more than a few weeks are fought not just by an army but by a nation, in which its survival depends on the ability to adapt technology, convert factories, defend its cyberspace — on civilians and factories deploying crucial skills in support of armed forces.
While Britain is much less likely to be directly attacked than Israel or Ukraine, a rational person would struggle to survey the world today and consider the emerging threats to be no greater than in the past 30 years. Dictators are on adventures, climate change is accelerating, terrorists and rogue states are ready to exploit new technologies. The US, our indispensable ally, is fully prepared to elect an utterly erratic president.
Is the world likely to be more dangerous in the near future than the recent past? Yes, I’m afraid so. Should we blithely continue with only one in three hundred of our population having deployable military skills, not minding if crucial hardware is made far away and considering investing in defence industries as unethical? No. The relationship between wider society and its own defence has to change.
Even without being attacked ourselves, our resilience to support a war is under strain. As Russia ramps up the production of artillery shells, Ukraine begs for more supplies, while a Nato commander says, “we are looking at the bottom of the barrel”. G7 democracies have a combined GDP 25 times that of Russia: we can easily outproduce them if we wish to. Putin can only win if westerners can’t be sufficiently bothered to stop him. But our economies have grown used to the luxury of peace and lack the capacity to sustain conflict.
To be fair, ministers and generals are already pushing in the right direction. On top of training 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers — good old Catterick again — the UK is putting billions of pounds into replenishing exhausted ammunition stocks. The Defence and Security Industrial Strategy has given new emphasis to increasing “onshore skills”. And inventive ways of expanding the pool of skills for the military are being tried — a Cyber Reserve Force, digital bursaries for students who might bring technical skills to the armed forces and more flexibility to move between a military and industrial career in a “spectrum of service”.
But some of these measures are only baby steps towards preparing for a potentially more violent world. As the parties plan their election manifestos, they should give defence greater importance than in recent years. The target of raising defence spending from 2.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent needs to be fleshed out by Tories and adopted by a hesitant Labour Party.
Future governments can do much more to encourage investment in capacity with longer-term spending commitments and to ensure growing research spending expands British abilities in the many areas that are dual use: necessary for a thriving economy but also critical in conflict. This includes AI, computer vision, big-data computing, robotics, drones and sensors. A new model is needed of public-private sector task forces, encouraging disruptive smaller companies and prizing speed and innovation more than bureaucratic tendering processes.
Fresh thinking is needed on the responsibility of citizens to defend their country, while enhancing their own skills. Our Armed Forces Covenant could be extended to central government but we can also learn from, and over time adopt, a Nordic model of service. Both Norway and Sweden have a form of competitive national service, in which young people are selected for places in their armed forces, serving for up to 16 months. While only 14 per cent of young Norwegians serve in this way, the result is a far bigger pool of trained reserves, as well as more young people with practical skills joining the economy.
But this is about more than government spending and military numbers. The attitude that the defence of a free society is an unethical activity must be abandoned. Fund managers and financial institutions should acknowledge that ESG — environmental, social and governance — investments cannot exclude defence. At the moment, companies making products for military use are denied access to many funds. Consequently, it is more expensive than in other sectors to raise capital or find insurance. It is time to insert a new “S” — security — in what might be better termed ESSG.
The production of arms is fundamental to a free society. There is nothing remotely ethical about a soldier defending democracy having to face an adversary with more advanced equipment, nothing sustainable about a free society that is vulnerable to attack, nothing environmental about losing territory to an invader. Ask the Ukrainians about the ecocide committed by Putin in destroying the Kakhovka dam if you think ESG is nothing to do with defending yourself. We all want to be virtuous but virtue requires us to be strong as well as caring.
A few months ago, two ministers, Andrew Griffith and James Cartlidge, made that argument, saying “there could hardly be a bigger or more positive social responsibility than investing in peace”. They are right. That should be part of a broader reassessment, involving political parties, citizens and businesses, in understanding that the defence of a country and its allies is once again critical to its peace and security as well as vital to a skilled, high-tech economy. In future, more of Britain needs to be just a little bit more like North Yorkshire.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
I will make a guess and say it will be base at Mount Olympus (is it still 280 SU?) to get above most of the atmosphere and weather.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield...ain-awareness/
Project Nyx Alpha to boost UK Space Command’s domain awareness
London - The U.K.’s Space Command is in line to boost to it’s space domain awareness capabilities following a deal announced by the Ministry of Defence Nov 22 for a small London-based company to set up and operate a ground-based telescope in Cyprus.
Known as Project Nyx Alpha, the capability being provided by British space technology company SpaceFlux will enable Space Command and the U.K. Space Agency to accurately monitor the fast growing number of satellites and debris in orbit.
The British plan to have the system in play by spring 2024, reestablishing a former capability that had lapsed.
Spaceflux will build, maintain, and routinely operate the system tasked by UK Space Command and UK Space Agency analysts from the soon to launch U.K. Space Operations Centre at the Royal Air Force base at High Wycombe, southern England,said the MoD in a statement
The centre is planned to coordinate civilian and military space domain awareness capabilities to enable operations and protect U.K. interests like the Skynet satellite communications network from space-related threats and hazards.
Announcing the deal at the U.K. Space conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey, the head of the UK Space Command said the new capability was a key part in helping Britain defend its interests in space.
“Space domain awareness underpins our ability to protect and defend U.K. and allied interests in space. The U.K has critical assets in geostationary orbit, and Project Nyx Alpha will help us to monitor them more closely”, he said.
To support military and civil missions in space Godfrey also announced the British have procured space domain awareness data from Spaceflux, as well as Raytheon Systems.
On it’s website Spaceflux says it offers access to the largest optical taskable sensors currently available in the market, with telescopes up to 70-cm in diameter, allowing the detection of the faintest objects from LEO to GEO and Cislunar.
The website says the company is rapidly expanding its network to 10 locations this year and a total of 25 locations by the end of 2024.
Cyprus was chosen as the location for the British telescope due to the fact it provides a better view of the geostationary orbit than sites on the UK mainland said the MoD statement.
The U.K. already have a major military base on the eastern Mediterranean island.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield...ain-awareness/
Project Nyx Alpha to boost UK Space Command’s domain awareness
London - The U.K.’s Space Command is in line to boost to it’s space domain awareness capabilities following a deal announced by the Ministry of Defence Nov 22 for a small London-based company to set up and operate a ground-based telescope in Cyprus.
Known as Project Nyx Alpha, the capability being provided by British space technology company SpaceFlux will enable Space Command and the U.K. Space Agency to accurately monitor the fast growing number of satellites and debris in orbit.
The British plan to have the system in play by spring 2024, reestablishing a former capability that had lapsed.
Spaceflux will build, maintain, and routinely operate the system tasked by UK Space Command and UK Space Agency analysts from the soon to launch U.K. Space Operations Centre at the Royal Air Force base at High Wycombe, southern England,said the MoD in a statement
The centre is planned to coordinate civilian and military space domain awareness capabilities to enable operations and protect U.K. interests like the Skynet satellite communications network from space-related threats and hazards.
Announcing the deal at the U.K. Space conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey, the head of the UK Space Command said the new capability was a key part in helping Britain defend its interests in space.
“Space domain awareness underpins our ability to protect and defend U.K. and allied interests in space. The U.K has critical assets in geostationary orbit, and Project Nyx Alpha will help us to monitor them more closely”, he said.
To support military and civil missions in space Godfrey also announced the British have procured space domain awareness data from Spaceflux, as well as Raytheon Systems.
On it’s website Spaceflux says it offers access to the largest optical taskable sensors currently available in the market, with telescopes up to 70-cm in diameter, allowing the detection of the faintest objects from LEO to GEO and Cislunar.
The website says the company is rapidly expanding its network to 10 locations this year and a total of 25 locations by the end of 2024.
Cyprus was chosen as the location for the British telescope due to the fact it provides a better view of the geostationary orbit than sites on the UK mainland said the MoD statement.
The U.K. already have a major military base on the eastern Mediterranean island.
My guess is that it is connected to the very large, very secure building visible on Google earth where the hospital used to be. And it’s some telescope if it can view objects in geostationary orbit at 22236 miles!
Last edited by Timelord; 23rd Nov 2023 at 15:52.
Thread Starter
Todays "Times" carries a report on the Institute for Fiscal Studies take on the Autumn Statement. They reckon the Govt will be looking for £ 20 Bn in cuts fairly soon across the board
Lets hope it doesn't it defence but you know how they like to spread the pain around........................
Lets hope it doesn't it defence but you know how they like to spread the pain around........................
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
The French air force now has as many A400Ms as the RAF.... Except they also have 28 more on order. Plus 16 C-130s and 27 CN-235s.
Not so long ago the RAF's air transport fleet was the envy of our allies. Now, like everything else, a stunted and boutique force lacking mass.
Not so long ago the RAF's air transport fleet was the envy of our allies. Now, like everything else, a stunted and boutique force lacking mass.
The following users liked this post:
ORAC
You may be right but the FAF had to borrow our C17s when they needed something a little bigger.
https://www.airforce-technology.com/...-mali-mission/
BV
https://www.airforce-technology.com/...-mali-mission/
BV
You may be right but the FAF had to borrow our C17s when they needed something a little bigger.
https://www.airforce-technology.com/...-mali-mission/
BV
https://www.airforce-technology.com/...-mali-mission/
BV
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Politico, London Playbook:
DEFENSE CUTS
Defense chiefs face making further cuts to Britain’s armed forces to fill a £16.9 billion black hole in their finances, a National Audit Office report finds today. The Mail has the full story.
DEFENSE CUTS
Defense chiefs face making further cuts to Britain’s armed forces to fill a £16.9 billion black hole in their finances, a National Audit Office report finds today. The Mail has the full story.
Thread Starter
Conclusions
The MoD acknowledges that its Equipment Plan for 2023–2033 is unaffordable, with forecast costs exceeding its current budget by £16.9 billion. This is a marked deterioration in the financial position since the previous Plan in 2022, which the MoD judged to be affordable.In part, this is because inflation, which we highlighted last year as not being fully reflected, is now showing its effect. But more importantly, the costs of delivering major priorities have increased significantly as the MoD has sought to show more clearly the gap between the available budget and the ambitions expressed in the 2023 update of the Integrated Review and the associated Defence Command Paper, the consequences of which MoD is still working through.
Deficits between forecast costs and budgets have increased in the DNE because MoD has brought forward costs to deliver the nuclear deterrent to schedule, and also in non-nuclear areas including the RAF, the UK Strategic Command, the Strategic Programmes Directorate, and the Navy’s conventional capabilities. Only the Army has not shown an increased deficit, although this is because the Army has only included forecast costs that it can afford, which means it is accepting greater risks that its capabilities will not meet government’s objectives.
The MoD is using the 2023 Equipment Plan to set the baseline for its capability requirements ahead of the next government-wide Spending Review, which it expects is likely in 2024, and has chosen to defer any choices on spending priorities until then. This approach, while understandable given the ambitions expressed in the updated Integrated Review, risks poor value for money if spending continues in the meantime on programmes which are then cancelled, descoped or deferred because they are unaffordable. It also means that the Plan does not provide a reliable assessment of the affordability of MoD’s equipment programme or demonstrate to Parliament how it will manage its funding to deliver equipment projects.
Thread Starter
"the MoD has sought to show more clearly the gap between the available budget and the ambitions expressed in the 2023 update of the Integrated Review"
as usual the political will doesn't stretch to paying more for what they want the armed services to do
as usual the political will doesn't stretch to paying more for what they want the armed services to do
Thread Starter
F35-B combat aircraft third front-line squadron (Royal Air Force) The investment cost of developing a third front-line squadron increases the capital budget shortfall by £0.1 billion between 2023-24 and 2026-27, and this option is not accompanied by funding of £0.4 billion needed to operate the squadron.
You may be right but the FAF had to borrow our C17s when they needed something a little bigger.
https://www.airforce-technology.com/...-mali-mission/
BV
https://www.airforce-technology.com/...-mali-mission/
BV