It seems that there has been an announcement:

Boeing and UK sign aircraft and investment deal - BBC News

That should keep 'Gnasher' happy!

£3Bn for 9? £333Mn, plus cost overruns, apiece.

Nice.

Couldn't we have ordered these things a decade ago? It's not as if an island nation, sixth richest in the world, doesn't need a MPA capability, is it?

Actually we are a maritime nation.

We have a requirement for Merchant ships, Warships, MPA, SAR, Martime Strike, Coastal Patrols, Power projection, convoy escort et al...............

All the things we no longer invest in.

I only hope we never have to run a cross-Atlantic convoy system like our predecessors had to (twice in the last hundred years), or guarantee the security of our Merchant Fleet like our predecessors had to in the past (and now).

Our lack of foresight and capability in these key areas continues to baffle me. And like most capabilities - once it's gone - it's gone................ always too expensive to re-instate it.

Arc

Arc, the past guides us. We are not wedded to it, lest we all be fools.

Agreed

but as a Maritime Nation, with huge Maritime interests we'd be fools not to be able to protect them surely..................

Arc

We've invested a huge amount in the QEC carriers and all the aircraft that go into Carrier Strike. That's power projection. Not at the scale of WWII but incredibly potent and mobile nonetheless. We also have (and will likely retain) the Continuous At Sea Deterrent. That in itself displaces the similarity between our Navy in times gone by and what it is today. We have T45 - an amazing capability (engines aside - yup, go fix it quick).

Forgive me if I don't share your doom and gloom, considering the world we now live in.

That was in the days of course when we had a merchant marine fleet to form into convoys and escort. I doubt the Chinese and other ships would either need or accept our limited attempts at protection.

Thehttp://webarchive.nationalarchives.g...g_505251-1.gif

Interesting video of a quick walk through of the P-8A Mission Suite ...

https://amp.twimg.com/v/0231fd11-8db...8-9a73ec154730

well thank God for that

"but as a Maritime Nation, with huge Maritime interests we'd be fools not to be able to protect them surely.................."

wellll

way back Jackie Fisher pulled most of the RN back to Europe to fight the Kaiser and we haven't had much of anything east of Suez since the late 60's

The idea that we can "protect" our Merchant marine world wide is a long gone idea

Relative to the threat we face, we have a massive capability, now stronger still after today's announcement; most nations with the ability to threaten world commerce have just as much to lose as us by doing so. But if you're looking for something to worry about, do we have a merchant marine to protect?

all great responses and exactly what I wanted.................:-)

Arc

Much as it pains a former 'Gentleman in Khaki' the number 1, national survival, military task is the security of the seas around and sea lanes to and from the UK.

It surprises me that the current River class OPV doesn't have even a limited ASW capability (no embarked Helicopter or ASW weapons) so that it could be pressed into escort duty.

Separately, but related, in the new order we are going to have our own independent fisheries policy and have to police it. To do that will need a layered capability of MPA and patrol vessels.

One query I have is whether the maritime patrol task is not one suited to an all weather long endurance RPV? If you stopped dragging the crew around you could carry more fuel and mission stores n'est ce pas?

I am not so worried about merchant fleet tonnage as the drop in registered tonnage, in part, is just a reflection of the commercial benefits of regisitering what would in previous times have been a 'British' ship in cheaper overseas registers.

EG