Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your
contribution is not tax-deductible.)
PayPal Acct: 
Feedback: 
Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):
| [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, [9], 10 ] |
| Subject: More military stuff | |
Author: Dave (UK) | [ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
] Date Posted: 23:15:32 11/03/04 Wed In reply to: Trixta (UK) 's message, "Mad englishmen and dogs" on 21:15:23 11/03/04 Wed Well, it would certainly be more appropriate for us to buy American kit than to buy European kit, as we a never likely to be involved in a war alongside the Europeans now are we, unless of course, EU withdrawal negotiations get nasty? From this perspective, interoperability with European kit is irrelevant. The Government has stated that all our future conflicts will be by consent, sorry, in co-operation with, the Americans. Britain’s defence arrangements with Europe have been a complete farce. The reason the Eurofighter project is ten years late is because there were so many disagreements on what the aeroplane should do. The French wanted a strike aircraft, and the rest wanted an air-dominance fighter. The resulting fighter was a typical design-by-committee jack of all trades, and the French went in a huff, withdrew from the project and developed the Rafale on their own! After this fiasco, we did it again with warships. We entered into a tri-nation agreement with France and Italy to develop Horizon – the replacement for the Type 42 destroyer. The thing is, we wanted a destroyer, and France/Italy wanted a Frigate, so we pulled out this time, and developed the Type 45 on our own! The AH-64 Apache helicopters that you referred to are in fact built in Britain by AugustaWestland under license. They are in addition to the Lynx, as they provide a new capability. Yes, that’s right; the US Government licensed their premier attack helicopter design to us. The F-22 fighter will never enter RAF service as it is too expensive, and is not multi-role (i.e. cheap) enough for us. The Eurofighter will replace the Tornado and Jaguar in the air-defence role. The Harrier is being replaced by the F-35 (formerly known as Joint Strike Fighter). This is a joint American/British Aircraft, with BAE Systems controlling about 10% of the programme, which is likely to be the biggest military aircraft programme ever seen. Rolls-Royce designed the lift-fan (the thing that makes it take off vertically) and our planes will be built by BAE factories in Britain. If August gets the contract to build Marine 1, Bush will be flying about in a British helicopter for years to come! [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> [> [> Subject: Britain's interests | |
|
Author: Paddy (Scotland) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 13:22:40 11/04/04 Thu The U.K. paid for 15% of the JSF project and were allowed to specify design requirements. We get exactly what we wanted/needed at a cheap price. U.K. will build 10% of the project by value. 3000 are expected to be ordered by the U.S. govt 150 by the U.K. It is estimated that 3000 export versions will be built. taking this projected figure of 6000 aeroplanes and dividing it by 10 this would be equivalent to the U.K. building 600 aeroplanes! Rather than spending 100% of the development costs and only buying 150 of our own. British firms own 1/3 of the Eurofighter project and will order, at maximum, 232 of them. Exports will almost certainly not be as large as the JSF but they have already sold a few to Austria. This is where the U.K. lies, with as many fingers in as many pies as possible. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |