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UK poised to buy 138 F-35s

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posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 02:12 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

Personally I think the UK should be completely surrounded by warships. I feel we may become the fall guy at some point.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 02:23 PM
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a reply to: anzha

But its never as simple as comparing numbers, the UK is part of NATO so if we're going to have a duke up with Japan we'll be rolling with our buds since we don't have anything in that region to protect we would be going there for some reason such as that Japan had gone rogue and by that point i'm sure the UK ships would be of little use as the US would of sorted out the problem with a few dozen b52's getting some flight practice and about 5 carriers parked off the shore.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 02:43 PM
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a reply to: Maxatoria

Japan is also one of the greatest allies of the US. Japan is unlikely to go to war without the US at its side either. We base one carrier there and probably two in the future.

A fight between Japan and Britain is not going to happen: their interests don't even overlap, never mind conflict.

When comparing capabilities, until the Lizzies come online, the Japanese definitely outstrip the Brits, easily. With the Lizzies, I'd say its still in the Japanese favor, but the Japanese are very ASW oriented, both to support the US forces and for a strong historical reason (they don't want to be starved through blockade again).

However, given the rise of the Chinese you can expect a huge modernization and they will probably buy a 40k ton 'amphibious ship' with aviation capability somewhere in the next 20 years. Probably sooner. And I'd bet they buy the F-35B as well. The gating events will probably be when the J-20 goes IOC and the second, or may be third, Chinese carrier is launched.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 03:06 PM
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a reply to: anzha

It's deja view all over again. Heh.

Japan has no plans currently to buy or operate the F-35B. They may occasionally operate Marine B models, flown by Marine pilots off their decks, similar to what the UK is going to do, but the Japanese are pretty happy with the A model.

They are however, going to operate their Osprey off of them once they reach IOC.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 04:12 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

Everything old is new again. This time its Asian flavored instead of Euro.

For your amusement, the Philippines is considering letting the US base out of Clarke and Subic again.

AND the Chinese are doing such a good job of annoying their neighbors over the South China Sea, I am hearing the whispers of the ghost of SEATO. Not saying it will happen again, but, dang, when the Philippines is talking about allowing the *Japanese* to potentially use their facilities, you're doing it wrong. Or right from the US POV.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 04:20 PM
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a reply to: anzha

The Philippines and Japan have already exercised together, and Japan is in talks about giving them three TC-90 King Air surveillance aircraft, or possibly several older P-3Cs, as well as giving them a low interest loan for 10 patrol craft. They're also studying transferring two Hatakaze class guided missile destroyers to Manila.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 04:34 PM
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originally posted by: ShayneJUK
knowing our gov 138 will end up as 25


Actually, we'll probably end up with a few more than less. If things continue the way they are, then any SDR in 2020 is likely going to call for even more defence spending.


originally posted by: ShayneJUK
and Mr Osborne is delusional second carrier force after the us!


He's right. Very few nations even have carriers and of those, most only have 1.


originally posted by: ShayneJUK
does he even know what a us carrier battle group consists of or how many the us could put to sea if required?


That doesn't change the fact we'd be second, does it?


originally posted by: ShayneJUK
we dont even have an operational carrier at the moment


Here's a bit of news for you, the UK hasn't operated a Fleet carrier since 1986, yet we've done ok. HMS Queen Elizabeth is up and running - she's about to undergo sea trials. At a push, she could be service ready in short order if needed.


originally posted by: ShayneJUK
never mind the support ships to make up the rest.


Well, that's just bollocks. Go look at the makeup of the fleet - more than enough to field a Carrier Task force.


originally posted by: ShayneJUK
utter garbage from our media again.


Nope, just you.


originally posted by: ShayneJUK
eta so even IF we get both of our new carriers in the water we will be 3rd along with india, japan and italy behind russia 4 and the us 20


Awww, he's confused bless him...

India - Operates 2 ancient carriers. One is the former HMS Hermes which is so outdated its a surprise they still use her. The other is an old soviet one, equally as awful. Granted, they are building two more (to replace the above) but even they are far smaller than the ones the UK is building.

Japan - Has zero carriers. They are actually forbidden from having them. They do have "helicopter destroyers" but that isn't the same thing.

Italy - 2 tiny little carriers that are about the same size as the the Invincible class we just decommissioned.

Russia - Only has one - which is old, not a true carrier and needed to be towed back to port not a week ago!

Russian carrier towed home....

Were you got 4 from is a mystery.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 04:37 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

We ought to consider salting older Burkes (Flight Is) around the South China Sea as we get ready to retire them. 21 Burkes based in the SCS would give serious headaches.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 04:48 PM
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a reply to: anzha

The US is transferring the R/V Melville and the USCG Cutter Boutwell to Manila. The Boutwell is a Hamilton class cutter.

Vietnam has also approached a number of Western nations for aircraft, UAVs and ships. They want P-3s, patrol vessels, and long range UAVs to patrol as well as fighters to replace their older aircraft.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 06:52 PM
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The interesting thing about this agreement is the timing. According to other sources the aircraft will be flying off the Queen Elizabeth by 2023. This is accelerated over the original plan. Originally there were going to be 8 aircraft available in that time frame, now they expect to have 24 available.



posted on Nov, 22 2015 @ 06:59 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

Looks like the Brits are getting serious



posted on Nov, 23 2015 @ 10:12 AM
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I believe the initial order was for 48. So a huge increase of f35 fighters
and with two additional front line typhoon squadrons being formed. 7 overall. Brings a total of 85 typhoons. 12 in each squadron. They will be getting ground attack capabilities and the Active Electronically Scanned Array radar.www.defensenews.com...



posted on Nov, 23 2015 @ 02:23 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

That is interesting.

They're cutting the total number of Type 26 (Global Combat Ships) from 13 to 8.



posted on Nov, 23 2015 @ 02:46 PM
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a reply to: anzha

I think the reasoning is that you don't need a global combat ship to patrol drug runners in Carribean or Pirates in the Gulf, but they did mention a yet to released Naval Strategy next year and a more affordable design?



posted on Nov, 23 2015 @ 02:55 PM
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i wouldn't put osbourne in charge of an order from the chinese takeaway. a complete dullard. and also, YAY! uk. like we need to be spending that money on those things. england is dying on it's feet and this crud gets precedence.



posted on Nov, 25 2015 @ 02:40 AM
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originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: Zaphod58

That is interesting.

They're cutting the total number of Type 26 (Global Combat Ships) from 13 to 8.


No, they're not cutting the Type 26 at all. All they are doing is deferring some of them to free up capital for other projects. They still intend on buying 8 ASW versions and 5 general purpose variants. What they're doing now is giving the younger Type 23's a facelift and postponing the order for the General purpose T26's until a later date.

No, 5 Frigates have not been cancelled.



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