Comments for Think Defence

Comment on Reasons for Rafale by martin

martin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:49:20 +0000

Everything i have read points to price although I think the comments made by TD are also very valid. India’s concerns seem to be about large numbers of modern fighters being procured by both China and Pakistan. They need an air superiority fighter and in my mind Typhoon armed with Meteor would be their best option. Failing not getting F22 I think it would have been the best option for Japan as well. While we see the pure air to air roll as a cold war legacy many nations do not. Unlike us most countries have not spent the last 20 year bombing people. It will be interesting to see what happens in the near future with the Indian competition. Rafale apparently came in at $ 5 million less per aircraft. I am curious how the French managed it. Might even see a referal to the European Commission or WTO if as I suspect the French government are subsidising this in some way.

Comment on The Post Afghanistan Vehicle Lottery by martin

martin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:05:58 +0000

500 million is a hell of allot of money when not actually getting any vehicles. We can talk about 15% for 4 years but what will the actual vehicles cost. Given the sorry state of Army vehicles I think its time to come to take a deep breath and just go out and buy whatever we think is the best firt in the international market with zero modifications beyond sticking a licence plate on the back. We really need to get something for the sub £ 1 million mark if we are to have a hope of replacing 3000 vehicles in the next decade.

Comment on A Think Defence Piece About Think Defence by wf

wf — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:37:26 +0000

@jed: Last time I was subscribed it had a scrollback of 20 posts. Very easy to burst over that, on the basis we have jobs and all that stuff :-)

Comment on A Think Defence Piece About Think Defence by jed

jed — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:18:35 +0000

I already subscribe to an RSS feed for all comments! Just need to hunt around to find it I guess?

Comment on Magic Bullets by Gareth Jones

Gareth Jones — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:47:04 +0000

Some interesting figures in the link I posted above.

“Today 45% of the worlds population live in cities.
470-85% are expected to live in cities by 2025.
MOUT will most probably be more common.
Combat ranges for low level units will not increase!
Short ranges however often means quick engagements.
Future weapons must therefore be able to quickly engage targets”

“USMC after action report Iraq
Engagements conducted with small arms occurred in the 20-30 meter range.
Shots over 100 m were rare.
The maximum range was less than 300 m”

“What to do at short ranges?
MOUT will be more common in the future.
At short ranges you should not fire HE rounds!
An integrated PDW saves weight compared to a modular 5.56 mm rifle.”

Are we learning the wrong lessons in Afghanistan? Will future combat be fought at shorter ranges,not longer? If so, and quick reaction becomes even more important, would a specialised weapon without a intergrated “back-up” be a liability?

Comment on A Think Defence Piece About Think Defence by wf

wf — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:46:35 +0000

RSS feed for comments. Make it for all comments, and have a 200 comment buffer: we all mix between threads

Comment on Reasons for Rafale by wf

wf — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:44:08 +0000

Re the Mirage 2000, it’s noticeable that both Taiwan and the UAE are trying to get rid of their 2000-5′s, and in the UAE’s case, weren’t interested in Rafale either. I suspect this is a commercial and price issue

Comment on A Think Defence Piece About Think Defence by Ant

Ant — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:40:56 +0000

Short wishlist:
1) Edit function for those “oh bolloks” moments.
2) Comment box larger and wider so you can see more of your text as you write, which oddly is a larger font than when published – ie: more WYSIWYG
3) Longer Comments section. Sometimes too much happens!
4) Bring back the silly gargoyles that disappeared a couple of organisations ago.
I like the clear sparse layout. Think Google homepage, not Yahoo!

Comment on The Post Afghanistan Vehicle Lottery by Brian Black

Brian Black — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:35:04 +0000

Bob, you’ve asked that we compare the half billion cost of the ASCOD-SV development contract with other AFV programmes, notably GCV and EFV. EFV had greatly different requirements and the plug has been pulled. So leaving that aside, two teams were awarded development contracts for the GCV programme last year – BAe/Grumann and GD/LM, a third team, SAIC/Boeing has been dropped. These development contracts were pegged at a maximum of USD450m each, compared to the UKP500m for GD’s ASCOD. While the DoD is awarding upto 3 development contracts, the individual costs are less than our own – and certainly less than the 500m, add a zero, times it by three that you suggested above.

Comment on Reasons for Rafale by solomon

solomon — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:30:42 +0000

i never understood why good will and more users were never generated by giving a few to central European countries…Hungary, Romania, Georgia…and a few more would all love to fly the older Typhoons. it would allow for the statement “all these Air Forces use the Typhoon” would put more nations into the pool and would eventually help cushion the cost of upgrades.

Comment on Vital Defence Equipment by Ed Zeppelin

Ed Zeppelin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:30:09 +0000

Too hard to see this clearly on an iphone, but is this not just a gucci BV? If so, then the answer is yes. Ask any man taking over a vehicle (thank you whole fleet management) and the first question he will ask is ‘Does the BV work?’ !

Comment on Vital Defence Equipment by paul g

paul g — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:27:35 +0000

it’s bloody dusty in here, getting in my eyes!

Comment on Reasons for Rafale by paul g

paul g — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:25:50 +0000

well let’s hope it’s lessons learned as i believe typhoon is going in the hat for the south korea contract, although it’s F-35 they want

Comment on Reasons for Rafale by solomon

solomon — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:22:50 +0000

i disagree. this came down to a price shoot out. and the Typhoon lost. the French learned this lesson earlier and basically low balled the Typhoon. both airplanes lack many of the features desired by the Indians so its all about the money.

doing anything but realizes this truth will lead to failure down the road.

oh and you want evidence? a Eurofighter spokesman stated that they would attempt to rebid the contract~!

Comment on The Post Afghanistan Vehicle Lottery by Alan

Alan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:16:37 +0000

To answer TD’s question; £500m IS a lot of money.

Especially if there isn’t a working vehicle yet (if any one knows if it does exist independent of the drawing board please tell me.)

To change tack slightly, how many of the vehicles can be/are used by 2 or even all 3 services?
With economies of scale and shrinking budgets, surely this is the way to go?

Comment on Learning Lessons from Libya, ISR and Maritime Land Attack by All Politicians are the Same

All Politicians are the Same — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:04:16 +0000

The problem with the towed array “garage”is it feed through the quarterdeck out the stern which puts it under the flight deck.

Comment on Learning Lessons from Libya, ISR and Maritime Land Attack by James

James — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:57:42 +0000

APATS,

1 car garage is about right for a deflated system. Could even be modular. Still, would need datacomms (gig ethernet OK) to a 2 console system for the operators somewhere on board.

I’ve no idea how useful a frigate would find a 50 nautical mile horizon AESA search radar. Maybe another type of ship would. I know it’s possible.

Comment on Reasons for Rafale by S O

S O — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:49:54 +0000

About reliability; it’s an old story, but France did cut off Israel (whose air force was equipped with French Ouragans and Mirages) from its military hardware exports after the Six Day War and commenced to supply the Arabs instead (Mirage F.1 to Libya, Iraq, some Mirage Vs).

Dassault is furthermore known to demand hefty prices for spare parts, and India most likely knows this with its Mirage 2000s (again, old reputation from 70s and 80s).

Comment on Select Committee – Operations in Libya by Topman

Topman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:47:48 +0000

They seem to be on a bit of a crusade, to my mind there’s something a bit odd about them.

Comment on Learning Lessons from Libya, ISR and Maritime Land Attack by All Politicians are the Same

All Politicians are the Same — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:47:47 +0000

I should have said optimal detection is at 3-9 knots you can sprint and drift.