Posted on 03/24/2017 8:50:18 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
WARSHIPS MISFIRE New fleet of £8bn Royal Navy warships to be fitted with launchers that CANNOT fire British missiles
A FLEET of new Royal Navy warships costing £8billion is being fitted with missile launchers that cannot fire British missiles, it emerged yesterday.
The Type 26 Global Combat frigates have been designed with an American missile system for which the navy has no ammo.
Critics say it will cost a fortune to buy new Tomahawk missiles which can be used with the MK-41 silos – and cast doubt on whether it will happen at all.
The Ministry of Defence’s £178billion ten-year equipment plan does not currently allocate any money for their purchase or manufacture.
Former Labour defence minister Kevan Jones branded the programme a “complete dog’s breakfast”, telling the Sunday Times: “It sheds light on the crisis that there is in the defence equipment budget.”
Critics say it will cost a fortune to buy or manufacture ammo for the new frigate
Pete Sandeman, a naval expert and campaigner, added: “At the moment there is no plan to purchase anything that we could fire out of the MK-41.
“If the current budget climate doesn’t change then it is the kind of thing that could easily be overlooked. I would have thought it is going to be pretty embarrassing if there is not a single missile that we can fire from the MK 41.”
Construction on the first eight Type 26 frigates is due to start this summer in Glasgow. They will replace the navy’s ageing fleet of Type 23 frigates.
The hi-tech ships, being built by defence contractor BAE Systems, will have several roles from high-intensity warfare to humanitarian help.
Their MK-41 system, which will include 24 missile silos at the front, is in service with 13 other navies. America used it to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles at IS militants in 2014 and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Last night, the MoD insisted the ships will not launch without missiles on board.
A spokesman said: “The Type 26 Frigate will be delivered with cutting edge weapons and sensors that build on the excellent operational record of the Type 23.
“Backed by a rising defence budget and a £178billion equipment plan, investment in the MK-41 launcher enables the Royal Navy the option of investing in a wide range of additional capabilities at short notice and according to the threat.”
MEANWHILE, Britain’s newest battlefield helicopter is carrying “World War II” technology after the MoD stripped its ability to beam back live enemy images.
Wildcat crews must download footage when they land, dubbed “madness” by insiders.
Sounds like Butter won big over Guns.
Sounds like the time i owned an old British made car, neither metric or SAE wrenches would fit. Wound up filing down some bolt heads eventually.
> Royal Navy warships to be fitted with launchers that CANNOT fire British missiles <
To quote that great stateswoman Hillary Clinton, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
I’ve read that that Royal Navy is now weaker than the Japanese navy and weaker than the Indian navy. So why should the RN worry about missile launchers, or anything like that? Let the USN patrol the seas, and spend UK money on immigrants instead.
The British better hope for another storm like the one that sank the Spanish Armada
The enemy is already inside the borders anyway.
Looks like a nice ship to me.
So they buy American missiles for this ship. Not a bad choice, America has lots of experience at this.
Just saying.
Perhaps the Brits could afford the Evolved Sea Sparrow. They come in quad-packs for the MK-41 VLS.
But fitting the Mk41 anyway still makes some sense.
For one thing, Australia's SEA 5000 program does not consider the Mk41 optional, and if BAE Systems doesn't come up with a completed design by the end of 2017, they will lose to either Fincantieri or Navantia.
BAE needs to realise for future export prospects the Australian order is the more important one: It's larger, more imminent, and specifies a more advanced ship (with a proper AESA radar system instead of that crappy little Brit Artisan rotator.)
The UK Navy already has the MK-41 VLS in their fleet. What is the issue here?
Below Sea Ceptor quadpack in MK41. Note very loose fit
If i’m not mistaken, this is first installation of the MK-41. Earlier ships had an older VLS for the Seawolf missile and the newer ones had a French origin system for the Aster missiles.
Why only 24 cells on a $1.25 billion ship? TLAM to fill all those cells would be a fraction of a percent of total ship cost.
I like reading all of this by our resident active & retired squids. I’m still wondering if the gals aboard the vessels are physically capable of performing real damage control. My friends in the merchant marine tell me essentially no and in the event of a real emergency sailors may die because of it.
Meanwhile, in America, the primary plant for manufacturing military explosives is run by BAE systems
Psssst...Pete...”loose lips sink ships...”.
Usually BS bolts were located under the intake manifold or someplace equally inaccessible...
Maybe they can pick up some used ones for cheap?
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