UK spends £36m on 18 little 'bullet-proof' boats to protect Royal Navy assets The UK is to splash £36m on 18 new vessels to help protect Royal Navy bases around Britain and Gibraltar. The contract – awarded to Liverpool-based boatbuilders Marine Specialised Technology, who seemed comfortable with being named as part of the deal – will help protect 50 jobs and create a further 15 posts. For the flotilla …
Uhhmmm, SA80 covers several different weapons (L85 and L86, multiple variants) and SA90 is, as far as I can find, not actually a thing.
If you're talking about the abysmal performance of the L85A1 rifle then yes, but you'll be happy to know that after Heckler&Koch got their grubby mitts on basically all of them and upgraded them to the L85A2 standard they're basically exactly as reliable as an M16/M4/AR15. L86 received similar upgrades and is now also at a statisfactory standard apparently.
I suggest you should have actually read rather than written that :"Concealed weapon systems. A range of lethal and non lethal weapons are hidden below decks and raised only for deployment including a remote control gyroscopically stabilized 12.7mm machine gun, or a manned motorised gun turret incorporating a 7.62mm MG."
The appear to be police boats for routine patrolling, and warding off lost/thoughtless civilian sailors, plus civil protests, which are generally unarmed.
They would also likely be the first defence against terrorists. In that situation they have whatever guns the crew and passengers carry, which is likely going to be on par with whatever weapons they are facing in the hands of the terrorists (and which is presumably the thought in providing bullet resistant materials on the boat).
Given that they will be routinely deployed in harbours, which tend to have lots of people all over the place, firing off heavy calibre machine guns or light automatic cannon might be somewhat counter-productive (every bullet or shell has to land somewhere, and they won't all hit the target).
Erm, the (armed) Barracuda referred to was in another poster's link, it's not what has been ordered from Marine Specialist Technology.
What's been ordered are Police Patrol Craft. No reference to any fixed weaponry in the press release on the Gov.uk press release page.
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To be fair, it's not far from Cornwall and we have record for invading England. It's been a few centuries, but next time we'll get past Guildford - I promise...
Mine's a pint of Trelawny Ale -->
"...protect Royal Navy bases around Britain and Gibraltar."
As the Breaks-it agreement means Gibraltar will be given back to the Spanish in exchange for two barrels of Sherry and a bushel of Anchovies, that only leaves our great naval ports - basically Southhampton Marina - to defend. So a couple of these new craft chasing pesky rascals at high speed around the Isle of Wight until everyone is dizzy should keep any potential invaders at bay. You can save money by leaving off all armament, reduce crew protection (a sou'wester should be suitable atire as it's nice around the IoW), provide a loudhailer rather than unreliable radios and, to meter out immediate and direct punishment (we do rule the seas after all) give the crew a video camera to threaten naughty seafaring types with exposure on BBC Crimewatch (and for extra humiliation, threaten repeats as Boredomforce on Quest, Pick and Dave ...) and we can even offset costs by selling footage to You've Been Framed! Sounds like a win win situation!
It's military procurement. Roll a 6-sided die and add that number of zeroes to the end of the price you first thought of.
Though nowadays military headline prices also often include the cost of the maintenenance support and sometimes even midlife upgrades. But the press don't bother to mention that, as they like big numbers and not quite telling the truth.
As quite a few obviously didn't read the specs, which habit seems a common trait here :
"WEAPON SYSTEMS
The design uses an innovative solution to weapon deployment. Various different types of both lethal and non-lethal weapons, including a remote control gyroscopically stabilised 12.7mm machine gun / 40mm grenade launcher can be fitted to Barracuda. In Barracuda the weapons are cleverly concealed below decks in the f/wd section of the superstructure, and are raised up to above deck level only for deployment through large watertight carbon fibre hatches built into the superstructure. In this way when the vessel is in engaged in surveillance or patrol, the weapons are concealed and the vessels RCS signature is greatly reduced. When the vessel is engaged in pursuit or apprehend modes, the weapons are raised for deployment. "
The education was free. Think about it.
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