Posts by George

Becta excludes Vista, Office - again

Some fair points needed but...

was there any need to shout about it and make it so scathing, about a more balanced view. And what is it that BECTA actually do? Nothing much I suspect, and influence on individual school policy? None.

DHS to fit airliners with laser beam defences

Just a couple o' points...

"By Stu Reeves

Correct me if I'm a bit paraniod, but surley the way to test to see if they work is to fire a missile at the plane. Bugger that for a game of soldiers !"

Read the article, already been tested, this is in position testing to test for fuel consumption differences, drag, weight and flying performance effects.

And for By Vladimir Plouzhnikov

You are quite right, the system has to tell the difference between BBQ and launch, I believe it does this by using a combination of the flare of a launch and switch on of the infrared seeker (normally a short while after the missile launch). Don't quote me on that though!

Clarkson's 'steal my ID' stunt backfires

Nice of him to admit to it...

And nice of the person to do it to a charity and not themselves.

Supersonic stealth jumpjet rolls off production line

I understand your point Lewis...

and don't get me wrong, your articles always raise good points, especially the Stealth paint issue damaged with grit, something I hadn't even thought of.

I see your point with the Falklands but that Anti-Air Radar is now done by the Type45 destroyer (or will be when they are deployed). Admitedly far more expensive than a fleet of E-2 Hawkeyes but more profiecent in defending the fleet against both missile and plane threats.

It is difficult to know what they are planning (are they even planning at all!) but there seems to be change of roles across all the forces and their equipment.

Andy...

There is no Naval variant of the Typhoon it was abandoned in the feasibility study stage.

The Rafale I have no argument against. Well maybe one, its French so only fires white flags.

More conjecture....

I'm getting used to the military articles on here being opinions on the author on how it should be done his way but just wanted my 20 pence.

"As to operations from small carriers, the US Navy has a good few full-sized ones; and the Royal Navy is getting new, bigger ships which could easily launch and recover non-STOVL planes if they had the necessary kit."

Its all about the bigger picture. By buying these and the Eurofighter Typhoon the MoD have cut the costs of ownership of the fleet by having fewer niche planes to buy supplies for. And its not simply a case of adapting a plane to fly off a carrier (however a feasability study for the Typhoon was carried out), they have to be designed that way, stress on the airframe, the landing sensor suite, arrestor hook location, storage and ease of maintainence all need to be taken into account. If it really was the case you state, then any new plane would have ability to land and take off from a carrier.

"This would also permit the RN to purchase and operate existing, cheap, excellent E-2 carrier radar planes to replace its current aged, badly altitude- and endurance-limited surveillance choppers."

Yes excellent though they are, the Sea Kings primary role was anti-submarine warfare, admitedly this is less of a these days though its time will come again. The AWACS facility is provided by other aircraft of the Royal Air Force.