Re-arming the UK: What equipment? and how much?

Tekever AR5 Will Replace British Army Watchkeeper

LONDON—The UK defense ministry has confirmed that Tekever has secured a contract to replace the British Army’s fleet of Thales Watchkeeper uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS).

Tekever will supply its twin-engine AR5 air system as part of a £400 million ($530 million) deal, the defense ministry said July 25. Through Project Corvus, the Army will initially acquire six AR5 systems, with 24 to be delivered by 2029. The aircraft will be built at Tekever’s new manufacturing facility in Swindon, England.
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Hey, we don't have a specific T45 thread (that I can find), but this is tangentially relevant to this thread as well, so I might as well ask here.

I'm doing some minor changes to a T45 ShipBucket artwork to reflect the post-2030 T45 (nothing super in-scale or accurate, it's for personal use), and I was wondering if anyone knew the likely location of the Dragonfire mounts being added to the ships? Are they replacing the 30mm on those sponsons, or is it sitting above the hangar, or next to the Phalanx mounts, or somewhere else entirely?

Thanks for the help!

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The UK Ministry of Defense has discovered that the Royal Navy’s new fleet of spy drones, being operated by elements of the Royal Marines since March, have been secretly transmitting information from the drone’s primary camera to China, according to an investigation from The Telegraph.

Components of the camera on the K3 Scout, a 27-foot-long multirole uncrewed surface vessel (drone boat) built by Kraken Technology in the United Kingdom, were produced in and secretly transmitting data to a device in China. An investigation into the drones revealed that the cameras were transmitting “heartbeat communications” – data to confirm they were online and functioning normally – to an IP address in China.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/2086636963956916321
View: https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2086636963956916321
 
China has pretty much acquired a lock on the electronic's market. It's almost impossible to keep track where a lot of stuff is manufactured.
Somehow I am not surprised
 
bob225 said:
Just posting the link, i struggle to see the RAF going Boom and Drogue, thats a lot of training to keep up with, i guess it possible,
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More training is good. Plus, it's relatively segregated. C130s and P8s getting Boom time (and any RC135s still in service), everything else getting drogues.

Yes, and GCAP getting boom eventually.
 
Scott Kenny said:
More training is good. Plus, it's relatively segregated. C130s and P8s getting Boom time (and any RC135s still in service), everything else getting drogues.

Yes, and GCAP getting boom eventually.
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Here's the Uk refuelling list...

Boom
E-7 Wedgetail
P-8 Poseidon
C-17 Globemaster
RC-135W Rivet Joint (although by the time it arrives RC-135W might have left service)
GCAP
F-35A (if we buy it)

Probe and Drogue
Typhoon
F-35B
A400M
CH-47 - New build (if we ever use A400M for tanking)
Merlin HC.4 (if we ever use A400M for tanking)
 
Scott Kenny said:
My contempt for the people controlling what the MoD keeps on hand increases yet again.
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To be fair C-130J was purchased purely as a stopgap capability due to delays with A400M, when A400M arrived and entered service it was always planned to remove C-130J and sell on. UK was the launch customer for C-130J and they got worked very hard for Afghanstan and Iraq. The issues with A400M are nowlargely resolved, but not all particularly in airdrop, however an additional purchase has been floated for a while and has yet to materialise. But in truth at present with the A400M's increased capability and C-17 we actually have more airlift than we know what to do with...but there were many who advocated retaining the last 16 x C-130J for SF work, potential for AAR for helos and for the landing grounds where you might not ant to risk A400M....in retrospect a couple with MAFF would make sense as well...but there is only so much money and aircrew to go around...

In the Cold War we had c60 C-130K (equivalent to C-130E)...the A400M and C-17 represent a vast increase in capability, lift and range. It would be nice to have another 8-12 A400M though...and to get A330 MRTT with a cargo door...
 
Thought someone would go down this route....

https://twitter.com/x/status/2100192606340685845
View: https://x.com/CalibreDefence/status/2100192606340685845


https://instro.com/

Text from their LinkedIn page...

Instro Precision’s DEODE is a highly innovative UK sovereign C-sUAS effector solution. Whilst fundamentally a DEW, DEODE limits its effecting scope to the permanent destruction of the electro-optical payload of hostile sUAS platforms. Once the effect has been delivered, the operator has achieved a ‘mission kill’ on the target platform – rendering it either completely inoperable in the case of FPV drones, including those that are fibre-optically controlled, or of no operational use in the case of stand-off ISR platforms and loitering munitions. Although able to operate as a standalone system with its own integral optical search capability, DEODE’s SAPIENT architecture allows for ease of integration into third party wide area search systems, taking slew to cue commands from the likes of radar, SIGINT and acoustic sensors.

Compared with traditional DEW systems, DEODE offers:

  • Dramatically reduced SWaP: the payload weighs just 25 kg and can be tripod-mounted for rapid deployment, or vehicle integrated without significant structural changes to the host platform
  • Significantly greater effective range: disabling the sensors on hostile UAS operating at stand-off distances
  • Shorter lead times: measured in weeks not years, delivering systems to users at an operationally relevant pace
  • Orders-of-magnitude lower system cost: providing a capability that is both low cost per kill and per system
  • Lower probability of collateral damage: reducing the risk of damage caused by the impact of wreckage or debris

By offering a cost effective, long range and deployable capability that counters the fastest growing threat group of sUAS, namely FPVs and loitering munitions, Instro envisages DEODE being an indispensable component of an effective layered C-sUAS system that complements existing hard and soft kill options.

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Scott Kenny said:
More training is good. Plus, it's relatively segregated. C130s and P8s getting Boom time (and any RC135s still in service), everything else getting drogues.

Yes, and GCAP getting boom eventually.
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My comment was proved wrong very quickly!
 
DWG said:
Ineos are bidding the Grenadier, which is so explicitly a Defender copy Ratcliffe tried to purchase the Defender production line.
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I think you have that backwards. Ratcliffe tried to purchase the Defender production line first, and then made Ineos/Grenadiers when he was rebuffed.
 
GK. Dundas said:
Land Rover = working vehicle
Grenadier = Millionaire's plaything.
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The company maybe but the vehicle itself is the real deal and far closer to the original Land Rover Series/90/110/130/Defender than the current iteration of the Defender. If anything it reminds of the Land Rover Challenger prototypes that were intended as a 1990s follow on to the 90/110 with a common chassis across the entire LR range.

Zeb
 
bob225 said:
surely Onshore manufacture is whatUK Govs looking for?
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They'll be lucky... every bidder, even JLR, is proposing a base vehicle built outside the UK. JLR are bigging up the fact it has an engine built in Wolverhampton I suspect to try and raise its UK credentials...

Zeb
 
Odd considering there still is quite a car manufacturing industry in the UK. With a host of suppliers intigrated into both European and North American supply chains.
 
The MoD has selected a consortium led @Ocean__Infinity as preferred commercial mission partner to deliver the Atlantic Net ISR service as part of the RN's ATLANTIC BASTION initiative. Atlantic Net will provide ASW surveillance in the GIUK Gap and North Atlantic via a contractor-owned, contractor-operated naval oversight (COCONO) delivery model. Ocean Infinity have pioneered minimally crewed vessels and advanced robotics for hydrography and offshore operations. Via @JanesINTEL @rich_scott2
 

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