Nearly a month after she was rolled out of the build hall, HMS Active was floated off the barge in Rosyth on 21st March. HMS Active was put into the water for the first time in the non-tidal basin. Before the float-off could happen, a team of dredging vessels worked to remove material from the
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Type 26 (150 m, 7700 tonnes, 900 MUKP) 10 yrs from being laid down to commissioning
Type 31 (140 m, 5700 tonnes, 250 MUKP) 3 to 5 yrs from lay down to commissioning
River 2 (90 m, 2000 tonnes, 116-144 MUKP) 3 to 4 yrs from first steel cut to commissioning
Legend (127 m, 4700 tonnes, 700-735 MUSD) 3 to 4 yrs from first steel cut to commissioning
Jan Mayen OPV (136 m, 9800 tonnes, 150-215 MUSD) 3 to 4 yrs from lay down to commissioning
.....
Riley Claire/Nomad FCS (53 m, 5-600 tonnes, 7-13 MUSD) - 1 to 2 yrs from order to commissioning
Damen 5009 FCS / RNLN MSS (53 m, 325 tonnes, 5-12 MUSD) - 1 to 2 yrs from order to commissioning
Typical New FCS of 59 m (59 m, 700 tonnes, 10-15 MUSD) - 1 to 2 yrs from order to commissioning
Austal Catamaran (100 m, 2400 tonnes, 60-100 MUSD) - 1 to 2 yrs from order to commissioning
The EPF Appalachicola in USNS is optionally autonomous.
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We and the Brits are looking at getting our first Type 26s somewhere between 2031 and 2035, 5 to 9 years from now.
The Yanks are further behind the curve than we are.
They can't build themselves out of the hole they are in in any kind of timely manner.
They are forced to look at doing the other thing.
The first plan is to build more of what they know they can build. The Legends.
The Legends will still take 3 to 4 years to build one and they cost in the order of 700 to 750 MUSD.
At best they will be delivered at a rate of 2 or 3 a year.
Still looking for the other thing.
The other thing is the hybrid fleet.
381 crewed vessels - existing
134 uncrewed vessels - 4 existing
130 needed.
The CNO wants 130 more 59 m LUSVs (designated MASCs) delivered starting next year at a pace of 20 hulls a year.
If he gets his way, by the time we get our first River in the water in 2031, 5 yrs from now, the Yanks will have 80 59m MASCs in the water.
If our first RCD is delayed to 2035, 9 yrs from now, they will have 160 MASCs in the water.
Some of those will be the smaller ISR versions. Some will only have two 40 ft containers on their decks. But assume that 40% of that fleet can carry 4 of the 40 ft containers and they are all carrying 4 Mk70 PDS systems with 4 cells a piece.
160 x 40% = 64 vessels
4 containers per vessel = 256 PDS
4 cells per PDS = 1024
Equivalent to
1026 Tomahawks for ship or shore bombardment from 1600 km
1026 SM2/3/6 or Patriot for bombardment or Air Defence
Or
4104 ESSM for local Air Defence
The missiles and the launchers will be pricey but
64 of the 59 m FSC/MASCs at 10 to 15 MUSD apiece = 640 to 960 MUSD
Or the ball park price of one single Legend.
And no sailors at risk on the new hulls.
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And the sailors on the crewed vessels at reduced risk due to
deeper magazine strength
distributed effects across a wider area
distributed sensors so the crewed vessels don't have to advertise their positions to get information.
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Which gets me to thinking about this business of the F35s with no radar being accepted into service.
Do they get enough situational awareness from their passive sensors and their Link comms that they are still effective even without their radar?
Do they use their radars much?
I appreciate that it sure looks somewhere between SNAFU and FUBAR but I have difficulty believing that they would continue turning out aircraft at that pace if they were only going to be suitable for air shows.
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Can we/you rely on the Net?
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