1. The RN does not rely only on RAF planes. The F-35B is jointly operated by both the RAF and the RN. 2. The UK has 33 F-35B currently in service, not 30 as shown on your graphics. 3. According to the MoD, FC/ASW is due to be operational on T26 in 2028, not in 2030. 4. T26 can handle 2 Merlin or4 Wildcats by using the RR mission bay. (T26 will almost always carry Merlin over Wildcat since Merlin has the dipping sonar)
Only a couple of notes on this: 2 - There are 3 F35s based in the US for testing and evaluation. I'm guessing they may have been excluded from the total used here? 4 - While the T26 will technically be able to carry 2 helicopters, my understanding is it would be a bit difficult to deploy the 2nd one due to the hangar + mission bay configuration.
@@seand485 Having looked at the bay on the back of the Type 26, it's a single door because of the sloped in stealthy back, which then provide mounts for CIWS or DS30M RWS. Unless they are playing Tetris moving stuff round inside I'm not sure how you'd get a Wildcat past a Merlin or each other, there doesn't look like enough room. So I think you're right in that respect, maybe if they are carrying one Helo and a couple of drones as they are much smaller.
There is a manpower drain in the RN, just as there usually is in the army and RAF. The reasons are very similar: That people want out is the inevitable result of too few ships and crews being stretched by long deployments and too high an operational tempo, with less and less time for shore jobs/family/personal and career progression. The solution is a combination of more hulls to spread the load, more people retained to man them (by improving pay and conditions) and/or the UK reducing its international commitments to a level the funding will actually support. I don't currently see any of this happening, although the concept behind the procurement of Type 31 shows that someone is thinking about more hulls with smaller crews for less money, to free up the bigger hulls with bigger crews to do the more important tasks, and maybe get deployment durations down to 6 months or less.
I just looked up the fact that the UK has 40 Admirals including vice and rear admirals and 70 commissioned ships (Apr 2023) that’s an incredible ratio! 😮 what do they all do? The bureaucracy is stunning…
That stat is a commonly claimed one but doesn't take into account that there are senior naval officers based on land at shore establishments, not just at sea.
It's honestly really sad to see the whole UK military decrease in size year by year. Despite this happening since WWII, They still had quite a formidable force for a country their size during the late cold war. They even demonstrated their ability to retake an outlying territory on the other side of the planet. Now their naval power appears doubtful if they were to take on one of several other world powers without the help of NATO or other allies.
I’m not sure there are many country’s that can take on peer country’s on there own the uk is still on of the most powerful forces in the world it’s also 1 of only about 5 true blue water navy’s in the world and has the ability to build its own ships including nuclear subs
@@MrTangolizard That's true. There really isn't a country that they plan on having one-on-one beef with, and compared to the rest of Europe they still seem on par with Navy size, but their procurement process the past couple decades has just felt... a little disappointing for some reason. I mean, when it comes to the Navy the only point I can recall is how Type 45 procurement was cut from 12 to 6, but that makes me a little afraid of possible cuts that will come to the three classes of frigates succeeding the Type 23. The rest of it comes from the Army and RAF. I just feel like I've seen a common trend of newer pieces of hardware replacing preceding classes/variants in lower and lower numbers, in amounts that, to me, seem less than optimal. There were real numbers for this somewhere, but I can't remember so I'll make up my own scenario: The UK wants to replace its 300 Challenger 2s. Newer technology is expensive, so I would understand if they can't replace them one-for-one. I'd guess they would end up with 250 Challenger 3s. In reality, they only get a ridiculous amount of 100.
They can't fill vacancies in our forces anymore due to low prospects for promotion because of the small size. That and the constant erosion of our country by left wingers in Universities making people feel ashamed to be British or patriotic by spreading their poisonous ideology among younger students. People have also changed, the vast amount of young people don't care about what goes on elsewhere, they are focused on the here and now and how many likes they get on Facebook/Tik Tok, they are incapable of seeing the bigger picture.
@@tomgunton no they haven't. In terms of wages in pounds yeah they've gone up, always do. But in terms of what that money is worth, practically every job is now paying worse than it was 2-5 years ago (but that's the same in many many countries atm)
Specifically, during WW2. The nazi party traumatized Europe in way, that when the Allied nation won WW2. They void that Europe stay united to avoid another Hitler type of caracter.
seeing 6 destroyer leave the British port in: 1940: sir, they are sending out a reconnaissance force 1980: sir, the 1st fleet has left port 2020: sir, the entire Royal Navy has departed.
Type 26 looks like a great ship, we just need them faster, at least the Type 31 is coming along nicely and with the announcement that they will have mk41 vls it gives them a real boost in firepower.
@@brunol-p_g8800 Nah they are fitting current weapons to Mk41, apparently they can quad pack some SAM's into the mk 41 so that should increase missile numbers compared to the "Shroom Farm" arrangement they currently have.
@@WiegrafFolles Herman Goering. "I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked"
@@WiegrafFollesfrench and British , not just the English , Scots , Welsh , northern Irish and any other places in the world that consider themselves British, Like the Falklands or Gibraltar.
As a German we only have problems with the french multinational projects almost all have problems, cost more take longer etc. but with norway, sweden, netherlands and italy the projects work good.
@@CalasTyphon488 if we're going to be technical then British doesn't include Northern ireland. Strictly speaking Britain is the main island, comprising England, Scotland and Wales, while only "UK" comprises Northern Ireland and other smaller islands and territories. But nowadays like you say British is interchangebly used just to refer to people from the UK. Guess it does sound better than "UKish"
The Royal Navy opted to go for power over quantity. An aircraft carrier costs around £3.7billion, while a frigate costs around £250million. If the RN didn't build the 2 aircraft carriers, it could have built around 30 frigates instead. This was the sensible option, as no navy in 2023 can call itself a serious navy without carrier strike groups. And there are only 4-5 navies in the world who can operate theirs globally (the Royal Navy being one). But the small size of the escort fleet can definitely be felt. It is on track to be larger in the early 2030s - but we need those numbers YESTERDAY. 2030s is a distant future, especially with all the problems happening in the world today.
Aircraft carriers are outdated. They are useful in a war on terror scenario. But they’d be the first targets for a wave of hypersonic missiles at the out break of a conflict. They’re basically useless in a modern war.
@@jenkz16hypersonic weapons so far have shown to be either a) ineffective against even static structures b) overpriced cruise missiles that can be destroyed by existing air defense, or c) only exist on paper. And if aircraft carriers were obsolete, why is China trying to build and field close to 6 of them right now? I’d say, The aircraft carrier is here to stay.
I think RN might've been better served taking notes from the Italian Navy, and building 3 or 4 ships similar to Cavour, with more of a focus on Air operations. In theory they could afford 5 but that's assuming equivalent costs. Building 3 frees up a few solid billion pounds for other parts of the navy, while ensuring 1 ship's always operational. 4 gives added flexibility for the carrier fleet(You could surge 2 at any time without much fuss) and would still have likely been less expensive by some margin, perhaps enough for another couple frigates.
Money isn't the only issue, new members have been dropping every year, especially on how they do recruiting now (more focused on diversity politics). At the moment only 1 Vanguard is active while 3 are docked for repairs due to lack of specialists but there is supposed to be 2 active at all times.
Great article. You've actually got a great grasp on the numbers and funding issues face by the RN. Factual, unbiased and accurate. Highly recommended watch
F35 is set up as a joint force between RN and RAF. Squadrons are assigned to carriers or land as required, so there is no specific allocation of airframes to either RN or RAF separately.
Would be realy interesting to have a video, much in the same way as this one, but going over the french's recent military programing law, looking at the state of their military and their plans to ramp up their spending for the 2030s.
C. Northcote Parkinson, in his book 'Parkinson's Law', has written a very interesting chapter on the Royal Navy. It seems that after WWII, UK's Navy has faced a steady decrease of war vessels, but this decrease is accompanied with an equally steady increase in their non-combatant administrative staff. He jokes that RN may not be able to deploy many vessels in a war, but they sure can flood the enemy with memorandums and telegrams.
The big issue is the government ordered a lot more ships (still being designed and built) and then twice now cut the number of people that can be employed to work on the vessel. Even without the new ships being built thus expanding the hull numbers... the Royal Navy has to dock other ships to take out an aircraft carrier! Even then they have to ask NATO to make up the manpower numbers on the ship and other ships for support. When working outside NATO areas they have to call on the Americans to help out.
Well yes but a big part of that is as you say the damn Conservative government we currently have, it's why the sooner there's a General Election the better as Labour WILL win in a landslide, and while that probably won't make things much better for the UK military right now it sure as hell can't make them much worse
With the world and Europe in a more volatile state than at any stage since the 1930’s, public opinion on military spending has shifted. A potential third world war is now daily news again for the first time since the height of the Cold War. Any cuts in military spending or capability will be seen negatively by the general public.
Yes that's true but let's not forget the people who conquered 3/4 of the lands mass they were not cowards.. I agree the population is cowards now and will get destroyed in any battle
As much as I hate to say it, but one of the main problems I see with UK procurement (also applies to US as well) is they do not leverage cooperative spending on new platforms and prefer to go solo in many cases which is huge financial burden to have. If they could cost split between either 2 or several nations on a specific platform, it would like do much in the term of cost savings in both R&D and manufacturing. I suppose the AUKUS sub design is a step in the right direction however, it is not exactly a F-35 of seas like I'm thinking of and granted every nation is going to have its own tweaks are specifications that are going to need to be met, but I think at the very least a common hull design can be achieved and I can see a benefit in terms of interoperability with said approach as well.
The Royal navel deprived of financial resources is heading to a fleet size sustainable by a very small island. It survives right now on the financial industry in London but with the US dollar in decline and alternative currency for world trade coming into operation this will reduce significantly.
Or they could you know, tax the energy companies, multinationals and ultra-rich parasite class properly... Seeing as they run things though, thats not very likely
@@ourpetsheadsarefallingoff6654 the energy companies will leave? 😂😂😂 i mean that would be good, we could transition to renewables and have cheap clean energy. Multi nationals and ultra rich will leave? They rely on dodgy londons financial sector for their offshoring activities so i somehow doubt that. Nice typical right wing brainwashed response btw. The daily mail or rees mogg couldnt of said it better 😂 i guess because they say that exact bs thing you are parroting
As a brit, i really dont know why we dont have a massive push to use our military as free higher education for the public sector. We have a distressing lack of nurses and doctors, one because the pay isnt great and two because training isnt paid and it takes minimum of 3 years... well we have military nurses and doctors that are trained in the military to the same standard as our health service, why are we not creating a corp that is somewhat dedicated to peoples future prospects after military service? 🤔 Civilian policing, fire brigade, teaching, healthcare, social care, construction and engineering all can be taught alongside military service, instead of learning at the cost of the individual in civilian life, its paid for in short service to the military that comes with an actual wage. If taxes were upped for this approach purely to bolster our military with a consistent flow of young people, i would actually vote for a tax rise.
I think that is a great idea and how benificial that would be to our nation as a whole. I have to admit, that for the first time, I am worried about the country I love, as it seems people have forgotten what a great country this is and yes I would happily pay higher taxes for this approach as not only would it be great from a training perspective giving the young much needed skills when they hit work but also give them a sense of what it means to defend your country as we owe so much to those men and women who are in the armed forces defending us.
I’ve been wondering this for the USA for some time too. Would be a great pipeline for people. Would make the military competitive against industry for non-rich people. Of course, the complaints will flood that the rich are getting more ahead while the poor have to “waste” their lives as slaves to the government.
Making their own designs is part of the problem. They can save money by using more joint venture projects with more standardized designs for better economies of scale. Also use more more multifunction platforms instead of specialized role platforms.
It was this or let our entire infrastructure for building our own warships and submarines at all completely disappear, far from not doing enough joint stuff with other countries we've done far too much of it to the extent we can barely make or do anything ourselves without them anymore, and if you don't know why Britain being entirely militarily dependent on France and America is a bad thing, read a f*cking history book
@@tetraxis3011 The Russian Navy primarily consists of old Soviet cruisers and destroyers that are becoming more difficult to maintain over time, a handful of modern combat capable frigates, and many small corvettes that can realistically only operate safely in littoral waters where air support is guaranteed. The Russian Navy's power is almost completely reliant on its submarine fleet.
a report titled ‘We’re going to need a bigger navy’, which concluded the British fleet was not large enough to fulfil the objectives laid out in the Integrated Review. While total displacement has grown, the number of hulls - which provide the Royal Navy with the means to foster presence (the prerequisite for both sea control and denial) - has been decreasing at an alarming rate and will only increase slightly by 2040. Presently, in terms of major combatants, the Royal Navy has two large aircraft carriers, two amphibious vessels, four ballistic missile and six nuclear attack submarines, six destroyers, and 10 frigates . It plans to procure eight Type 26 and five Type 31 frigates. Other programmes - such as the Type 32 frigate and Type 83 destroyer - remain up in the air; . How the mighty have fallen
The steel industry died all over the western world, even in the USA, where they still built a lot of military ships and other stuff out of steel and in places like the Netherlands and Germany, where they still build cruise ships and large yachts, on top of cars, trains and other such products. Pinning the demise of the British steel industry just on that one factor is myopic. Even if the Royal Navy would still be as big as it was before WW2, or even bigger, they probably would still source their steel where it is cheapest, like everyone else. Military spending adds to the GDP, but not that much to the actual economy. Look at Russia at the moment. Their GDP rose during the war and the Russia trolls and shills celebrate that as the Russian economy booming despite the sanctions, while in reality this rise in GDP is just them spending lots of money on military hardware that then gets blown up without benefiting the Russian economy or the people at all. There is this old saying among economists: "If you want to raise your GDP by a billion Dollar, just build a billion Dollar bridge to nowhere." You can also look at other places where the government spends lots of money on big "White Elephant" projects, like Turkey for example, where they built the world's biggest airport and some crazy big presidential palace and lots of skyscrapers and other stuff and what good did it do their economy as a whole? It tanked and inflation is through the roof and the government pumping lots of tax payer money and borrowed money into big projects with small ROI (Return On Investment) made inflation all the worse. Buying stuff a country can't afford just to create a hand full of jobs in the construction or industrial sector is always a bad idea. The reason why the United Kingdom once could afford to have a huge, powerful navy was that that navy created a Return On Investment. It was part of a actual Empire, which funneled resources from around the world into the British economy without really having to pay for them. Those times are over. Now the Royal Navy is just an expense, just like Turkey's giant presidential palace. It doesn't create a ROI anymore and the same would be true for a otherwise unprofitable steel industry that only exists to build those ships the state can't afford. The reason why the USA can still afford a huge navy is mostly the "Petro Dollar Cycle" and the unique position at the heart of their own world wide Free Trade Order, which is a new kind of Empire. By enabling world wide free trade and everyone profiting from it and those rich people around the world then buying US Dollars so they can buy oil with them and investing their money in the USA, the US Navy still creates a ROI and thus is an investment instead of just an expense. As long as the USA exists, the Royal Navy can never be what it once was again, not even if the UK would try to emulate and replicate what the USA are doing.
@@TrangleCThe US can get a return on their army/navy, by imposing their will and selling cloth for goods (dollars). We in the uk no longer have that privilege.
@@TrangleC I think your analysis is spot on. I would argue the unpopular truth is that, the only reason the UK spends what it does on military procurement, is to maintain its defence industry. Having a defence industry can be a useful *political* asset to a country, as the products which they manufacture can be used as bargaining chips when it comes to influencing countries that don't possess such industries - the UK's relationship with the Middle East being a prime example. Of course, the problem is that the *economic* value of weapons exports alone is often insignificant compared to the investment costs for weapons manufacturers - hence the need for large domestic purchases to make ends meet. This means large amounts of public spending on defence assets that, more often that not, aren't needed, or even useful. Such industries are therefore only really practical for economically ascendent countries (such as China), or economically/politically/militarily dominant countries (such as the US). Of course, politicians in the UK will never accept that the UK is a declining power, as to do so would be political suicide, nor will they want to forfeit their primary political asset (the MIC), even when it is economically prudent to do so. A rather amusing consequence of this is all of the enormously expensive weaponry that has been donated to Ukraine in the last year and a half, at absolutely no cost whatsoever, whilst national militaries face budget cuts and downsizing across the board. I'm sure many politicians were positively rubbing their hands in excitement, when they saw the opportunity to get rid of large amounts of expensive-to-maintain, but functionally useless military equipment, in exchange for (the promise of) political leverage.
@@TrangleC The EU is still the largest steel manufacturer in the world. UK today produces less than Austria. The biggest buyer of ships was the royal navy. Like 50 shipyards built ships for them.
Because their islands need foreign resources their navies need to get? Countries that aren't islands can still have large navies for whatever reason so some island nations aren't so special.
Japan is bigger in all aspects (economy, population, size and 6th longest costline) as compared to UK, they have strong adversaries (china and russia) around, UK has none , so it's natural it should have a bigger navy and military.
Things can change unexpectedly. A Trump administration or similar populist could pull out of NATO and since Russia is being pulled into China's orbit, they could post a threat to Britain's Eastern flank. It might seem far fetched now but unfortunately, major military projects can take up to 20 years to go from drawing board to entering service so we have to prepare for sudden changes in the UK's geopolitical situation. Even as things stand, Britain would inevitably get drawn into any conflict with China. Britain's economy depends heavily on those trade routes in the Indo-Pacific and would suffer catastrophic economic damage if they were cut off by China.@@krishanrathi9119
@@tritium1998they are tho when you actually think about it they need a large navy to protect their maritime trade as most of their resources are imports so require a strong fleet to protect. Strong Navy’s for Islands are more important so your wrong.
@@krishanrathi9119still Russias now a European rival again and now with Brexit us no longer in the EU (thanks to the Tory scumbags) we are no longer part of a union of multiple countries so are by ourselves and we need a fleet equal to Japans or atleast not far behind. Get rid of the Tory’s and we could actually get one
Possible mods to existing and projected vessels Type 45- 16 Sylver A70 instead of 24 'mushroom farms' , 2x3 324 torp tubes, 2 phalanx swappd out for 2 millenium guns, martlet module (also fitted for starstreak) on the 2 ds30 mounts Type 23- Not applicable due to imminent decomissioning, nsms on as many vessels as possible Type 26- Oto 127/64 for Mk 45 127mm gun, self defence weapons as envisaged on type 45, use of exls for 48 camm-er , 32 instead of 24 mk41, envisaged missiles FC/ASW, Rn should put out a competiton for missile launched torpedo- Candidates- Milas, VL-Asroc, SMART, Type-07, K-Asroc. 16- 24 FC/ASW for anti shipping and land strike, 8-16 asw missiles Type 32 (AAW Arrowhead 140/Iver Huitfeldt - 32 cell Mk 41 or Sylver for Aster 30, 6X4 Exls for 24 camm er, 16 cannister launched missiles, initially NSM, later cannister launched fc/asw, hull and bow mounted sonar, full aaw radar suite (apar, smart-l), raft mounted machinery and 2x3 324 top tubes, 1x57 with madfires or 1x76 with strales, 2x35 millenium gun likely the second batch (type 32). Type 31- (Gp arrowhead 140/ Iver Huitfeldt)32 Mk 41 reserved for 32 FC/ASW, for but not with asroc, no raft mounted machinery (to be specified when layed down, now not possible), NS 110 only(Topweight problems otherwise), 2x3 torp tubes, 57 with madfires or swapped out for 76mm with strales if not available, 2x35 millenium guns instead of 2X 40mm l70, the best sonars that can still be fitted, ffbnw another 24 sea ceptors in the space where the iver huitfeldt has harpoon cannisters (stanflex allows 48 essm instead of 24 essm and 16 harpoons, sea ceptor is smaller than essm, just needs exls instead of mushroom farms to make enough space availabke QE Class- 7 millenium guns for 4 ds30 and 3 phalanx, 32x4 sea ceptor in exls, cats and traps for AEW , aim for 138 f35b RN and RAF F35A order of between 35-65 Albion Class- 4 millenium guns, 8x4 sea ceptor in exls (can be guided by type 997) River Class batch 2 only- 57 or 76mm main gun, 2x(starboard and port) ds30 martlet/starstreak mount, 12-16 sea ceptors, 4-8 nsms/ cannister launched fc/asw, type 997 'artisan radar', sonars if possible, 2x3 324 torps RFE- All 7 Replenishment ships, 3 LSD and argus- 4 Millenium guns each, Sea ceptor definitely on fort victoria (fitted ffbnw sea wolf 1994), explore on other vessels Subs- Little can be done with current vessels, ensure all future subs (Aukus) launch tomahawk/ hopefully sub launched fc/asw out of vls tubes rather than torpedo tubes, continue to modernise lethality and survivability of nuclear delivery systems but mantain 'miniumum credible deterrent' levels in terms of warheads, develop a replacement for spearfish Future Type 83- 112 'full cells', preferably a mk 41 successor or sylver 'a90' for sm-6 or aster 30 future blocks, fc/asw, an asroc, 32 x4 exls for CAMM-Mr in development currently, aranged port and starboard on the superstructure due to minimal deck penertration, s 2x3 324 torps, full sonar suite, extremely large hangar space, 1x 127mm/64 oto centreline fore, 2X 76MM strales/57MM madfires facing fore in a horrizon clas layout, 1 or 2 aft 4 millenium gun amidships, probably 2 on port and 2 starboard side, competitive aaw radar suite Minimum tonnag 13,000 tons, suggested 16,000 tons, maximum around 18,000 tons Reasoning- Type 32 AAW/ Asw -Frigates- The type 45 is not going to be replaced for a considerable ammount of time, its 6 hulls need to be supplemented in this time frame by the frigates, the type 31 and projected type 32 if using an arrowhead 140 hull originats from a capable and affordable aaw frigate hull which has had success in tracking ballistic missiles in Danish tests and this can be leveraged into an affordable aaw interim solution, adding camm er to type 26 also enchances the self defence of carrier strike groups further and the current 'mushroom farm launcher can accomadate this. Adding torpedos and sonars as the 140 design allows for is also useful in 'second rate asw roles, reducing dependance on type 26 Land attack/ Anti shipping type 31 The type 26 will be needed for predominantly anti submarine warfare despite currently being projected to have a land attack role and is an expensive, specialised ship to do this, a good use of the type 31 hulls that have already been layed down, and cannot be wholly reconverted into aaw frigates is to use the large 32 cell mk 41 launcher for packing a lethal ammount of fc/asw both for anti shipping and land strike. The space the iver huitfeldt uses for its 24 essms and 16 harpoon launchers is freed up, there will be no need for cannister launchers and this can therefore have as many 'self defence' sea ceptors as needed, according to the danes, they can have 48 essms in their 'stanflex module, sea ceptor is a smaller missile but 'mushroom farm' launchers take up more space per missile than the mk 56 dual pack for essm. The exls is a great solution, being used on the canadian variant of the type 26 (6 cells, 24 sea ceptors), and accomadates soft launch strength of sea ceptor Millenium Gun- With pre programmable ammunition for use against supersonic mssiles, a variable fire rate up to 1,000 rpm (more than 3x that of the basic 40mm l70 bofors mount proposed) and designed from the ground up to be just as deadly against surface targets, the millenium gun should never have been removed during the redesign of the iver huitfeldt to create the type 31. Phalanx is getting long in the tooth, doesnt have the same range against surface targets and is heavier than a millenium gun mount. If a 40mm l70 bofors deriavative is used, i would want a breda version, either the single or double barelled 'fast forty', 450 and 900 rpm respectfully, rather than 240-330 on the mk 4 BAE/ Bofors Question mark over the 57/70 The 57mm l70 mk 3 gun definitely has some significant advantages over the 76mm oto, in muzzle velocity, rpm and better 'explosive per second fired' than the 76mm/62. However though it has some sophisticated airburst ammuniton, it lacks a guided dart like the 76mm which has turned it into a true ciws or a long range land attack projectile (the miniturized Vulcano round for the 76mm gun is effective to 40km). If the 57mm was to receive a guided dart such as 'Madfires' then this debate becomes a bit more even. The type 31 should rightly get closer to enemy shores than the valuable and expensive type 26 and their is an argument to be made that it should have a 'big gun' and the type 26 a more ubiquitous one rather than the other way around. The 76mm gun provides both solutions, i wouldnt want to close in to the range of a 57mm gun for shore bombardment Insisting on an Asroc- Its a nobrainer for any serious ASW focussed ship. The type 23 has been a stalwart and is still seriously cutting edge in its sonars and acoustic quietness, but to rely on its helicopters and especially its deck torpedo mounts would be a death trap in a scenario like the south china sea with dozens of chinese submarines, if you are having to use your deck torpedoes, you are yourself in danger. Having a dozen or more asrocs means less chance of running out of weaponry, and a standoff weapon Why no tomahawk, LRASM- The fundemental mission of the FC/ASW was to get a missile than can do both roles, be incredibly surivivable through speed, stealth or both, to free up deck space from cannister launchers without having to use more vls cells than would have already been used for tomahawk. It remains by all reports to be on track for service and integration into strike length mk 41 and a70 sylver cells by the end of the decade. Having a kirov like ammount of deadly missiles on a frigate also sounds seriously cool right. Even if the aircraft carrier is still king Mk 45- The mk 45 is nearly 50 years old and the only reason its going to be on a 2030s british vessel is because BAE is responsible for it it and wants uniformity across western and nato allies. The Oto Melera 127/64 has a higher rate of fire, muzzle velocity, range both with and without extended range ammunition (120 km with vulcano), higher elevation, rotation speed and general aa performance Somebody try and cost this all for me. Aiming for 8+ Type 83. I think the UK can do this within 15 years or so on between 2.5 and 3% of GDP (us spends 3.5%). Wish more could be done for the other services but RN is most likely to be in a shooting war which involves a majority of its assets rather than the army or RAF
@@EmperorLionflame The thing is, I'm not even suggesting new ships, just stretching what we have already and are projected to build to the limits of what they are fitted for but not with/ hoping we don't buy outdated weapons. Unmanned vessels are definitely the future, and Type 83, 26 already are envisioning using directed energy weapons during their lifetime. We can't match china in shere number of ships nor tonnage in general but I'd like to think the type 83 as comparable to any surface combatant produced this next decade. The manned surface fleet obviously needs to grow, if we can get say unmanned Corvette sized vessels like the the taiwanese manned tuo chiang without worrying much about organic sensor capability, that would be great too for packing a huge punch
Bit of an essay, so: Generally good and agree, but the Royal Navy's strategy is not Indo-Pacific-centric. Navy leadership (Radakin, Key) have been clear in saying that the North Atlantic is the RN's centre of gravity. The carriers will visit the Pacific every couple of years as opposed to frequent sightings around Europe. The patrol ships we've sent to the Pacific and Indian Ocean are there to keep a modest presence, as a point of contact and engagement when the carrier group isn't visiting, that way there's a consistent engagement with allies instead of us randomly showing up every so often. The Type 32s are an interesting one to pin down, as they began to be mentioned within a year of the Stena Impero tanker crisis, where only one RN ship was available to cover the whole Stait of Hormuz. This is speculation, one wonders if the embarrassment of that gave the RN enough of a case to argue for more escort ships. Boris Johnson being the Churchill-fan would have probably understood the historical parallels. Good points about dollar-pound exchange rates, which will continue to be an issue. Fortunately, one of the very few things that has gotten better in the last 5 years is investment in shipyards in the UK, as well as the UK having a good complex weapons infrastructure (MBDA) to arm what we build. Now there's more to a warship than just that (sonars... 'we need more sonars' could be on our national tombstone if we're not careful), but the long term investments in infrastructure will at least offset that part of the cost (one desperately hopes). Amphibious shipping's current state breaks my heart: in the 2000s we probably had the most capable landing force outside the USA, with supporting logistics. Even when we gutted the carriers back then it was still capable. Now we're going in the other direction. I know the Royal Marines are focusing more on raiding rather than mass-landings, but it's a bloody hard capability to rebuild. The Multi-Role Support Ships would probably keep it alive if imperfect. Here in the UK we'd all love a 2-3 LHDs like the Trieste or Juan Carlos but the personnel costs would make that a battle. Even with a growing number of loud voices at Parliament wanting a larger armed forces, the Treasury can be a bit fickle at times with defence.
By the time this business between Russia and Ukraine is concluded Russia will be broken and irrelevant. Even as things stand now, their navy has been exposed as a paper tiger that can't even control the seas around a neighbouring country that doesn't even have a navy without losing its own flagship. China on the other hand, is going to continue to be a rising threat, and that is the naval threat that Britain needs to consider in the longer term. China might be on the other side of the world, but our vital trade routes go through the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific and we can't afford to just ignore a potential threat to those trade routes.
You forgot to mention that the UK have lost their advanced alert and surveillance capabilities, after retiring their E-3D AWACS in 2021, which the E-7 Wedgetail should have replace, 5 in total, but which will end up being 3 (even though the MoD has paid for 5 MESA radars... ), and not before 2024/2025.
Inflation on military equipment usually is higher than inflation on consumer goods. That means that the Royal Navy is even farther behind. It could be worse, they could be the Royal Canadian Navy.
to be fair, any large conventional war the UK might find itself in would be a team affair. the Royal Navy only really needs to be able to field one good battle group and help with support actions. it's not trying to secure a giant empire anymore
We still have a fair few areas that are strategically important to us. The North Sea, the English Channel, the Falklands, the Gibraltar strait. It’s all well and good saying we’d have backup, but we’re an island and these are major shipping routes as well as home to thousands of British citizens. I’d feel far more comfortable knowing we have the ability in more than one place at any given time without any help.
It’s important that an island state has suffice forces to protect its imports..such as oil and good which happen to pass through regions of conflicts (Iran). Just recall how Germany almost starved the UK during the war and more recently, oil tanker captured by Iran gunboats..
I have no doubt that today's Royal Navy displays the confidence and professionalism that it always has. However the fact is that the fleet is now a hollowed out force and would not be able to sustain the kind of losses it did during the Falklands campaign. There are far too few destroyers frigates and attack submarines to build a task force around the new carriers. Promises of new ships are seldom kept by a government with no commitment to security and defence. As an example it is now 20 years since a new frigate was commissioned.
While you are right, on the plus side the Royal Navy is much more suited to a falklands-style conflict now than it was in the past. The Royal Navy of the 80's suffered heavily from being entirely focused on countering soviet submarines, to the point that it was really not fit for purpose when Argentina invaded. Those losses shouldn't have happened
British Army 40 years ago. It was already clear then that the Navy wasn't getting the investment it needed. It would have been even worse if Argentina hadn't invaded the Falklands.
That’s what happens when the government keeps slashing away the size of the navy and neglecting what’s left. Moreover the army’s now what’s being prioritised despite being an island nation, where it’s actually more crucial to focus more on the navy, Fleet air arm and airforce.
Personally I think the UK should have a token amount of land forces ( 10,000) keep the tanks and armous but use the saved funds and pump it into the navy and airforce,
Technology-wise the Royal Navy has so much potential to expand but the lack of monies and political will hold us back. Perhaps a Royal CANZUK navy could fill in the gaps which would give Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom more clout across the seas with frigates and carriers that span the entire globe, without going broke financially. #canzuk
a canzuk navy would be better serve in terms of protecting the member state interest giving member a global reach and a taskforce that can take the fight to any place on earth somthing like 3 supercarrier QE class with a catobar refit f35c variant with proper awacs and electronic warfare surport and 4LSD/LHD amphibous assult carrier 15 destroyer and 30 frigate as well as 10 nuclear attack sub 20 diesel electric sub and 8 balistic nuclear sub giving all member a nuclear deterent capability and navy so powerful its reach and power projection is only 2nd to that of the us navy and i belive all this could be achieve with 2 percent gdp budget by member nations not to mention the airforce and amry increase leathality just imagine uk royal armed force but is 3x bigger and better funded with more global bases.
@@patthonsirilim5739 good ideas. Even if canzuk does not happen (which it wont lol) the UK should still aim to refit the QE class into catobar over the next ten years as the economic situation improves. The f 35b planes could then be deployed on two future America class type ships, while a naval variant of the Tempest and drones would go on the QE class.
Your'e information on precument of the F35b is incorrect it's as follows ; As of May 2023 the UK has taken delivery of 38 F35b split between the squadrons of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, with a total of 48 to be delivered under the directive of Tranche 1. A further 27 under the directive of tranche 2 will take the F35 b to 74 split between the two services. Now hopefully by 2030/2035 the new aircraft Tempest will be available and a carrier version will be available as well, and also the two carriers are to be modified under the directive Ark Royal Profect.
Tempest is a very large aircraft its very doubtful we will have a carrier varient. More over its most likely the government will buy F35c for the RAF knowing that when tempest arrives the F35c can be handed RAF also knowing that future of the carriers will be catapults. The only way britiain gets tempest on a carrier is if we completely design a whole new carrier class with tempest in mind, just like how the QEC aws more or less developed around the F35.
It would be interesting to compare this with the Japanese Navy and military in general. They have significantly more warships, more personnel, aircraft etc yet have a smaller defence budget than the UK. Why are they able to get so much more for their money?
I don’t think their budget is smaller. Their budget is a smaller chunk of gdp but the Japanese economy is considerably bigger so a smaller percentage of a bigger economy may yield similar or better spending power. Might be wrong though.
There are countries with public healthcare that don't have a huge and unwieldy state bureaucracy like the NHS providing healthcare. Singapore, France and Germany have far superior systems and if we could get over the fanatical religious cult that protects the NHS from reform we could actually have a better healtchcare system.@@cj64343
I won't say in what capacity, but I work in the MOD for the RN. Our defence budget is probably half what it should be whilst other public sectors, such as the NHS, receive many times the funding the military does. I'm surprised by the level of knowledge here, but I suppose it's almost entirely publicly available. Many of our systems for supply chain and procurement are massively out of date. Dreadnought will feature some (non weapon) systems that are being carried over from Vanguard class, with very little in the way of ability to maintain them. The North Atlantic design purpose of the T23 means the metal struggles in warmer waters, such as the Middle East and Pacific, causing complications. As mentioned, a lot of the efforts at the moment are based on helping/sending kit to Ukraine (The comments can argue over that particular issue). There is almost a complete inability to recruit crew/personnel, which most Western nations struggle with at present. However this maybe uniquely in the UK includes Civil Service roles, I mean the little people who make everything work (The RN is worst affected by this here). Maybe let's not go into the effects of DEI & woke culture infecting the MOD and RN too. Absolutely love the video Binkov! Keep up the good work!
If the civil service has a recruitment problem, they would do well to invest into DEI. It’s high time for Britain to realise we’re in the 21st century and Britain isn’t 99% white anymore.
Budget x year it has to be readed in the other way around. When a budget for a certain branch is low it mean that the branch is up to date at the state of the art, and it need only the budget for maintenance and other expenses. On contrary when the budget for that particular year will considerably be raised, it mean that the branch is under the way of being modernized in some way (new, up tondate, tech buying/building or tech replacement). This reading of the budget however is valid when the Government do not do cuts to budgets for economic reasons, but the up and down curve of the budget is solely dependant of the speech did above.
@@goodputin4324 Hes not wrong, other than the financial part. Theyre able to operate 72 aircraft at flood however they dont, just as the Nimitz is able to operate with a similar amount at flood. Its simply ineffective to do so.
I guess it´s fair to say that none of the big three in Europe - UK, France, Germany - is able to have a strong military and a good social system at the same time, that would include good healthcare system, social net and educational system. In these days all military systems like fighter planes, tanks, ships etc. became so expensive that none of these 3 can afford them in numbers we all were used to. That means we have to cooperate and combine our forces and don´t think in terms of national pride anymore. In the future we gotta think of European joint squadrons - apart from those in the NATO. This can be a successful concept, look at the cooperation of the Dutch and German army. And guys - please remember: there´s no empire anymore ................................... just saying.
Both the Germans and the French have a far better purchasing bpower than the UK. A huge part of our problem here is we left the EU, we don't have an effective manufacturing base, and the idiots in charge genuinely seem to think that hiking interest rates and cutting spending is how you fix major economic instability generated by the fact taht you are a service based economy that cut off its single largest service market with Brexit. Like... I have so many opinions, and we could be doing so much better if the country wasn't run by a bunch of corrupt shitwits.
No they don't. Britain still cooperates with EU and other countries to produce common weapons systems. The Tempest is being built with Japan and Italy as partners, 15% of the F35 is manufactured in the UK and Britain profits from every overseas sale. The EU is irrelevant in this regard.@@darkshardshoots
Could you do the same on French navy pls ? I feel like the upcoming plans are really not up to the task. They always mention the FDI but it will be quite small ship, and we will only have a few ...
The problem is not just the UK's economic woes (largely driven by the Bank of England's abject failure to control inflation), but a lack of appetite among sitting MPs to increase defence spending when they have other public spending priorities (health, welfare, education etc.). An unfortunate attitude has taken hold that in effect, spending more on defence will cost them votes. To compound this, during the past decade or so there have been bone headed decisions made, notably flip flopping over catapults for the CVs, before eventually opting for STOVL 🤦♂
A good dose of Keynesian economics is needed.... At least 4 more carriers and the support vessels... And pay the crews a decent wage to attract recruits... The same goes for the army re pay....
The UK has managed to have so many old, expensive systems that it's "champagne tastes, beer money". The UK should focus on having a highly skilled Marine force and ditch Imperial fantasies.
@@aidan-4759 u mean the nation supplied intel and weapons by nato and the ship which was floating with half its systems non functional with log book showing it had issues
Hello Binkov! Can you make a video about the current situation in Black Sea? In last weeks Erdogan made a huge turn around against Russia, accepting Sweden in NATO, saying Ukraine does deserve to be in NATO and saying that the Grain Deal could be carried on without Russia. Several news sources claimed that Turkish Navy would escort Ukrainian grain shipments. Ukrainian grain is essential to the mant Middle Eastern and African nations to feed their populace. Is Turkish Navy is capable enough to deter Russian Navy to attack Ukrainian grain vessels? How the other NATO nations in Black Sea would change the balance between Turkish and Russian Navies? Does enforcing the grain deal on Russia worth the risk? It seems like NATO nations are willing to be more brave against Russia after the Russian debacle in Ukraine, Wanger insurrection showed everyone that Putin's hegemony is not that firm on Russian State. How much can NATO try it's luck on Russia?
Britain is the Worlds 6th largest economy so I would imagine any spending cuts are temporary due to high energy prices. But Britain being part of NATO is not expected to fight alone. The Royal Navy usually operates with US super carrier battle groups. Having said that the Royal Navy has some of the most advanced ships and subs on the plannet. It is certainly capable of holding its own against the antiquated Russian navy for example. The fact is Russia is now considered a paper tiger and no threat to European security. The Royal Nave is being expanded with several new ship classes being introduced, but these will help counter the Chinese, the only serious threat NATO has.
It is SO simplistic to put such significance to '6th largest economy'. First, UK, France and India are basically neck and neck in terms of GDP. There's little difference in GDP between India, UK, France or 5th, 6th, 7th. Second, "6th" hardly conveys the fact that the UK has roughly 1/10th the GDP of 1st place (USA) and 1/5th that of 2nd place, China. Fun fact: the 3rd largest economy, Japan, has a navy bigger than France and UK navy combined.
@@davidadiwego4608 The best fun fact is that Russia is 12th and going down as sanctions bite. India has hit issues and there are still Billions below povert level, 85% live on less than $6 per day!
@@billballbuster7186 Russian economy is doing relatively okay despite sanctions. And I don't know if Biden sabotaging Russian gas supply to Germany regardless of German concerns (nordstream 2) can be called 'sanctions'. BTW, Putin is a authoritarian dictator and liberal democracy should take over, lest I be accused of being a pro Russia bot.
I'd love a video about whether the UK's military could have taken Ukraine if it invaded at the time Russia did. (I don't think it could now after how battle hardened Ukraine has become, but with UK tactics and hardware, could they have managed it in March 2022?)
I don’t think they have the numbers for fighting large scale wars alone. They only have about 80,000 troops. The armed forces are designed for expeditionary operations
I like how Binkov presented Russians having "Up to one aircraft carrier" and having an amphibious assault fleet size of "Up to 85'000 t" Some genius humor.
IMO: UK politicians built the carriers to tag along with the US' strategic focus on the Pacific, but by doing so it has compromised the defence of the UK homeland and its NATO commitments in Europe. As a result, we have a pocket-sized army, small air force, and a struggling surface fleet.
The root of the UK's problems was the decision to have two Queen Elizabeth class carriers while also cutting the budget. These were about as large as a US carrier but ended up being conventionally powered and not fitted for CATOBAR, only STOVL. If you're going STOVL only and conventional something like a modernized Invincible class would have made more sense. You could have had three or four of them enabling continuous at sea presence. Having two QE class carriers is not enough to do this. Then again maybe the carriers were always too expensive and the UK should have stuck to submarines, destroyers and frigates.
Indeed, with the choice of F35Bs, simple amphibious helicopter carriers would have made more sense, kind of like the Spanish carrier or the US Marines’
@@danielefabbro822 It was planned by one government. The next government tried to cancel it but was told it was cheaper to finish it than to cancel. Similarly the next government tried to convert the second carrier to CATOBAR which it was fitted 'not with but for'. At that point the US contractor told them it would cost twice as much to do that as they expected and they decided to stay STOVL. I.e. the government got completely out lawyered by the contractors.
@@brunol-p_g8800 Another thing is the F-35 was only a disaster because of the B variant which was going to be used by the USMC and Royal Navy. If the Royal Navy wasn't on board the odds are the B variant would have been cancelled and a new STOVL fighter developed instead. Mind you in a war between the US and allies versus China the F-35B gives the US a real edge because it means China cutting airstrips is less serious. So it's a complex issue.
"Sick man of Europe" is a label given to a nation located in Europe experiencing economic difficulties, social unrest or impoverishment.Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, the term was also most notably used for the United Kingdom when it lost its superpower status as the Empire crumbled and its home islands experienced significant deindustrialization, coupled with high inflation and industrial unrest - such as the Winter of Discontent - including having to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since the mid-2010s and into the 2020s, the term being used for Britain with cost-of-living crisis and industrial disputes in 2023.
The industrial action has been going on for years and has been a coordinated attempt to bring down the Tories by unions ever since Brexit, it's been stick the knife in and keep twisting, so they were striking long before the current cost of living crisis and the whole world is suffering rising prices and recession in many countries. The only difference here is that the msm is mainly left wing and keep blaming Brexit and the Tories for everything and making it look like it's just going on in this country.
It’s time for the British to accept their role as a middle power. They simply don’t have the resources or political will to intervene in far off places when domestic issues are so dire
@@everydaydose7779judging by your previous comments up you still perceive Russia as a great military power that can beat anything you throw at it, btw foreign colonies don’t make you rich, they were expensive and didn’t give us great value for the money and loss of life Britain spent on trying to protect it, but considering all major European powers were doing it we also had to do it, so we don’t get overwhelmed and invaded by another European power.
@@everydaydose7779Russia and china don’t see the uk as a threat nor a good country to invade for resources” like they could anyway? Stop speaking of Russia has a power, they are second best in a war they started, threatening to nuke Britain because of its leading role in supplying Ukraine with arms.
@@everydaydose7779Second world? You mean Soviet aligned then? Or maybe you just aren't smart enough to know what that term means. Best not to use phrases without understanding them first, makes you look daft
Pretty much every country is struggling with inflation, so why are you acting like it is only a UK problem?! The UK still spends more than most nations on defence (except for the us).
The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm will be operating its own F35s with the RAF's F35's reinforcing the carriers' airwing when necessary (and the Fleet Air Arm's F35s also reinforcing the RAF's F35 when necessary).
@@TheBelrick The F35 is a good aircraft. Compared to the Eurofighter, the F35B is a better ground attack aircraft becuase it is less lightly to be shot down and having better sensors. Moreover, the F35B is a better air-air fighter than the Eurofighter becuase the combination of its activley electronically scaned radar (which is hard for other enemy aircraft to detect) and its low observable features (which reduce the distance at which the F35B can be detected) mean that the F35B is likley to be able to shoot down enemy fighters before they are even able to fire their own air-air missiles at the F35B. The UK's F35Bs are fully controled by the RAF and Royal Navy and the only "control" the USA has over them is the ability to restrict access to some spare parts and the abiltiy to put pollical pressure on the UK but they do not have any direct control over the UK's F35s or their onboard computers. Although the USA rescirited access to the F35's source code to every country other than the UK, they allowed the UK access becuase the UK threatened to pull out of the program if they did not hand over the source code and, due to how the loss of the amount of money the UK was speding on the program would have put up prices for the US millitary as well as the UK being the only "tire one" partern in the F35 program and being unlikly to get into a war with the USA or help the USA's enemeies, that threat was enough to make the USA relent and give the UK full access to all of the F35B's software.
RN's trying to be something it's not. QE class is great on paper, but has some issues and seems to be stretching resources thin. And only being a pair of ships creates issues, usually you want 3-4 for a clean rotation. The RN might've been better served with a number of ships akin to the Italian Cavour. 3 or 4 would've been cheaper and free up resources elsewhere in the RN, 5 would've cost about the same but ensured a majority of the fleet could be surged at any time, while with 2 QEs you have to carefully manage maintenance to ensure 1 is operational.
It's always a difficult job balancing the books, and important to remember that a multitude of different governmental departments are competing for funding. Carbon neutral, heath, education and defence to name just a few.
@deathsquadron3311 well, as with everything in life there are advantages and disadvantages, and it all comes at a cost. The only real question for government is what they choose to spend on which, and how much and who to tax. Personally I'd much rather have free health care than a bigger navy, one is far more likely to use the former.
Britain had a chance to regain strength. That got squandered by the myopia of Thatecherism, which opened the door for Blair and his cronies to allow in every kind of vulture in obscene numbers. Think of the artisan stewardship responsible for Westminster Palace, versus whoever plonked a giant box in the middle of the City. One cared about something more than just function or profit.
@deathsquadron3311it's why China has no social security programs, free health care, or really anything. They spend everything in defense and corruption. The US doesn't have free health care not due to the military, that's rubbish. It's due to corporate, and top 1% influence on taxes.
The Royal Navy needs about £4.5bn extra annually in real terms to match ambition to reality. This will be enough to recruit extra sailors and all the expenses that will entail, build additional escort & logistical ships, specialist aircraft and maintenance money for the expanded fleet. If additional F-35's are desired then funding will need to be higher still.
not gonna happen uk cannot do that 4.5 bn pounds thats even higher than what india increases every year for their whole military and indian needs and economy are higher than uk's
@@amb8274 in 2023 india increased their defence budget by 6.5bn pounds can uk do that with their high inflation india's inflation is lowest among major economies
@@scoutop1829 Of course. Total net government spending is around £700bn. So if it wanted to move £6.5bn to defence then it can. It's then a political decision as to where to move it from. Plus inflation is pushing tax receipts up.
@tritium1998 diesel though. Might as well buy a couple air refuelers instead for all the extra range it gives them. Their current carriers are nothing more than trainers for when they can afford real, nuclear carriers. The British Isles are just that, isles. They don't need the same range to have more flexibility and capability in defending their homeland. China is a coastal continental power, they need thousands of miles of range for a carrier capability to be useful to them in national defense and especially in projecting power.
The planes they have on their carriers are 4th generation though. Any 4th generation plane going against a 4th generation like the F35B is on a suicide mission.@@tritium1998
Idea; Western Roman Empire (around roughly the first sack of rome,) with modern Italian military, transporting each airport in just Italy, but removing the Roman navy and army, to see if they could avoid collapsing from external invasions and skirmishes (and having the ideal best case scenario that it doesn’t just collapse internally as western Roman politics were quite messy)
The Royal navy has just about enough ships to form a carrier battle group that would undoubtedly put up a spectacularly good fight before it was overwhelmed and sunk.
probably not tbh, years of perpetual cutbacks and every time a new warship replaces an old the number is shrunk has left it woefully incapable of seriously tangling with china, whilst one might argue in the event of carrier loss the f-35b is a better choice if its short range lets you get to land, otherwise the f-35b is not particularly suited for naval warfare, it has less fuel, less payload and less time on station then the c, not to mention for the price they paid for those carriers it really ought to have been nuclear powered, and its just a little smaller then it really should be, but these are more minor issues, the carriers don't have enough planes to surge equip both either, it might struggle surging one. The destroyers may be among if not the best air defense destroyer around, but with just a paltry 6 of them, it has barely enough to cover its two carriers especially as the uk has no other way of dealing with beyond 100mile cruise missiles other then them, even the previous 13 frigates already low has ended up split into 7 like for likes, and 5 substandard cheap and cheerfulls, it would be have been fine to replace 13 with like for like then make 5 more cheap and cheerfulls but no yet more budget cuts that can go into padding tory companies pockets with contracts that tory mps will retire into associate board positions and board memberships of, and tax breaks for the 1%, most of which are tory, it already has no ships designed for ship to ship conflict as is which doesnt help, they just tacked on a little to their anti-air destroyers and a little less on their anti-submarine frigates. Britains navy (btw i am british) is indeed staffed with competent folk, but as for their equipment they've fallen into the traditional military trap of being very well prepared to meet the shortcomings of yesteryears wars with little thought given to tommorrows, its not just the navy, the army and airforce are also woefully short staffed, underfunded and underequipped, frankly if someone invented a proof positive against nuclear missiles tomorrow (not so likely in short term but 10-20 years from now quite likely) many countries could steamroll britain, oh sure they'd loose a fair few in the opening salvos, but britain just hasnt spend enough on defense to meet future threats.
As an American I’m quite sad to see how far the Royal Navy has fallen. They used to be a very respectable force and that’s been diminishing for decades due to terrible choices of politicians
quality of videos vs quality of comments section on this channel is astounding.
Best comment.
1. The RN does not rely only on RAF planes. The F-35B is jointly operated by both the RAF and the RN.
2. The UK has 33 F-35B currently in service, not 30 as shown on your graphics.
3. According to the MoD, FC/ASW is due to be operational on T26 in 2028, not in 2030.
4. T26 can handle 2 Merlin or4 Wildcats by using the RR mission bay. (T26 will almost always carry Merlin over Wildcat since Merlin has the dipping sonar)
Only a couple of notes on this:
2 - There are 3 F35s based in the US for testing and evaluation. I'm guessing they may have been excluded from the total used here?
4 - While the T26 will technically be able to carry 2 helicopters, my understanding is it would be a bit difficult to deploy the 2nd one due to the hangar + mission bay configuration.
@@seand485 Having looked at the bay on the back of the Type 26, it's a single door because of the sloped in stealthy back, which then provide mounts for CIWS or DS30M RWS. Unless they are playing Tetris moving stuff round inside I'm not sure how you'd get a Wildcat past a Merlin or each other, there doesn't look like enough room. So I think you're right in that respect, maybe if they are carrying one Helo and a couple of drones as they are much smaller.
Ok so you know your stats but, the relevance to the point/subject is what ???????????????????????
It doesn't matter if they are RAF, as long as people can fly them off the carriers is the main thing.
There is a manpower drain in the RN, just as there usually is in the army and RAF. The reasons are very similar: That people want out is the inevitable result of too few ships and crews being stretched by long deployments and too high an operational tempo, with less and less time for shore jobs/family/personal and career progression. The solution is a combination of more hulls to spread the load, more people retained to man them (by improving pay and conditions) and/or the UK reducing its international commitments to a level the funding will actually support.
I don't currently see any of this happening, although the concept behind the procurement of Type 31 shows that someone is thinking about more hulls with smaller crews for less money, to free up the bigger hulls with bigger crews to do the more important tasks, and maybe get deployment durations down to 6 months or less.
How about thr antiwhite policies theyre pushing
@@kdaltex Yes in particular the RAF and they had a nerve to run a recruitment ad the other week on TV.
I just looked up the fact that the UK has 40 Admirals including vice and rear admirals and 70 commissioned ships (Apr 2023) that’s an incredible ratio! 😮 what do they all do? The bureaucracy is stunning…
there's naval offices to fill
That stat is a commonly claimed one but doesn't take into account that there are senior naval officers based on land at shore establishments, not just at sea.
They do keyboard fighting for the British empire in the comments 😂
It's honestly really sad to see the whole UK military decrease in size year by year. Despite this happening since WWII, They still had quite a formidable force for a country their size during the late cold war. They even demonstrated their ability to retake an outlying territory on the other side of the planet. Now their naval power appears doubtful if they were to take on one of several other world powers without the help of NATO or other allies.
I’m not sure there are many country’s that can take on peer country’s on there own the uk is still on of the most powerful forces in the world it’s also 1 of only about 5 true blue water navy’s in the world and has the ability to build its own ships including nuclear subs
@@MrTangolizard That's true. There really isn't a country that they plan on having one-on-one beef with, and compared to the rest of Europe they still seem on par with Navy size, but their procurement process the past couple decades has just felt... a little disappointing for some reason. I mean, when it comes to the Navy the only point I can recall is how Type 45 procurement was cut from 12 to 6, but that makes me a little afraid of possible cuts that will come to the three classes of frigates succeeding the Type 23. The rest of it comes from the Army and RAF. I just feel like I've seen a common trend of newer pieces of hardware replacing preceding classes/variants in lower and lower numbers, in amounts that, to me, seem less than optimal.
There were real numbers for this somewhere, but I can't remember so I'll make up my own scenario:
The UK wants to replace its 300 Challenger 2s. Newer technology is expensive, so I would understand if they can't replace them one-for-one. I'd guess they would end up with 250 Challenger 3s. In reality, they only get a ridiculous amount of 100.
@@tomgunton not anymore, Brexit got in the way..
They can't fill vacancies in our forces anymore due to low prospects for promotion because of the small size. That and the constant erosion of our country by left wingers in Universities making people feel ashamed to be British or patriotic by spreading their poisonous ideology among younger students. People have also changed, the vast amount of young people don't care about what goes on elsewhere, they are focused on the here and now and how many likes they get on Facebook/Tik Tok, they are incapable of seeing the bigger picture.
@@tomgunton no they haven't. In terms of wages in pounds yeah they've gone up, always do. But in terms of what that money is worth, practically every job is now paying worse than it was 2-5 years ago (but that's the same in many many countries atm)
French and British making an anti ship missile together. Oh the irony.
It's, becuase what they been able to learn in WW1 and WW2. That It's in Europe's and free worlds interests that they are united.👍🏾
So ironic to make a weapon system with one of your most reliable allies
Specifically, during WW2. The nazi party traumatized Europe in way, that when the Allied nation won WW2. They void that Europe stay united to avoid another Hitler type of caracter.
Remember the uk hold the biggest arms company!
I has its hand in most/lots of European and NA company's!
Allows UK to veto export to Argentina
seeing 6 destroyer leave the British port in:
1940: sir, they are sending out a reconnaissance force
1980: sir, the 1st fleet has left port
2020: sir, the entire Royal Navy has departed.
Our escort fleet in 1982 was pretty shite compared to today.
@@MasterCheeks-2552 Both the Argentine and British navies can testify to that.
Of course, the difference is a 2020 RN destroyer is more powerful than every RN destroyer of 1940 combined.
Type 26 looks like a great ship, we just need them faster, at least the Type 31 is coming along nicely and with the announcement that they will have mk41 vls it gives them a real boost in firepower.
It looks like the mk41 means that we are going to have to replace our entire stock of weapons, and it’s not cheap..
@@brunol-p_g8800 Nah they are fitting current weapons to Mk41, apparently they can quad pack some SAM's into the mk 41 so that should increase missile numbers compared to the "Shroom Farm" arrangement they currently have.
I like it when the UK and France make stuff together. It's like the perfect mix of engineering culture.
@@WiegrafFollesnobody asked
@@WiegrafFolles Herman Goering. "I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked"
@@WiegrafFollesfrench and British , not just the English , Scots , Welsh , northern Irish and any other places in the world that consider themselves British, Like the Falklands or Gibraltar.
As a German we only have problems with the french multinational projects almost all have problems, cost more take longer etc. but with norway, sweden, netherlands and italy the projects work good.
@@CalasTyphon488 if we're going to be technical then British doesn't include Northern ireland. Strictly speaking Britain is the main island, comprising England, Scotland and Wales, while only "UK" comprises Northern Ireland and other smaller islands and territories. But nowadays like you say British is interchangebly used just to refer to people from the UK. Guess it does sound better than "UKish"
The Royal Navy opted to go for power over quantity. An aircraft carrier costs around £3.7billion, while a frigate costs around £250million. If the RN didn't build the 2 aircraft carriers, it could have built around 30 frigates instead.
This was the sensible option, as no navy in 2023 can call itself a serious navy without carrier strike groups. And there are only 4-5 navies in the world who can operate theirs globally (the Royal Navy being one).
But the small size of the escort fleet can definitely be felt. It is on track to be larger in the early 2030s - but we need those numbers YESTERDAY. 2030s is a distant future, especially with all the problems happening in the world today.
3,700,000,000/250,000,000=30?? 🤔😭
Aircraft carriers are outdated. They are useful in a war on terror scenario. But they’d be the first targets for a wave of hypersonic missiles at the out break of a conflict. They’re basically useless in a modern war.
@@jenkz16um except for future energy weapons, basically outmatching any missile technology 🤷♂️
@@jenkz16hypersonic weapons so far have shown to be either a) ineffective against even static structures b) overpriced cruise missiles that can be destroyed by existing air defense, or c) only exist on paper.
And if aircraft carriers were obsolete, why is China trying to build and field close to 6 of them right now?
I’d say, The aircraft carrier is here to stay.
I think RN might've been better served taking notes from the Italian Navy, and building 3 or 4 ships similar to Cavour, with more of a focus on Air operations. In theory they could afford 5 but that's assuming equivalent costs. Building 3 frees up a few solid billion pounds for other parts of the navy, while ensuring 1 ship's always operational. 4 gives added flexibility for the carrier fleet(You could surge 2 at any time without much fuss) and would still have likely been less expensive by some margin, perhaps enough for another couple frigates.
Money isn't the only issue, new members have been dropping every year, especially on how they do recruiting now (more focused on diversity politics). At the moment only 1 Vanguard is active while 3 are docked for repairs due to lack of specialists but there is supposed to be 2 active at all times.
Great article. You've actually got a great grasp on the numbers and funding issues face by the RN. Factual, unbiased and accurate. Highly recommended watch
F35 is set up as a joint force between RN and RAF. Squadrons are assigned to carriers or land as required, so there is no specific allocation of airframes to either RN or RAF separately.
It's utterly absurd that the RAF is involved at all in naval aviation. Maritime Air should be the business of the Fleet Air Arm not the RAF.
Would be realy interesting to have a video, much in the same way as this one, but going over the french's recent military programing law, looking at the state of their military and their plans to ramp up their spending for the 2030s.
C. Northcote Parkinson, in his book 'Parkinson's Law', has written a very interesting chapter on the Royal Navy. It seems that after WWII, UK's Navy has faced a steady decrease of war vessels, but this decrease is accompanied with an equally steady increase in their non-combatant administrative staff.
He jokes that RN may not be able to deploy many vessels in a war, but they sure can flood the enemy with memorandums and telegrams.
There’s approx 40 Admirals vs approx 17 active combat ships…hmmm..what’s wrong with this ratio 😮?
The big issue is the government ordered a lot more ships (still being designed and built) and then twice now cut the number of people that can be employed to work on the vessel.
Even without the new ships being built thus expanding the hull numbers... the Royal Navy has to dock other ships to take out an aircraft carrier!
Even then they have to ask NATO to make up the manpower numbers on the ship and other ships for support.
When working outside NATO areas they have to call on the Americans to help out.
Well yes but a big part of that is as you say the damn Conservative government we currently have, it's why the sooner there's a General Election the better as Labour WILL win in a landslide, and while that probably won't make things much better for the UK military right now it sure as hell can't make them much worse
The UK government has no real idea how to run a country, let alone maintain a military, besides this military spending is rarely popular.
With the world and Europe in a more volatile state than at any stage since the 1930’s, public opinion on military spending has shifted. A potential third world war is now daily news again for the first time since the height of the Cold War. Any cuts in military spending or capability will be seen negatively by the general public.
Yes that's true but let's not forget the people who conquered 3/4 of the lands mass they were not cowards.. I agree the population is cowards now and will get destroyed in any battle
We need a good 100 billion to modernise our whole force. This will be expensive but not impossible to get
As much as I hate to say it, but one of the main problems I see with UK procurement (also applies to US as well) is they do not leverage cooperative spending on new platforms and prefer to go solo in many cases which is huge financial burden to have. If they could cost split between either 2 or several nations on a specific platform, it would like do much in the term of cost savings in both R&D and manufacturing. I suppose the AUKUS sub design is a step in the right direction however, it is not exactly a F-35 of seas like I'm thinking of and granted every nation is going to have its own tweaks are specifications that are going to need to be met, but I think at the very least a common hull design can be achieved and I can see a benefit in terms of interoperability with said approach as well.
Ruled the waves for more than a couple of centuries.
Well, they are close to the first century of ruling...
150 years...
A couple of centuries is right. The UK was the top dog Navy from the late 1700s till a little after WW2. So just under 200 years.
Empires rise and fall, this is just how things are. The Chinese know all too well about that.
America is the greatest country on earth.
You are just a lapdog of it
make a video abaut the modernization process of the Greek armed forces, the possible problems and its strategic goals💪
The Royal navel deprived of financial resources is heading to a fleet size sustainable by a very small island. It survives right now on the financial industry in London but with the US dollar in decline and alternative currency for world trade coming into operation this will reduce significantly.
Or they could you know, tax the energy companies, multinationals and ultra-rich parasite class properly...
Seeing as they run things though, thats not very likely
@@seaofenergy2765they would simply leave worsening the situation
Alternative currency 😂😂😂
@@ourpetsheadsarefallingoff6654 the energy companies will leave? 😂😂😂 i mean that would be good, we could transition to renewables and have cheap clean energy. Multi nationals and ultra rich will leave? They rely on dodgy londons financial sector for their offshoring activities so i somehow doubt that.
Nice typical right wing brainwashed response btw. The daily mail or rees mogg couldnt of said it better 😂 i guess because they say that exact bs thing you are parroting
Someone develop a chrome xtension to remove all BRICS, Currency, Crypto, Gold, colonization, imperialist rubbish talk from my Internet. Thank you
Need to double the Frigates and Destroyers.
Trying to have every capability means the defense budget gets spread too thin.
As a brit, i really dont know why we dont have a massive push to use our military as free higher education for the public sector. We have a distressing lack of nurses and doctors, one because the pay isnt great and two because training isnt paid and it takes minimum of 3 years... well we have military nurses and doctors that are trained in the military to the same standard as our health service, why are we not creating a corp that is somewhat dedicated to peoples future prospects after military service? 🤔
Civilian policing, fire brigade, teaching, healthcare, social care, construction and engineering all can be taught alongside military service, instead of learning at the cost of the individual in civilian life, its paid for in short service to the military that comes with an actual wage.
If taxes were upped for this approach purely to bolster our military with a consistent flow of young people, i would actually vote for a tax rise.
I think that is a great idea and how benificial that would be to our nation as a whole. I have to admit, that for the first time, I am worried about the country I love, as it seems people have forgotten what a great country this is and yes I would happily pay higher taxes for this approach as not only would it be great from a training perspective giving the young much needed skills when they hit work but also give them a sense of what it means to defend your country as we owe so much to those men and women who are in the armed forces defending us.
It's where we let so many in, we don't know who we can etc trust etc.
I’ve been wondering this for the USA for some time too. Would be a great pipeline for people. Would make the military competitive against industry for non-rich people.
Of course, the complaints will flood that the rich are getting more ahead while the poor have to “waste” their lives as slaves to the government.
10:00 for comparison of aircraft carrier displacement a Nimitz class carrier displaces around 100,000 times.
Hence the name supercarrier.
Making their own designs is part of the problem. They can save money by using more joint venture projects with more standardized designs for better economies of scale. Also use more more multifunction platforms instead of specialized role platforms.
or buy Chinese frigates and destroyers like the Russians :)
The aircraft carrier design was a joint venture between UK and France when back in 2000s, France planned to build a second aircraft carrier.
It was this or let our entire infrastructure for building our own warships and submarines at all completely disappear, far from not doing enough joint stuff with other countries we've done far too much of it to the extent we can barely make or do anything ourselves without them anymore, and if you don't know why Britain being entirely militarily dependent on France and America is a bad thing, read a f*cking history book
@@clmk28The Russians have bought exactly 0 Chinese ships.
@@tetraxis3011 The Russian Navy primarily consists of old Soviet cruisers and destroyers that are becoming more difficult to maintain over time, a handful of modern combat capable frigates, and many small corvettes that can realistically only operate safely in littoral waters where air support is guaranteed. The Russian Navy's power is almost completely reliant on its submarine fleet.
Atleast we still have the song to comemorate their more than 350 years of Britania Ruling The Waves.
Great vid as always! Thanks Binkov 🤗
a report titled ‘We’re going to need a bigger navy’, which concluded the British fleet was not large enough to fulfil the objectives laid out in the Integrated Review. While total displacement has grown, the number of hulls - which provide the Royal Navy with the means to foster presence (the prerequisite for both sea control and denial) - has been decreasing at an alarming rate and will only increase slightly by 2040. Presently, in terms of major combatants, the Royal Navy has two large aircraft carriers, two amphibious vessels, four ballistic missile and six nuclear attack submarines, six destroyers, and 10 frigates . It plans to procure eight Type 26 and five Type 31 frigates. Other programmes - such as the Type 32 frigate and Type 83 destroyer - remain up in the air; . How the mighty have fallen
British steel industy collapsed because the royal navy stopped ordering ships from the ship building industry. Ordering ships adds to the UK economy.
The steel industry died all over the western world, even in the USA, where they still built a lot of military ships and other stuff out of steel and in places like the Netherlands and Germany, where they still build cruise ships and large yachts, on top of cars, trains and other such products. Pinning the demise of the British steel industry just on that one factor is myopic. Even if the Royal Navy would still be as big as it was before WW2, or even bigger, they probably would still source their steel where it is cheapest, like everyone else.
Military spending adds to the GDP, but not that much to the actual economy. Look at Russia at the moment. Their GDP rose during the war and the Russia trolls and shills celebrate that as the Russian economy booming despite the sanctions, while in reality this rise in GDP is just them spending lots of money on military hardware that then gets blown up without benefiting the Russian economy or the people at all.
There is this old saying among economists: "If you want to raise your GDP by a billion Dollar, just build a billion Dollar bridge to nowhere."
You can also look at other places where the government spends lots of money on big "White Elephant" projects, like Turkey for example, where they built the world's biggest airport and some crazy big presidential palace and lots of skyscrapers and other stuff and what good did it do their economy as a whole? It tanked and inflation is through the roof and the government pumping lots of tax payer money and borrowed money into big projects with small ROI (Return On Investment) made inflation all the worse.
Buying stuff a country can't afford just to create a hand full of jobs in the construction or industrial sector is always a bad idea.
The reason why the United Kingdom once could afford to have a huge, powerful navy was that that navy created a Return On Investment. It was part of a actual Empire, which funneled resources from around the world into the British economy without really having to pay for them.
Those times are over. Now the Royal Navy is just an expense, just like Turkey's giant presidential palace. It doesn't create a ROI anymore and the same would be true for a otherwise unprofitable steel industry that only exists to build those ships the state can't afford.
The reason why the USA can still afford a huge navy is mostly the "Petro Dollar Cycle" and the unique position at the heart of their own world wide Free Trade Order, which is a new kind of Empire. By enabling world wide free trade and everyone profiting from it and those rich people around the world then buying US Dollars so they can buy oil with them and investing their money in the USA, the US Navy still creates a ROI and thus is an investment instead of just an expense.
As long as the USA exists, the Royal Navy can never be what it once was again, not even if the UK would try to emulate and replicate what the USA are doing.
@@TrangleCThe US can get a return on their army/navy, by imposing their will and selling cloth for goods (dollars).
We in the uk no longer have that privilege.
@@TrangleC I think your analysis is spot on.
I would argue the unpopular truth is that, the only reason the UK spends what it does on military procurement, is to maintain its defence industry.
Having a defence industry can be a useful *political* asset to a country, as the products which they manufacture can be used as bargaining chips when it comes to influencing countries that don't possess such industries - the UK's relationship with the Middle East being a prime example.
Of course, the problem is that the *economic* value of weapons exports alone is often insignificant compared to the investment costs for weapons manufacturers - hence the need for large domestic purchases to make ends meet.
This means large amounts of public spending on defence assets that, more often that not, aren't needed, or even useful.
Such industries are therefore only really practical for economically ascendent countries (such as China), or economically/politically/militarily dominant countries (such as the US). Of course, politicians in the UK will never accept that the UK is a declining power, as to do so would be political suicide, nor will they want to forfeit their primary political asset (the MIC), even when it is economically prudent to do so.
A rather amusing consequence of this is all of the enormously expensive weaponry that has been donated to Ukraine in the last year and a half, at absolutely no cost whatsoever, whilst national militaries face budget cuts and downsizing across the board.
I'm sure many politicians were positively rubbing their hands in excitement, when they saw the opportunity to get rid of large amounts of expensive-to-maintain, but functionally useless military equipment, in exchange for (the promise of) political leverage.
@@TrangleC The EU is still the largest steel manufacturer in the world. UK today produces less than Austria. The biggest buyer of ships was the royal navy. Like 50 shipyards built ships for them.
As an island nation, a strong Navy is indispensable to Britain. Japan knows this and they are building their Navy accordingly.
Because their islands need foreign resources their navies need to get? Countries that aren't islands can still have large navies for whatever reason so some island nations aren't so special.
Japan is bigger in all aspects (economy, population, size and 6th longest costline) as compared to UK, they have strong adversaries (china and russia) around, UK has none , so it's natural it should have a bigger navy and military.
Things can change unexpectedly. A Trump administration or similar populist could pull out of NATO and since Russia is being pulled into China's orbit, they could post a threat to Britain's Eastern flank. It might seem far fetched now but unfortunately, major military projects can take up to 20 years to go from drawing board to entering service so we have to prepare for sudden changes in the UK's geopolitical situation.
Even as things stand, Britain would inevitably get drawn into any conflict with China. Britain's economy depends heavily on those trade routes in the Indo-Pacific and would suffer catastrophic economic damage if they were cut off by China.@@krishanrathi9119
@@tritium1998they are tho when you actually think about it they need a large navy to protect their maritime trade as most of their resources are imports so require a strong fleet to protect. Strong Navy’s for Islands are more important so your wrong.
@@krishanrathi9119still Russias now a European rival again and now with Brexit us no longer in the EU (thanks to the Tory scumbags) we are no longer part of a union of multiple countries so are by ourselves and we need a fleet equal to Japans or atleast not far behind. Get rid of the Tory’s and we could actually get one
Make a video like this on Indian Navy too.. ❤❤
Possible mods to existing and projected vessels
Type 45- 16 Sylver A70 instead of 24 'mushroom farms' , 2x3 324 torp tubes, 2 phalanx swappd out for 2 millenium guns, martlet module (also fitted for starstreak) on the 2 ds30 mounts
Type 23- Not applicable due to imminent decomissioning, nsms on as many vessels as possible
Type 26- Oto 127/64 for Mk 45 127mm gun, self defence weapons as envisaged on type 45, use of exls for 48 camm-er , 32 instead of 24 mk41, envisaged missiles FC/ASW, Rn should put out a competiton for missile launched torpedo- Candidates- Milas, VL-Asroc, SMART, Type-07, K-Asroc. 16- 24 FC/ASW for anti shipping and land strike, 8-16 asw missiles
Type 32 (AAW Arrowhead 140/Iver Huitfeldt - 32 cell Mk 41 or Sylver for Aster 30, 6X4 Exls for 24 camm er, 16 cannister launched missiles, initially NSM, later cannister launched fc/asw, hull and bow mounted sonar, full aaw radar suite (apar, smart-l), raft mounted machinery and 2x3 324 top tubes, 1x57 with madfires or 1x76 with strales, 2x35 millenium gun likely the second batch (type 32).
Type 31- (Gp arrowhead 140/ Iver Huitfeldt)32 Mk 41 reserved for 32 FC/ASW, for but not with asroc, no raft mounted machinery (to be specified when layed down, now not possible), NS 110 only(Topweight problems otherwise), 2x3 torp tubes, 57 with madfires or swapped out for 76mm with strales if not available, 2x35 millenium guns instead of 2X 40mm l70, the best sonars that can still be fitted, ffbnw another 24 sea ceptors in the space where the iver huitfeldt has harpoon cannisters (stanflex allows 48 essm instead of 24 essm and 16 harpoons, sea ceptor is smaller than essm, just needs exls instead of mushroom farms to make enough space availabke
QE Class- 7 millenium guns for 4 ds30 and 3 phalanx, 32x4 sea ceptor in exls, cats and traps for AEW , aim for 138 f35b RN and RAF F35A order of between 35-65
Albion Class- 4 millenium guns, 8x4 sea ceptor in exls (can be guided by type 997)
River Class batch 2 only- 57 or 76mm main gun, 2x(starboard and port) ds30 martlet/starstreak mount, 12-16 sea ceptors, 4-8 nsms/ cannister launched fc/asw, type 997 'artisan radar', sonars if possible, 2x3 324 torps
RFE-
All 7 Replenishment ships, 3 LSD and argus-
4 Millenium guns each, Sea ceptor definitely on fort victoria (fitted ffbnw sea wolf 1994), explore on other vessels
Subs- Little can be done with current vessels, ensure all future subs (Aukus) launch tomahawk/ hopefully sub launched fc/asw out of vls tubes rather than torpedo tubes, continue to modernise lethality and survivability of nuclear delivery systems but mantain 'miniumum credible deterrent' levels in terms of warheads, develop a replacement for spearfish
Future
Type 83- 112 'full cells', preferably a mk 41 successor or sylver 'a90' for sm-6 or aster 30 future blocks, fc/asw, an asroc, 32 x4 exls for CAMM-Mr in development currently, aranged port and starboard on the superstructure due to minimal deck penertration, s 2x3 324 torps, full sonar suite, extremely large hangar space, 1x 127mm/64 oto centreline fore, 2X 76MM strales/57MM madfires facing fore in a horrizon clas layout, 1 or 2 aft 4 millenium gun amidships, probably 2 on port and 2 starboard side, competitive aaw radar suite
Minimum tonnag 13,000 tons, suggested 16,000 tons, maximum around 18,000 tons
Reasoning-
Type 32 AAW/ Asw -Frigates-
The type 45 is not going to be replaced for a considerable ammount of time, its 6 hulls need to be supplemented in this time frame by the frigates, the type 31 and projected type 32 if using an arrowhead 140 hull originats from a capable and affordable aaw frigate hull which has had success in tracking ballistic missiles in Danish tests and this can be leveraged into an affordable aaw interim solution, adding camm er to type 26 also enchances the self defence of carrier strike groups further and the current 'mushroom farm launcher can accomadate this. Adding torpedos and sonars as the 140 design allows for is also useful in 'second rate asw roles, reducing dependance on type 26
Land attack/ Anti shipping type 31
The type 26 will be needed for predominantly anti submarine warfare despite currently being projected to have a land attack role and is an expensive, specialised ship to do this, a good use of the type 31 hulls that have already been layed down, and cannot be wholly reconverted into aaw frigates is to use the large 32 cell mk 41 launcher for packing a lethal ammount of fc/asw both for anti shipping and land strike. The space the iver huitfeldt uses for its 24 essms and 16 harpoon launchers is freed up, there will be no need for cannister launchers and this can therefore have as many 'self defence' sea ceptors as needed, according to the danes, they can have 48 essms in their 'stanflex module, sea ceptor is a smaller missile but 'mushroom farm' launchers take up more space per missile than the mk 56 dual pack for essm. The exls is a great solution, being used on the canadian variant of the type 26 (6 cells, 24 sea ceptors), and accomadates soft launch strength of sea ceptor
Millenium Gun- With pre programmable ammunition for use against supersonic mssiles, a variable fire rate up to 1,000 rpm (more than 3x that of the basic 40mm l70 bofors mount proposed) and designed from the ground up to be just as deadly against surface targets, the millenium gun should never have been removed during the redesign of the iver huitfeldt to create the type 31. Phalanx is getting long in the tooth, doesnt have the same range against surface targets and is heavier than a millenium gun mount. If a 40mm l70 bofors deriavative is used, i would want a breda version, either the single or double barelled 'fast forty', 450 and 900 rpm respectfully, rather than 240-330 on the mk 4 BAE/ Bofors
Question mark over the 57/70
The 57mm l70 mk 3 gun definitely has some significant advantages over the 76mm oto, in muzzle velocity, rpm and better 'explosive per second fired' than the 76mm/62. However though it has some sophisticated airburst ammuniton, it lacks a guided dart like the 76mm which has turned it into a true ciws or a long range land attack projectile (the miniturized Vulcano round for the 76mm gun is effective to 40km). If the 57mm was to receive a guided dart such as 'Madfires' then this debate becomes a bit more even. The type 31 should rightly get closer to enemy shores than the valuable and expensive type 26 and their is an argument to be made that it should have a 'big gun' and the type 26 a more ubiquitous one rather than the other way around. The 76mm gun provides both solutions, i wouldnt want to close in to the range of a 57mm gun for shore bombardment
Insisting on an Asroc- Its a nobrainer for any serious ASW focussed ship. The type 23 has been a stalwart and is still seriously cutting edge in its sonars and acoustic quietness, but to rely on its helicopters and especially its deck torpedo mounts would be a death trap in a scenario like the south china sea with dozens of chinese submarines, if you are having to use your deck torpedoes, you are yourself in danger. Having a dozen or more asrocs means less chance of running out of weaponry, and a standoff weapon
Why no tomahawk, LRASM- The fundemental mission of the FC/ASW was to get a missile than can do both roles, be incredibly surivivable through speed, stealth or both, to free up deck space from cannister launchers without having to use more vls cells than would have already been used for tomahawk. It remains by all reports to be on track for service and integration into strike length mk 41 and a70 sylver cells by the end of the decade. Having a kirov like ammount of deadly missiles on a frigate also sounds seriously cool right. Even if the aircraft carrier is still king
Mk 45- The mk 45 is nearly 50 years old and the only reason its going to be on a 2030s british vessel is because BAE is responsible for it it and wants uniformity across western and nato allies. The Oto Melera 127/64 has a higher rate of fire, muzzle velocity, range both with and without extended range ammunition (120 km with vulcano), higher elevation, rotation speed and general aa performance
Somebody try and cost this all for me. Aiming for 8+ Type 83. I think the UK can do this within 15 years or so on between 2.5 and 3% of GDP (us spends 3.5%). Wish more could be done for the other services but RN is most likely to be in a shooting war which involves a majority of its assets rather than the army or RAF
@@EmperorLionflame The thing is, I'm not even suggesting new ships, just stretching what we have already and are projected to build to the limits of what they are fitted for but not with/ hoping we don't buy outdated weapons. Unmanned vessels are definitely the future, and Type 83, 26 already are envisioning using directed energy weapons during their lifetime. We can't match china in shere number of ships nor tonnage in general but I'd like to think the type 83 as comparable to any surface combatant produced this next decade. The manned surface fleet obviously needs to grow, if we can get say unmanned Corvette sized vessels like the the taiwanese manned tuo chiang without worrying much about organic sensor capability, that would be great too for packing a huge punch
Are you really including the Admiral Kuznetsov in a carrier fleet comparison? Comic relief?
Bit of an essay, so: Generally good and agree, but the Royal Navy's strategy is not Indo-Pacific-centric. Navy leadership (Radakin, Key) have been clear in saying that the North Atlantic is the RN's centre of gravity. The carriers will visit the Pacific every couple of years as opposed to frequent sightings around Europe. The patrol ships we've sent to the Pacific and Indian Ocean are there to keep a modest presence, as a point of contact and engagement when the carrier group isn't visiting, that way there's a consistent engagement with allies instead of us randomly showing up every so often.
The Type 32s are an interesting one to pin down, as they began to be mentioned within a year of the Stena Impero tanker crisis, where only one RN ship was available to cover the whole Stait of Hormuz. This is speculation, one wonders if the embarrassment of that gave the RN enough of a case to argue for more escort ships. Boris Johnson being the Churchill-fan would have probably understood the historical parallels.
Good points about dollar-pound exchange rates, which will continue to be an issue. Fortunately, one of the very few things that has gotten better in the last 5 years is investment in shipyards in the UK, as well as the UK having a good complex weapons infrastructure (MBDA) to arm what we build. Now there's more to a warship than just that (sonars... 'we need more sonars' could be on our national tombstone if we're not careful), but the long term investments in infrastructure will at least offset that part of the cost (one desperately hopes).
Amphibious shipping's current state breaks my heart: in the 2000s we probably had the most capable landing force outside the USA, with supporting logistics. Even when we gutted the carriers back then it was still capable. Now we're going in the other direction. I know the Royal Marines are focusing more on raiding rather than mass-landings, but it's a bloody hard capability to rebuild. The Multi-Role Support Ships would probably keep it alive if imperfect. Here in the UK we'd all love a 2-3 LHDs like the Trieste or Juan Carlos but the personnel costs would make that a battle. Even with a growing number of loud voices at Parliament wanting a larger armed forces, the Treasury can be a bit fickle at times with defence.
the ships in the pacific are a tripwire force.
By the time this business between Russia and Ukraine is concluded Russia will be broken and irrelevant. Even as things stand now, their navy has been exposed as a paper tiger that can't even control the seas around a neighbouring country that doesn't even have a navy without losing its own flagship.
China on the other hand, is going to continue to be a rising threat, and that is the naval threat that Britain needs to consider in the longer term. China might be on the other side of the world, but our vital trade routes go through the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific and we can't afford to just ignore a potential threat to those trade routes.
You forgot to mention that the UK have lost their advanced alert and surveillance capabilities, after retiring their E-3D AWACS in 2021, which the E-7 Wedgetail should have replace, 5 in total, but which will end up being 3 (even though the MoD has paid for 5 MESA radars... ), and not before 2024/2025.
plus the lack of enough P-8s to boot.
Please do similar videos on other countries, e.g. Poland, US, France Sweden, India, Japan, Germany, Brazil, etc.
Inflation on military equipment usually is higher than inflation on consumer goods. That means that the Royal Navy is even farther behind. It could be worse, they could be the Royal Canadian Navy.
to be fair, any large conventional war the UK might find itself in would be a team affair. the Royal Navy only really needs to be able to field one good battle group and help with support actions. it's not trying to secure a giant empire anymore
Shame. We should be.
We still have a fair few areas that are strategically important to us. The North Sea, the English Channel, the Falklands, the Gibraltar strait.
It’s all well and good saying we’d have backup, but we’re an island and these are major shipping routes as well as home to thousands of British citizens. I’d feel far more comfortable knowing we have the ability in more than one place at any given time without any help.
@@Jake_5693 most of our seaborne trade comes through the Malacca strait and the Suez Canal. We definitely have an interest in securing those.
It’s important that an island state has suffice forces to protect its imports..such as oil and good which happen to pass through regions of conflicts (Iran). Just recall how Germany almost starved the UK during the war and more recently, oil tanker captured by Iran gunboats..
No. It doesn’t even have enough escorts for the carriers. It’s sad how much the politicians have damaged a once great service.
it's not the politicians. it's the britain itself. it's doomed to fail after WWII.
I have no doubt that today's Royal Navy displays the confidence and professionalism that it always has. However the fact is that the fleet is now a hollowed out force and would not be able to sustain the kind of losses it did during the Falklands campaign. There are far too few destroyers frigates and attack submarines to build a task force around the new carriers. Promises of new ships are seldom kept by a government with no commitment to security and defence. As an example it is now 20 years since a new frigate was commissioned.
If they as less woke they might perform even better
While you are right, on the plus side the Royal Navy is much more suited to a falklands-style conflict now than it was in the past.
The Royal Navy of the 80's suffered heavily from being entirely focused on countering soviet submarines, to the point that it was really not fit for purpose when Argentina invaded. Those losses shouldn't have happened
Great video. I like your take and I found this very well explained.
British Army 40 years ago. It was already clear then that the Navy wasn't getting the investment it needed. It would have been even worse if Argentina hadn't invaded the Falklands.
That’s what happens when the government keeps slashing away the size of the navy and neglecting what’s left. Moreover the army’s now what’s being prioritised despite being an island nation, where it’s actually more crucial to focus more on the navy, Fleet air arm and airforce.
The f35s are a joint operated force with raf and rn squadrons with mixed personnel
6 out of 10 top ship builders are Korean and Japanese. Shame they dont have a Nato interoperability yet.
With decades of US presence in both Japan and South Korea, interoperability won't be much of an issue.
Personally I think the UK should have a token amount of land forces ( 10,000) keep the tanks and armous but use the saved funds and pump it into the navy and airforce,
Or just stop feeding the rubber boat parasites..
Love you Binkov keep up the good work:)
Technology-wise the Royal Navy has so much potential to expand but the lack of monies and political will hold us back. Perhaps a Royal CANZUK navy could fill in the gaps which would give Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom more clout across the seas with frigates and carriers that span the entire globe, without going broke financially. #canzuk
a canzuk navy would be better serve in terms of protecting the member state interest giving member a global reach and a taskforce that can take the fight to any place on earth somthing like 3 supercarrier QE class with a catobar refit f35c variant with proper awacs and electronic warfare surport and 4LSD/LHD amphibous assult carrier 15 destroyer and 30 frigate as well as 10 nuclear attack sub 20 diesel electric sub and 8 balistic nuclear sub giving all member a nuclear deterent capability and navy so powerful its reach and power projection is only 2nd to that of the us navy and i belive all this could be achieve with 2 percent gdp budget by member nations not to mention the airforce and amry increase leathality just imagine uk royal armed force but is 3x bigger and better funded with more global bases.
@@patthonsirilim5739 good ideas. Even if canzuk does not happen (which it wont lol) the UK should still aim to refit the QE class into catobar over the next ten years as the economic situation improves. The f 35b planes could then be deployed on two future America class type ships, while a naval variant of the Tempest and drones would go on the QE class.
@yeetus1398 I'm in favour on CANZUK. But it ain't at the top of the government. If it did happen, it all depends on what's agreed.
@@patthonsirilim5739 QE is not a super carrier lol.
Why would the Canadian, Australian & NZ governments contribute in order to help solve UK defense problems? They’re not the colonies anymore.
Should return to using oars and rowing, it's free and all the sailors will be super jacked
Just connect all the exercise equipment to the electrical system on the ship for a little extra team effort.
😂😂✅️✅️
Short answer NO! But I also know that depends on a lot of things.
Your'e information on precument of the F35b is incorrect it's as follows ;
As of May 2023 the UK has taken delivery of 38 F35b split between the squadrons of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, with a total of 48 to be delivered under the directive of Tranche 1. A further 27 under the directive of tranche 2 will take the F35 b to 74 split between the two services. Now hopefully by 2030/2035 the new aircraft Tempest will be available and a carrier version will be available as well, and also the two carriers are to be modified under the directive Ark Royal Profect.
Tempest is a very large aircraft its very doubtful we will have a carrier varient. More over its most likely the government will buy F35c for the RAF knowing that when tempest arrives the F35c can be handed RAF also knowing that future of the carriers will be catapults. The only way britiain gets tempest on a carrier is if we completely design a whole new carrier class with tempest in mind, just like how the QEC aws more or less developed around the F35.
It would be interesting to compare this with the Japanese Navy and military in general. They have significantly more warships, more personnel, aircraft etc yet have a smaller defence budget than the UK. Why are they able to get so much more for their money?
No nukes
I don’t think their budget is smaller. Their budget is a smaller chunk of gdp but the Japanese economy is considerably bigger so a smaller percentage of a bigger economy may yield similar or better spending power. Might be wrong though.
Royal Navy is a joke compared to the Japanese might
Would be very interesting to see one of these on future plans on Russian naval expansion
Im all for r ussian navsl wxpansion.
Royal navy's size and capability needs to commensurate with UK's economy size. At some point, voters have to choose between aircraft carriers and NHS.
We dont have to chose between the too. We have enough for both and more
NHS should be dissolved.
There are countries with public healthcare that don't have a huge and unwieldy state bureaucracy like the NHS providing healthcare. Singapore, France and Germany have far superior systems and if we could get over the fanatical religious cult that protects the NHS from reform we could actually have a better healtchcare system.@@cj64343
@@iamthecaptainnow546is that why you don’t?
@@looinrims yes…
I won't say in what capacity, but I work in the MOD for the RN. Our defence budget is probably half what it should be whilst other public sectors, such as the NHS, receive many times the funding the military does. I'm surprised by the level of knowledge here, but I suppose it's almost entirely publicly available.
Many of our systems for supply chain and procurement are massively out of date.
Dreadnought will feature some (non weapon) systems that are being carried over from Vanguard class, with very little in the way of ability to maintain them. The North Atlantic design purpose of the T23 means the metal struggles in warmer waters, such as the Middle East and Pacific, causing complications. As mentioned, a lot of the efforts at the moment are based on helping/sending kit to Ukraine (The comments can argue over that particular issue).
There is almost a complete inability to recruit crew/personnel, which most Western nations struggle with at present. However this maybe uniquely in the UK includes Civil Service roles, I mean the little people who make everything work (The RN is worst affected by this here). Maybe let's not go into the effects of DEI & woke culture infecting the MOD and RN too.
Absolutely love the video Binkov! Keep up the good work!
If the civil service has a recruitment problem, they would do well to invest into DEI. It’s high time for Britain to realise we’re in the 21st century and Britain isn’t 99% white anymore.
@@mikewazowski7024 ☻
Budget x year it has to be readed in the other way around. When a budget for a certain branch is low it mean that the branch is up to date at the state of the art, and it need only the budget for maintenance and other expenses.
On contrary when the budget for that particular year will considerably be raised, it mean that the branch is under the way of being modernized in some way (new, up tondate, tech buying/building or tech replacement).
This reading of the budget however is valid when the Government do not do cuts to budgets for economic reasons, but the up and down curve of the budget is solely dependant of the speech did above.
the carriers are larger enough to operate 60 fighters the reason why this number has gone down to only 36 is purely financial
Rubbish 😂 don't kid yourself, wanker 😅
@@goodputin4324 Hes not wrong, other than the financial part. Theyre able to operate 72 aircraft at flood however they dont, just as the Nimitz is able to operate with a similar amount at flood. Its simply ineffective to do so.
I guess it´s fair to say that none of the big three in Europe - UK, France, Germany - is able to have a strong military and a good social system at the same time, that would include good healthcare system, social net and educational system. In these days all military systems like fighter planes, tanks, ships etc. became so expensive that none of these 3 can afford them in numbers we all were used to. That means we have to cooperate and combine our forces and don´t think in terms of national pride anymore. In the future we gotta think of European joint squadrons - apart from those in the NATO. This can be a successful concept, look at the cooperation of the Dutch and German army. And guys - please remember: there´s no empire anymore ................................... just saying.
Scrap the "social system" and put all that money into millitary. That's the only correct option.
Both the Germans and the French have a far better purchasing bpower than the UK. A huge part of our problem here is we left the EU, we don't have an effective manufacturing base, and the idiots in charge genuinely seem to think that hiking interest rates and cutting spending is how you fix major economic instability generated by the fact taht you are a service based economy that cut off its single largest service market with Brexit.
Like... I have so many opinions, and we could be doing so much better if the country wasn't run by a bunch of corrupt shitwits.
No they don't. Britain still cooperates with EU and other countries to produce common weapons systems. The Tempest is being built with Japan and Italy as partners, 15% of the F35 is manufactured in the UK and Britain profits from every overseas sale. The EU is irrelevant in this regard.@@darkshardshoots
Yeah why you think they memed usa despite relying entirely on USA, hence their ammo situations, British army had 1-2 weeks, Germany had 2 days
Jack Tar will always be up to the task...having enough ships and kit is a different matter
Could you do the same on French navy pls ? I feel like the upcoming plans are really not up to the task. They always mention the FDI but it will be quite small ship, and we will only have a few ...
you sure open our eyes sir, thank you for your continuous efforts!!!
The problem is not just the UK's economic woes (largely driven by the Bank of England's abject failure to control inflation), but a lack of appetite among sitting MPs to increase defence spending when they have other public spending priorities (health, welfare, education etc.). An unfortunate attitude has taken hold that in effect, spending more on defence will cost them votes. To compound this, during the past decade or so there have been bone headed decisions made, notably flip flopping over catapults for the CVs, before eventually opting for STOVL 🤦♂
Central banks don't control inflation, they CREATE it. Inflation means inflation of money supply, the price increase is just a symptom.
sigh. Bankers and politicians CREATE inflation. Its a tax.
Printing more money is the only way to get more inflation. Nothing else is a contributing factor.
@@guillermoelnino Purpose before profit works wonders.
Binkov, I love your videos.
The pronunciation for AUKUS = OR CUSS
A good dose of Keynesian economics is needed.... At least 4 more carriers and the support vessels... And pay the crews a decent wage to attract recruits... The same goes for the army re pay....
The UK has managed to have so many old, expensive systems that it's "champagne tastes, beer money".
The UK should focus on having a highly skilled Marine force and ditch Imperial fantasies.
China and Russia should ditch imperial fantasies
@@MasterCheeks-2552Chinese and Russian navy are much stronger than royal navy
@@VTUGYT The same russian navy which had its capital ship destroyed by Ukraine, a nation with barely a navy?
@@VTUGYTthe russian navy barely floats 😂
@@aidan-4759 u mean the nation supplied intel and weapons by nato and the ship which was floating with half its systems non functional with log book showing it had issues
He said "But only peace can bring us together" again! I've missed it a little.
Hello Binkov!
Can you make a video about the current situation in Black Sea? In last weeks Erdogan made a huge turn around against Russia, accepting Sweden in NATO, saying Ukraine does deserve to be in NATO and saying that the Grain Deal could be carried on without Russia. Several news sources claimed that Turkish Navy would escort Ukrainian grain shipments. Ukrainian grain is essential to the mant Middle Eastern and African nations to feed their populace. Is Turkish Navy is capable enough to deter Russian Navy to attack Ukrainian grain vessels? How the other NATO nations in Black Sea would change the balance between Turkish and Russian Navies? Does enforcing the grain deal on Russia worth the risk? It seems like NATO nations are willing to be more brave against Russia after the Russian debacle in Ukraine, Wanger insurrection showed everyone that Putin's hegemony is not that firm on Russian State. How much can NATO try it's luck on Russia?
Britain is the Worlds 6th largest economy so I would imagine any spending cuts are temporary due to high energy prices. But Britain being part of NATO is not expected to fight alone. The Royal Navy usually operates with US super carrier battle groups. Having said that the Royal Navy has some of the most advanced ships and subs on the plannet. It is certainly capable of holding its own against the antiquated Russian navy for example. The fact is Russia is now considered a paper tiger and no threat to European security. The Royal Nave is being expanded with several new ship classes being introduced, but these will help counter the Chinese, the only serious threat NATO has.
It is SO simplistic to put such significance to '6th largest economy'. First, UK, France and India are basically neck and neck in terms of GDP. There's little difference in GDP between India, UK, France or 5th, 6th, 7th. Second, "6th" hardly conveys the fact that the UK has roughly 1/10th the GDP of 1st place (USA) and 1/5th that of 2nd place, China.
Fun fact: the 3rd largest economy, Japan, has a navy bigger than France and UK navy combined.
@@davidadiwego4608 The best fun fact is that Russia is 12th and going down as sanctions bite. India has hit issues and there are still Billions below povert level, 85% live on less than $6 per day!
@@davidadiwego4608japan has more destroyers than all European navy’s combined
@@billballbuster7186 Russian economy is doing relatively okay despite sanctions. And I don't know if Biden sabotaging Russian gas supply to Germany regardless of German concerns (nordstream 2) can be called 'sanctions'.
BTW, Putin is a authoritarian dictator and liberal democracy should take over, lest I be accused of being a pro Russia bot.
@@Myanmartiger921Japan labels alot of ships in the frigate weight class as destroyers
the best is the last sentence 🕊
How are the releasing frigates without a ciws?
I'd love a video about whether the UK's military could have taken Ukraine if it invaded at the time Russia did. (I don't think it could now after how battle hardened Ukraine has become, but with UK tactics and hardware, could they have managed it in March 2022?)
I don’t think they have the numbers for fighting large scale wars alone. They only have about 80,000 troops. The armed forces are designed for expeditionary operations
We would have run out of Ammunition after the first week
I like how Binkov presented Russians having "Up to one aircraft carrier" and having an amphibious assault fleet size of "Up to 85'000 t"
Some genius humor.
IMO: UK politicians built the carriers to tag along with the US' strategic focus on the Pacific, but by doing so it has compromised the defence of the UK homeland and its NATO commitments in Europe. As a result, we have a pocket-sized army, small air force, and a struggling surface fleet.
Nonsense. They can have both but chose not to.
Not really it’s just we don’t have the manpower anymore ships are being decommissioned because we don’t have enough bodies to actually man them
The root of the UK's problems was the decision to have two Queen Elizabeth class carriers while also cutting the budget. These were about as large as a US carrier but ended up being conventionally powered and not fitted for CATOBAR, only STOVL. If you're going STOVL only and conventional something like a modernized Invincible class would have made more sense. You could have had three or four of them enabling continuous at sea presence. Having two QE class carriers is not enough to do this.
Then again maybe the carriers were always too expensive and the UK should have stuck to submarines, destroyers and frigates.
Indeed, with the choice of F35Bs, simple amphibious helicopter carriers would have made more sense, kind of like the Spanish carrier or the US Marines’
Actually the second one was bought by error. It wasn't planned.
@@danielefabbro822 It was planned by one government. The next government tried to cancel it but was told it was cheaper to finish it than to cancel. Similarly the next government tried to convert the second carrier to CATOBAR which it was fitted 'not with but for'. At that point the US contractor told them it would cost twice as much to do that as they expected and they decided to stay STOVL. I.e. the government got completely out lawyered by the contractors.
@@brunol-p_g8800 Another thing is the F-35 was only a disaster because of the B variant which was going to be used by the USMC and Royal Navy. If the Royal Navy wasn't on board the odds are the B variant would have been cancelled and a new STOVL fighter developed instead. Mind you in a war between the US and allies versus China the F-35B gives the US a real edge because it means China cutting airstrips is less serious. So it's a complex issue.
Pretending Russian and Chinese subs aren't a problem is definitely going to bite them in the ass 😂
"Sick man of Europe" is a label given to a nation located in Europe experiencing economic difficulties, social unrest or impoverishment.Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, the term was also most notably used for the United Kingdom when it lost its superpower status as the Empire crumbled and its home islands experienced significant deindustrialization, coupled with high inflation and industrial unrest - such as the Winter of Discontent - including having to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since the mid-2010s and into the 2020s, the term being used for Britain with cost-of-living crisis and industrial disputes in 2023.
stop spamming
Germany is the sick man of Europe in 2023. UK has dodged a recession, which was expected at the start of the year.
@@MasterCheeks-2552 what?
The industrial action has been going on for years and has been a coordinated attempt to bring down the Tories by unions ever since Brexit, it's been stick the knife in and keep twisting, so they were striking long before the current cost of living crisis and the whole world is suffering rising prices and recession in many countries. The only difference here is that the msm is mainly left wing and keep blaming Brexit and the Tories for everything and making it look like it's just going on in this country.
@@shimadwan8251 It's literally not the sick man of europe though lol it's still better here than almost everywhere in europe.
53 Billion pounds can buy a lot of superglue for patching up broken bits and pieces.
yes roughly same as russia spends too.
Definitely can't pull off the 3rd opium war anymore
certianly not with an attitute like that
they probably could. just call it something else.
can always find a new reason to start one though
China's Xi CCP virus is getting those results by itself, so it's not needed anymore lol,
I feel bad for the Chinese, CCP needs to vanish 😞
Nice summary. It was well thought out and well organised. In fact, I think this was one of your best videos in recent months!
Could the British navy defend the Falklands now?
Defend yes, retake no.
it wouldn't be a case of could , the UK can and the UK would .
Please, if my country can only do one thing right, let it be sending out Navy abroad to help people.
Very good video! What software do you use to make maps?
It’s time for the British to accept their role as a middle power. They simply don’t have the resources or political will to intervene in far off places when domestic issues are so dire
The Brits finally going back to its real status as a second world country without its foreign colonies
@@everydaydose7779judging by your previous comments up you still perceive Russia as a great military power that can beat anything you throw at it, btw foreign colonies don’t make you rich, they were expensive and didn’t give us great value for the money and loss of life Britain spent on trying to protect it, but considering all major European powers were doing it we also had to do it, so we don’t get overwhelmed and invaded by another European power.
@@everydaydose7779Britain has one of the largest economies in Europe, still far bigger than Russia, France and Italy.
@@everydaydose7779Russia and china don’t see the uk as a threat nor a good country to invade for resources” like they could anyway? Stop speaking of Russia has a power, they are second best in a war they started, threatening to nuke Britain because of its leading role in supplying Ukraine with arms.
@@everydaydose7779Second world? You mean Soviet aligned then? Or maybe you just aren't smart enough to know what that term means. Best not to use phrases without understanding them first, makes you look daft
Various government has stripped the armed forces to the point where it is not big enough to defend us 😢
Pretty much every country is struggling with inflation, so why are you acting like it is only a UK problem?! The UK still spends more than most nations on defence (except for the us).
The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm will be operating its own F35s with the RAF's F35's reinforcing the carriers' airwing when necessary (and the Fleet Air Arm's F35s also reinforcing the RAF's F35 when necessary).
The F35B is not a good aircraft nor are they fully under UK control.
@@TheBelrick The F35 is a good aircraft.
Compared to the Eurofighter, the F35B is a better ground attack aircraft becuase it is less lightly to be shot down and having better sensors.
Moreover, the F35B is a better air-air fighter than the Eurofighter becuase the combination of its activley electronically scaned radar (which is hard for other enemy aircraft to detect) and its low observable features (which reduce the distance at which the F35B can be detected) mean that the F35B is likley to be able to shoot down enemy fighters before they are even able to fire their own air-air missiles at the F35B.
The UK's F35Bs are fully controled by the RAF and Royal Navy and the only "control" the USA has over them is the ability to restrict access to some spare parts and the abiltiy to put pollical pressure on the UK but they do not have any direct control over the UK's F35s or their onboard computers.
Although the USA rescirited access to the F35's source code to every country other than the UK, they allowed the UK access becuase the UK threatened to pull out of the program if they did not hand over the source code and, due to how the loss of the amount of money the UK was speding on the program would have put up prices for the US millitary as well as the UK being the only "tire one" partern in the F35 program and being unlikly to get into a war with the USA or help the USA's enemeies, that threat was enough to make the USA relent and give the UK full access to all of the F35B's software.
RN's trying to be something it's not. QE class is great on paper, but has some issues and seems to be stretching resources thin. And only being a pair of ships creates issues, usually you want 3-4 for a clean rotation. The RN might've been better served with a number of ships akin to the Italian Cavour. 3 or 4 would've been cheaper and free up resources elsewhere in the RN, 5 would've cost about the same but ensured a majority of the fleet could be surged at any time, while with 2 QEs you have to carefully manage maintenance to ensure 1 is operational.
Light carriers are wasteful
It's always a difficult job balancing the books, and important to remember that a multitude of different governmental departments are competing for funding. Carbon neutral, heath, education and defence to name just a few.
@deathsquadron3311 well, as with everything in life there are advantages and disadvantages, and it all comes at a cost. The only real question for government is what they choose to spend on which, and how much and who to tax. Personally I'd much rather have free health care than a bigger navy, one is far more likely to use the former.
Britain had a chance to regain strength. That got squandered by the myopia of Thatecherism, which opened the door for Blair and his cronies to allow in every kind of vulture in obscene numbers. Think of the artisan stewardship responsible for Westminster Palace, versus whoever plonked a giant box in the middle of the City. One cared about something more than just function or profit.
@deathsquadron3311it's why China has no social security programs, free health care, or really anything. They spend everything in defense and corruption.
The US doesn't have free health care not due to the military, that's rubbish. It's due to corporate, and top 1% influence on taxes.
The best ship of the RN is the HMS Nostalgia 😂
The Royal Navy needs about £4.5bn extra annually in real terms to match ambition to reality.
This will be enough to recruit extra sailors and all the expenses that will entail, build additional escort & logistical ships, specialist aircraft and maintenance money for the expanded fleet. If additional F-35's are desired then funding will need to be higher still.
not gonna happen uk cannot do that 4.5 bn pounds thats even higher than what india increases every year for their whole military and indian needs and economy are higher than uk's
@@scoutop1829 The UK definitely can do £4.5bn but it would likley involve making cuts in other areas of government spending.
@@amb8274 in 2023 india increased their defence budget by 6.5bn pounds can uk do that with their high inflation india's inflation is lowest among major economies
One anti ship missile can sunk that ship
@@scoutop1829 Of course. Total net government spending is around £700bn. So if it wanted to move £6.5bn to defence then it can. It's then a political decision as to where to move it from. Plus inflation is pushing tax receipts up.
I have to watch videos on Russia and China's aircraft carriers to cheer myself up after this
China has bigger carriers with bigger runways and planes, and it's not even trying as hard as other countries on the military as a share of economy.
You are so easily pleased then.
their @@tritium1998 their carriers are also dogshit believe it or not lmaooo
@tritium1998 diesel though. Might as well buy a couple air refuelers instead for all the extra range it gives them. Their current carriers are nothing more than trainers for when they can afford real, nuclear carriers. The British Isles are just that, isles. They don't need the same range to have more flexibility and capability in defending their homeland. China is a coastal continental power, they need thousands of miles of range for a carrier capability to be useful to them in national defense and especially in projecting power.
The planes they have on their carriers are 4th generation though. Any 4th generation plane going against a 4th generation like the F35B is on a suicide mission.@@tritium1998
Rule Britannia from Glasgow 😎 🇬🇧
Yes, may the US its UK dogs
Idea; Western Roman Empire (around roughly the first sack of rome,) with modern Italian military, transporting each airport in just Italy, but removing the Roman navy and army, to see if they could avoid collapsing from external invasions and skirmishes (and having the ideal best case scenario that it doesn’t just collapse internally as western Roman politics were quite messy)
Tbf they lived during a time of aggressive neighbours, we don't.
Why is literally every western navy in dire straits right now, pun not intended
Because why invest billions into a huge navy when the United States controls the oceans
@@Joker-yw9hlgenius
The Royal navy has just about enough ships to form a carrier battle group that would undoubtedly put up a spectacularly good fight before it was overwhelmed and sunk.
probably not tbh, years of perpetual cutbacks and every time a new warship replaces an old the number is shrunk has left it woefully incapable of seriously tangling with china, whilst one might argue in the event of carrier loss the f-35b is a better choice if its short range lets you get to land, otherwise the f-35b is not particularly suited for naval warfare, it has less fuel, less payload and less time on station then the c, not to mention for the price they paid for those carriers it really ought to have been nuclear powered, and its just a little smaller then it really should be, but these are more minor issues, the carriers don't have enough planes to surge equip both either, it might struggle surging one.
The destroyers may be among if not the best air defense destroyer around, but with just a paltry 6 of them, it has barely enough to cover its two carriers especially as the uk has no other way of dealing with beyond 100mile cruise missiles other then them, even the previous 13 frigates already low has ended up split into 7 like for likes, and 5 substandard cheap and cheerfulls, it would be have been fine to replace 13 with like for like then make 5 more cheap and cheerfulls but no yet more budget cuts that can go into padding tory companies pockets with contracts that tory mps will retire into associate board positions and board memberships of, and tax breaks for the 1%, most of which are tory, it already has no ships designed for ship to ship conflict as is which doesnt help, they just tacked on a little to their anti-air destroyers and a little less on their anti-submarine frigates.
Britains navy (btw i am british) is indeed staffed with competent folk, but as for their equipment they've fallen into the traditional military trap of being very well prepared to meet the shortcomings of yesteryears wars with little thought given to tommorrows, its not just the navy, the army and airforce are also woefully short staffed, underfunded and underequipped, frankly if someone invented a proof positive against nuclear missiles tomorrow (not so likely in short term but 10-20 years from now quite likely) many countries could steamroll britain, oh sure they'd loose a fair few in the opening salvos, but britain just hasnt spend enough on defense to meet future threats.
As an American I’m quite sad to see how far the Royal Navy has fallen. They used to be a very respectable force and that’s been diminishing for decades due to terrible choices of politicians
they were respectable in the 1700 when they trafficked black people around the world
@@TricaGamer come on, you don't need to remind him of that. he's american.
@@TricaGamer are you claiming the royal navy transported slaves? hahaha what realm of delusion are you in
@@astebbin oh my, liberators of the world, praise them, no intentions behind it, all hail brittania
@@TricaGamernice for some appreciation for all the royal navy sailors (black and white) that stopped slavery.
I know you're being a sarcastic twat.