But then what would Rolls Royce know about making good jet engines...

The UK’s first fleet of uncrewed fighter aircraft is one step closer to reality following a £30 million contract to design and manufacture a prototype in a three-year deal supporting more than 100 jobs in Belfast.
The uncrewed combat aircraft will be designed to fly at high-speed alongside fighter jets, armed with missiles, surveillance and electronic warfare technology to provide a battle-winning advantage over hostile forces. Known as a ‘loyal wingman’, these aircraft will be the UK’s first uncrewed platforms able to target and shoot down enemy aircraft and survive against surface to air missiles.
This ground-breaking project will involve significant investment which will not only support local employment, but also reinforce Northern Ireland's contribution to the security of our nation.
In a boost for Northern Ireland’s defence industry, Spirit AeroSystems, Belfast, have been selected to lead Team MOSQUITO in the next phase of the Project. Utilising ground-breaking engineering techniques, the team will further develop the RAF’s Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept, with a full-scale vehicle flight-test programme expected by the end of 2023.
"This is fantastic news and underlines the distinct strengths in Northern Ireland's economy, through its advanced engineering and manufacturing capabilities.
"This ground-breaking project will involve significant investment which will not only support local employment, but also reinforce Northern Ireland's contribution to the security of our nation."
Team MOSQUITO, which also includes Northrop Grumman UK, will mature the designs and manufacture a technology demonstrator to generate evidence for a follow-on LANCA programme. If successful, Project Mosquito’s findings could lead to this revolutionary capability being deployed alongside the Typhoon and F-35 Lightning jets by the end of the decade.
UKDJ wrote:The Sunday Times has reported that the UK is likely only to purchase 48 F-35B jets, down from 138.
An excerpt from this article states.
“An order for 90 more F-35 Lightning combat jets is to be cancelled in favour of the Tempest fighter, built in Lancashire, while 24 older Typhoon fighters will be retired early. Whole fleets of aircraft will be taken out of service as drones become ever more common.”
This reported F-35B order isn’t entirely unexpected, whilst speaking to the Public Accounts Committee,the MoD’s Permanent Secretary Sir Stephen Lovegrove said:
“Things change in the course of these very long-term programmes. Different capabilities come along that render things that you have yet to buy possibly obsolete or perhaps you need fewer of them or the threats change.”
The final details of this will be revealed on March the 16th in the Integrated Review.
The ‘Integrated Review’, to give it its full title the ‘Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy’ is effectively a defence review.
According to a Ministry of Defence announcement:
“General Sir Nick Carter has been central to setting the vision for our future armed forces. The Prime Minister has asked General Carter to remain in post to ensure continuity and stability while the conclusions of the Integrated Review are implemented following the £24.1-billion settlement for defence announced last year.
The Integrated Review will be published on 16 of March and the Defence Command Paper will be published on 22 of March. The selection of General Carter’s successor as Chief of the Defence Staff will begin in the autumn.”
The review was previously described by Boris Johnson as the largest review of its kind since the Cold War and will be published later this month.
Finty likes this post
These were first in service in 2003.GarryB wrote:Retiring Typhoons... how long were they in service?
GarryB wrote:Retiring Typhoons... how long were they in service?
Isos wrote:UK army is just disapearing because they became US 51st state the last 20 years.
Tanks are going the same way. Their ships too. Their naval patrol aircraft too. They are reducing the number of soldiers.
Their industry will follow the same path.
Finty wrote:Isos wrote:UK army is just disapearing because they became US 51st state the last 20 years.
Tanks are going the same way. Their ships too. Their naval patrol aircraft too. They are reducing the number of soldiers.
Their industry will follow the same path.
You could argue we've been the 51st state since November 1956, if not 1945.
I haven't seen mention of naval patrol (i.e the P8) aircraft orders being cut but the E7 (E3's replacement in the AWACS role) is, from 5 to 3.
Isos wrote:
After Euro money creation you became a satellite state in UE with Poland for the US and since then you are declining.
I'm wrong, I just remember of articles saying they retired a fleet of big planes which left them without any replacement. I don't really remember what it was.
Finty wrote:I assume you mean EU? The UK famously left it.
As for withdrawals without replacements, it’s happened a few times, sometimes with ensuing capability gaps. In addition to already mentioned Nimrod, there was the harrier, withdrawn in 2010 and only replaced in 2019 with the F35 and the Tornado which was replaced by the Typhoon which will now have a greater workload.
Finty wrote:Isos wrote:UK army is just disapearing because they became US 51st state the last 20 years.
Tanks are going the same way. Their ships too. Their naval patrol aircraft too. They are reducing the number of soldiers.
Their industry will follow the same path.
You could argue we've been the 51st state since November 1956, if not 1945.
I haven't seen mention of naval patrol (i.e the P8) aircraft orders being cut but the E7 (E3's replacement in the AWACS role) is, from 5 to 3.
Finty likes this post
UKDJ wrote:The UK plans to retire its entire fleet of 76 Hawk T1 trainer aircraft.
This leaves only 28 Hawk aircraft in British service, the T2 variant.
The Defence Command Paper released today, titled ‘Defence in a Competitive Age’, states:
“The Royal Air Force will retire equipment that has increasingly limited utility in the digital
and future operating environment. This will include rationalising older fleets to improve
efficiency, retiring Typhoon Tranche 1 by 2025, and Hawk T1. We will enhance the new military flying training system with further investment in synthetic training that will deliver more capable pilots more quickly and more efficiently.”
Hawk T1 jets are used used in the aggressor role by No. 100 Squadron and famous as display aircraft by the Red Arrows. However the Express reports that the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team have been saved from the axe in a defence review to be published in the week commencing March 22.
“Though Ministry of Defence insiders have confirmed that the iconic team will not be felled next week, RAF sources insisted its days were numbered unless other streams of financial support could be found urgently. The Red Arrows has arranged a raft of sponsorship deals with some blue-chip brands, ranging from BAE, Barbour and Breitling to Land Rover and Rolls Royce, worth just under a million pounds in total.”
This defence review was previously described by Boris Johnson as the largest review of its kind since the Cold War.
Joe Kerr wrote:Citing the capability of the jet compared to the F-35B, the UK is to purchase 24 Harrier jets.
It is understood that the capability of the F-35B compared to capability of the Harrier jet was the driving factor behind this decision.
Speaking in an obscure website comment section, ‘Bring back the Harrier’ spokesman Terry-Bill Boar said:
“This is a welcome decision! While it is true that Harrier is slower and can carry much less than the F-35B, it offers much greater situational awareness than the suite of equipment on the F-35B. For example, flying slower gives the pilot more time to look out of the cockpit canopy and has a more personal touch than using a range of sensors.”
The Ministry of Defence said:
“The F-35B is far more capable than the Harrier and using them in combat would be incredibly unfair and a give a bad image of a new, fairer Global Britain. As a result, we have decided to ‘bring back the Harrier’ on a temporary basis.”
It is understood that the Royal Air Force will be trialling an innovative solution in order to find personnel for the new aircraft. I’m told that anyone who thinks the UK should have purchased more Harriers instead of the F-35B is eligible to fly, as no one else can be found to fly a relatively obsolete aircraft.
Congraulations and thank you for reading the whole article, this is just an April Fools Day joke. The article above is not true and if anyone is sharing this after the 1st of April, please do remind them of that fact. The purpose of this article, aside from our usual April Fools day joke, is to make the point that reading beyond the headline should be the norm every day, not just on the 1st of April. There’s a large volume of misinformation online, make sure you don’t add to it by sharing articles without reading them. Finally, be careful of the person sharing this article after the 1st of April as they very clearly don’t read what they share.
magnumcromagnon likes this post
Hole wrote:"Fairer Global Britain"![]()
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Shit. I nearly fell from the couch.
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