UK Government wasted £74m on decision to switch fighter jet on new aircraft carriers

Defence secretary Philip Hammond last year decided to revert to plans by the former Labour government to acquire the jump jet version of the US-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Under proposals set out in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the coalition had intended to switch to the F-35C carrier variant of the aircraft, even though it meant mothballing one of the two carriers on grounds of affordability.
But the costs of fitting the necessary catapults and arrester gear to the carriers had more than doubled to £2bn.
portsmouth

Blimps to bolster Washington’s air shield in test

Two aerostats are due to arrive in the Washington area soon for a test that might last three years.


A pair of big, blimplike craft, moored to the ground and flying as high as 10,000 feet, are to be added to a high-tech shield designed to protect Washington from air attack, at least for a while.
The bulbous, helium-filled aerostats — each is 243 feet long, more than three-quarters the length of a football field — are to be stitched into existing defenses as part of a test of new technology ordered by the Defense Department.
The coming addition to the umbrella over Washington is known as Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS. Raytheon is the prime contractor.

washingtonpost

Raytheon Company signed a contract for 42.8 million pounds to deliver five Phalanx Block 1B Close-In Weapon Systems to the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence starting in 2013.

Raytheon Company signed a contract for 42.8 million pounds to deliver five Phalanx Block 1B Close-In Weapon Systems to the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence starting in 2013.

nosint.blogspot.com.

raytheon