Royal Navy's new Yankee £1.5Mn. firecrackers now defending freedom , fighting global terrism,making profits for Raytheon

In 2004 the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) purchased 64 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) Block IV missiles made by US by Raytheon in the United States for £70Mn (Also confusingly called TacTom) .

Another £25M has been used to provide the submarine and ashore command and control systems to allow these whizz-bangs to work and (hopefully) land and cause devastation where the user wants by exploding 1,000 lbs of HE.

The UK has a new capability to deliver long range precision attacks covertly from submarines. We make that £1.5 Mn a pop (ish).

The same effect is produced by one 38JDAM conventional cast iron bomb - a B2 bomber can carrry 40 of them and launch them from 40,000 feet 25 miles from target, at approx £12,500 a pop, but over Kosovo they needed a 30 hour round trip re-fuelling 4 times between their Missouri Whiteman Air Force Base and Kosovo. They also needed 4-7 days re-work on their radar reflective surfaces in special facilities before being used again.

The Royal Navy and Baroness Taylor of Bolton , Minister for Defence Equipment & Support ( used to be MP for Dewsbury) has announced that the T Class submarine HMS Torbay is the first submarine to be operationally equipped with them and that they are fully operational and very unusually for an MOD project - three months earlier than planned. HMS Torbay has just returned from a year-long £8Mn. refit at HM Naval Base Clyde, Faslane and has the improved version of the world-leading Sonar 2076 system from Ultra Electronics.

The newer advanced Sonar 2076 is a fully integrated system comprising bow, flank, fin and towed arrays that can track an object the size of a bus at a distance of more than 50 miles (80km). New communications equipment on HMS Torbay will allow internet access (better than a webcam ?) and allow sending and recept of e-mails, even when the submarine is deep underwater, and a new charting system is due to be trialled on board. She should be ready after sea trials in mid-summer.

The Block IV WMD is considerably more capable than its predecessors - Kills more people ? Destroys more building / tanks / bus shelters ? Flies further / faster ?

Apparently this new version of the Tomahawk has a significantly reduced response time and can fly further, striking land targets from the sea up to one thousand miles away with even greater precision. They are able to re-target or safely(?) abort in flight and can relay images en route. The missile was first successfully test fired from a Royal Navy submarine last June and will and will be deployed in the new Astute Class submarines if and whenever they enter service.

Raytheon's plant at Glenrothes, Fife, makes some of the electronic gubbins, and some of the screwdrivers used to fit this American missile into the submarines were wielded employees of UK companies BAE Systems and Ultra Electronics.

HMS Splendid become the first British submarine to fire the Tomahawk against civilians in the Kosovo terrorism campaign and they were also part of the UK contribution to the Shock and Awe terror build up to the Coalition illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.

European "Jules Verne " Space Freighter successfully launched

The Jules Verne, the European unmanned space freighter lifted off successfully with 5 tons of freight on top of an Ariane V rocket from the jungle near Kourou, French Guiana, at 5:03 p.m. MEZ.6 minutes from the lift off the main engine was blown away and the Bremen built ATV (Automated transport Vehicle) went into an orbit between 140 and 260 kilometers high.

This is scheduled to dock with the Russian Space station element on April 3rd after testing guidance and navigation systems en route.

On Tuesday the shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a 16 day mission to the space station with seven astronauts trained to deliver the first piece of a Japanese science module and a Canadian robotic device.

During the Endeavour mission, the Jules Verne will maintain a separation of about 1,200 miles behind the station. When Endeavour returns to earth , European ground controls teams will conduct a series of rendezvous tests before authorizing a linkup with the Jules Verne.

The European Space Agency has plans for the launch of 5 space freighters, each as big as a London double-decker bus, by 2015. The new freighter carries less cargo than a shuttle but more than three times as much payload as a Russian Progress supply ship.

Its cargo-carrying capacity will help fill the supply gap resulting from the Bush administration decision to cease space shuttle missions in 2010.


The ATV will dock with the Station's Zvezda Service Module. It carries a 7.4 tonne payload that includes water, oxygen and propellant. Four tonnes of the propellant will be used to reboost the Station at regular intervals; another 860 kg will be transferred to the Station for attitude and orbit control. ATV will be a separate transfer vehicle with avionics and propulsion capability. Controlled from the ATV Control Centre in Europe, its docking manoeuvres will be coordinated with the Space Station Control Center at Houston and with the Russian control centre near Moscow.

More information and pics at German Aerospace Centre

Lord Boyce - defending the UK military industrial complex and their interests

VT group has its roots in two shipbuilders, Vosper and Thornycroft, who both started out in the late 19th Century. The two companies merged in 1966, and twenty years later Vosper Thornycroft was floated on the London Stock Exchange and later changed it's name to the VT group.

Meet one of our Directors...

In the House of Lords yesterday , Lord Boyce, (one of a quinqumvirate of ex MOD desk warriors) warned those awake that : "We are seriously endangering our people because of the lack of money being given to equip, train and properly support those in the second line preparing to rotate to the frontline. Not least because those units have been robbed of the equipment needed to train on." BBC Online

Lord Boyce, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff for 13 years, is particularly concerned about the state of the Royal Navy. He also accused ministers of being misleading over the amount of money going into the armed forces.

"The smoke and mirrors work of the Government, and in particular the Treasury, actually means that the core defence programme has had no effective budget rise at all," he said.

Atkins is one of the world's leading providers of professional, technologically based consultancy and support services. In the defence and aerospace sector we turnover around £150m per year in supporting the definition and delivery of many of the largest defence and aerospace programmes in the UK.

See Annual report 2004 Page 17 The Board also appointed two new Non-Executive Directors inMay 2004.... Admiral the Lord Boyce has had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence. He brings defence and public sector experience to the Group, as well as considerable international knowledge. Sir Peter Williams has had a very successful career in industry and the academic world. He has extensive involvement in the recruitment of graduates into the engineering professions through his chairmanship of the Engineering and Technology Board.

UKNDA United Kingdom National Defence Association Is an organisation formed to campaign for sufficient, appropriate and fully funded Armed Forces that the United Kingdom needs to defend effectively this Country, its people, their vital interests and security at home and throughout the world.

...and look who is on the top table....

Read press articles following the launch of UKNDA on Thursday 8th November 2007:

BBC - "The battle over forces spending"
BBC - "Ex-chiefs demand more forces cash"
BBC Forums - Is the army under-funded?
Sky News - "Top Brass Want More Cash For Defence"
The Daily Mail - "Leading military figures demand more cash for Armed Forces"
Daily Telegraph - "British forces 'underfunded and over-stretched"
Leigh Journal - "Military chiefs demand more cash"
Channel 4 - "Defence spending boost urged"