andy97

@509298 That would be my preferred option. Saves us a fortune & they can deal with (or ignore) the international courts as they see fit.

@andy9716 Should we just give it to the Yankee-Doodle-Dandies then?

What exactly do we have defending Diego Garcia at this precise moment? For an article I'm writing obvs ...

@nicholadrummond @Tom_Antonov @MarineNationale @BlickyIan may have experience of French service cuisine, if not the French Navy cuisine.

@Tom_Antonov @MarineNationale I am willing to bet that French submariners eat better than British submariners. Fresh baguettes every 24 hours, decent coffee, and delicious sauces.

Kitchen of the €4 billion French SSBN submarine 'Le Téméraire' in deep underwater. 🇫🇷🍽 📸 by Audrey Agostinelli / @MarineNationale

@509298 Ask the USA, its their base & istr that the UK has only had 5 ship/ sub visits there since 2010 so not a base we need to use & therefore need to defend.

Is this correct? "The British presence is primarily represented by a small detachment of RN personnel who command the base, supported by circa 396 joint-forces military personnel and a larger contingent of civilian contractors (total pax often quoted around 2,400)." No AA wpns?

@canadiancarol1 I will have a pint of whatever you are drinking.

Boris was an honourable man and a great orator. Keir doesn't even come close

@EylonALevy Its an issue but fact that 1 was intercepted and 2&3 led to arrests shows the issues are being mitigated. Meanwhile Russia continues a war in Europe, threatens our infrastructure, conducts cyber-attacks & has killed UK citizens in the UK. Thats the bigger direct threat to UK.

The Iranian regime is a direct threat to Britain. In 24 hours: 1️⃣ Fired two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia 2️⃣ Two spies arrested for entering nuclear submarine base in Scotland 3️⃣ Spies on trial for monitoring synagogues & Jewish schools Still think it’s not your problem?

@gregbagwell Its as if the US didnt learn anything from GW1&2, Libya, Afghanistan

Militarily, the US/Israeli campaign has probably gone as well as they expected, albeit with some notable losses and lessons. But this war will be won or lost politically and economically, and with both teams still on the pitch, those aspects are far from decided.

@NewStatesman …etc. All without acknowledging likely consequences. These were short term decisions taken whilst pretending there was no issue. This isnt “managed”, this is mis-management of UK security by several govts; its dereliction of duty despite evidence of different COA reqd. 2/2.

@NewStatesman Its not “managed decline”, that implies a plan; its chaotic decline. We withdrew Tornado & Harrier before OSD, failed to: order T26 in time to replace T23, invest in support infrastructure & logs to keep things going, respond to Crimea invasion, invest in drone/counter drone..1/2

The Iran war has humiliated the British military Managed decline has become the rule within our armed forces By @edwardstrngr #Echobox=1774053154" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newstatesman.com/politics/2026/…

@mcdermottkc_ No because we have an “opposition” to call the govt to account, a “press” to monitor both & an independent judiciary to make sure the law is applied properly. It has many faults but I wouldnt swap.

Trump would not survive in a UK style parliamentary democracy would he ?

@thinkdefence @afneil Yes, particularly if we go headlong in to the gulf & leave the N Atlantic free for the Russians to play in. They will have a field day.

@afneil My biggest worry is our dependence on subsea interconnects now, a huge risk in the current geopolitical environment

ANDREW NEIL: We’re heading into what could be the greatest energy emergency ever with a bunch of clueless inadequates at the tiller mol.im/a/15665931

@PhilBLiberty @Jethroe111 I will have a pint of whatever you are drinking. The N Atlantic in WW2 was very different to the SoH in 2026, particularly as max number of “attack effectors” (U-Boats) in WW2 was about 120, across large ocean, cf thousands of drones & FIAC in a very small kill box in SoH.

@Jethroe111 First of all thank you for your service. As for securing the strait, it can & will be done. We secured the North Atlantic during WWII. Will it be casualty free, absolutely not. But at some point & soon the region will be secure, oil will flow & prices will drop. #FreeIran‌

I've lived this. Let me tell you where this is going. When I was flying F-18's around the Gulf decades ago, the Strait of Hormuz was first and foremost in planning sessions from Washington to my ready room. And here is what we knew. It could not be secured then. Not truly secured. 100% secured. And that was the key. Today that is more true than ever. The nature of war changed forever in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and got its ass kicked in the first 2 months. Drones and cheap missiles revolutionized warfare, and gave small nations an assymetry in power projection they had never possessed. What should get everyone's attention is the Iranian attack on Lars Raffan, the world's largest LNG processing facility. After 3 weeks of complete air superiority and saturated bombing that "ran out of targets" Iran managed to launch 5 ballistic missiles at that field. The Shahed 131 and 136 drones cost between $10-50k and can be transported in small pieces in a pickup, assembled onsite in hours and launched. Most intercepts on our side cost $4M for the Patriot and up to $12M for the THAAD. And here is something that should get your attention. We will not be able to rebuild our inventories without China's cooperation. Full stop. They have us by the balls due to one thing: Rare Earth minerals, magnets, and most importantly, the refining needed to process them. If this conflict continues things are going to break in the system. Severely break.

@nicholadrummond Agree with description of Iran but bombing a country has never successfully led to regime change. Instead the global economy is screwed & these actions will likely encourage greater terrorism & instability. All likely to cause more damage than Iran prior to this campaign.

🔷Iran has been a leading sponsor of international terrorism for 47 years 🔷Iran has continued with its nuclear weapons program despite all efforts to curtail it 🔷Iran supplied the Taliban with weapons and explosives that killed 450+ British soldiers in Afghanistan 🔷 Iran has directly attacked British bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia and has previously attacked British and American interests through its proxies 🔷 Iran cannot live in peace with its Middle East neighbours and has attacked many of them without provocation, even before the current operation against it 🔷 Iran planned, funded, and facilitated the October 7 attack against Israel, knowing full well that it would precipitate a wider conflict in Gaza and immense human suffering 🔷Iran continues to oppress its own people and regularly executes children under the age of 16 simply for expressing their opinions 🔷 Iran has a totalitarian theocratic regime opposed to the democratic freedoms we take for granted - it doesn’t believe in the rights of the individual 🔷 Iran hates Western values and has consistently tried to undermine us in our own countries through gray zone disinformation campaigns By any reasonable definition under international law, Iran is a rogue state. I don’t approve of the way in which Trump decided to pursue his policy against Iran - without getting prior support from America’s allies - but I am with him all the way for deciding to get rid of the evil and despotic religious maniacs who have made life so miserable for so many. The world will be a safer place. Also, if, as a result of regime change, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and other religions will develop a greater tolerance for each other, this will be a worthwhile secondary outcome. In summary, Trump’s personality and unconventional approach to government are divisive, but on Iran he is right and deserves the full support of Europe.

@Mike_Fabricant So why poke the hornet’s nest?

Let’s not forget the British soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan by IEDs and terrorists built and trained in Iran.

@pinstripedline So glad that we learnt the lessons of 1991 & improved things significantly……oh sh!t! If only we could go back to 1991!

The next thread will focus on operational activity and the overall capability of the fleet - clearly it was more vulnerable than many realised...

The Royal Navy does not have enough ships, submarines and aircraft to do its job. There is a shortfall of skilled people. Operational deployments risk breaking the fleet. This is the blunt assessment of CINCFLEET to the 1st Sea Lord of the state of the Royal Navy in 1991...

@pegge49 @FennellJW They were only built to keep BAe shipyards open to fill gap in orders between T45 & T26. There was never any military reqmt for them. Hence we r “just” using them for defence diplomacy/ patrol. Even if we had more T23s instead, they would not be risked in SoH now.

@FennellJW Well we did end up with the five expensive River B2s, which aren't good for much more than a bit of training and engagement...

Yes the RN has many problems, but none of these can match the apparent utter pointlessness & waste of the LCS program. You truly have to wonder what the crews think, now they've been sent so far away from the littoral zone war they were supposed to have been built & trained for.

@Maks_NAFO_FELLA Putin’s Russia can’t beat Ukraine - a 3-day campaign is now in to its 4th year -if I was Putin I wouldn’t be confident of beating Europe, even if Europe doesn’t have the USAs help.

🫠 Trump said he trusts Putin more than any of the US's European allies. Putin also showed that at this point he is not afraid of Europe or our European allies. Trump said that he very clearly expressed more confidence in Putin than in any of our European allies.

@YouGov @GenGJenkinsRM - this is appalling, what is the RN going to do about it?

Which do you think is the most important branch of the armed forces for UK national security? Royal Air Force: 22% The Army: 21% Royal Navy: 16% Don't know: 41% Results link in replies

@WG_RumblePants With Alan Knott behind the stumps and Derek Underwood holding up the other end. Great times.

John Snow seems to be England’s great forgotten strike bowler. He played 49 Tests between 1965 and 1976, taking 202 wickets at an average of 26.66 and economy rate of 2.68. In his 4 series against Australia, Snow was the leading England wicket-taker 3 times, and at home in 1968, he was 2nd. EW Swanton wrote that he “had not seen an Englishman bowl either faster or better than Snow at Sydney since Tyson”. Perhaps his career and achievements deserve a bit more recognition?

@Osint613 Is this the war for which the justification keeps changing & has not been tested by Congress or the UN? & which is on-going despite us all being told it has been “won”; the war for which the US’s own Director of Counter Terrorism said “no imminent threat”, that war?

JUST IN 🔴 Trump: Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER! They didn't want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don't want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER! President DONALD J. TRUMP

@FennellJW @fharris2011 Do we know that the radar is fine? I understood that it had not switched on in the first airframe yet?

@fharris2011 So the radar is fine, but all the gubbins to connect it up (in simple terms) had to be new and tested and certified from scratch, as did the airframes (which had been expected to come with airworthiness certification).

To be clear the 'obsolescence' was in the Australian original which had to be updated and re-certified for the RAF versions, leading to delays which have been compounded by Boeing's problems with 737, needing yet more re-certification of airframes.