Mick Nicholson

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@pegge49 I guess that if we have 12 SSNs only 6 will be operational, or less unless we either invest in the support infrastructure and spares or design them to have shorter lives with fewer refits

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@WTarbiat @JimmySecUK In the later stage, as the warheads descend tthrough the atmosphere, they are surrounded by a plasma that a laser will not penetrate. Lasers may be useful if fired from satellites at targets in their mid course phase.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@BO3673 Much more significant than anything the UK has done, or could do.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@afneil Is there publicly available data on the age and sex of those people arriving in boats?
@darrenpjones

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@thinkdefence Does it really? Do Scots have FOV drones? Do the Ukrainians fire warheads from tubes any more or just use all their mortar warheads on drones instead?

[Oz Katerji @OzKaterji]

I just want to point out that the very same people who have been calling the majority of Syria and indeed the Sunni Arab world “ISIS” after the victory of the Syrian revolution are now wondering why they aren’t drowning in an ocean of sympathy for losing a war they started.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@yabbietol @JAParker29 You cannot get the money back from the US unless Congress votes for it. It would be illegal for DoD or Trump to pay it back (or at least any of it that has already been spent) otherwise. The money is 'Non-refundable' even if the US cancels the deal.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@JAParker29 @FT Couldn't the US get all this, without a fall in USN boat mumbers, if it just supported the Aus-UK SSN programme. The RN and RAN could jointly buy MOTS SSKs to fill the gap after Collins & augment the SSNs (assuming we won't always have to go to the SCS to find PLAN targets).

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@WarshipsIFR 2/2 we will not have the time to fix the designs in the next peer war. UK, IT, GR, US, Japan all had heavyweight torpedoes that didn't work when they started WW2 and it took many months to have a set of basic capabilities. Operationally realistic system testing isn't a luxury.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@WarshipsIFR There have been, in service with adversary forces, manoeuvring supersonic missiles for over 2 decades. T45 and Sea Viper too. So why has it taken so long to do a single test firing? Why is it even permissable?

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@WarshipsIFR 1/2 It's not arguable. The history of weapon systems testing, in the UK and elsewhere, isn't impressive. Just look at the faults in Sea Dart, Sea wolf, ADAWS, Rapier, etc that only emerged during Falklands & should have been found before a war.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@howe13_13 @afneil Because there isn't any such rule.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@TimBrowning @afneil EU countries have similar problems to use when it comes to separation to unsafe countries.

[Geiger Capital @Geiger_Capital]

Holy. Shit.

*MOODY'S DOWNGRADES US CREDIT RATING FOR FIRST TIME IN HISTORY

They project US federal deficits will reach 9% of GDP inside the next decade.

The “Freedom Caucus” and fiscal hawks in Congress just got some big ammunition.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@SSN14CO As a mobile mine how much area can this cover v. a SSK, and at what fraction of the cost. It seems unlikely to have numbers in its favour. But MOD prefer not to do numbers.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@UKDefJournal How is it that this test wasn't done 15 years ago?

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@UKDefJournal This man is a permanent risk and should be detained permanently.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@UKDefJournal Speeding up, or just preventing slowing down deliveries?

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@jcaverley @mercoglianos @IISS_org I am unsettled by the fact that a large proportion of Russia is unreachable by European missiles, while the whole of Europe is within range of Russian missiles.

[Mick Nicholson @MickNicholson9]

@FullFact @BBCr4today You need to be more selective. The report was actually correct, it used the word "potentially" and "suggest". No reader should have been misled that this meant "probably" let alone certainly.