Astute gets under way

Astute has begun it's sea trials by heading off to her home port of Faslane. Astute looks quite different to previous Royal Navy SSNs, compare here to the Trafalgar class it will be replacing.

A400M begins final pre-flight checks

Final pre-flight checks are being carried out on the A400M prototype ahead of an expected first flight next month. Engine run-up tests, taxi tests and aborted take-off tests will be carried out over the next few weeks.

Lynx Wildcat makes first flight

The next generation light transport and maritime strike helicopter for the UK the Lynx Wildcat has made it's first flight. ZZ400 took off from AgustaWestland's Yeovil site yesterday, two more test aircraft will join it next year. Entry into service with the Army is 2014 and the Navy 2015.

Astute prepares to go to sea

The first of the new Astute class of nuclear attack submarines is undergoing final checks and preparations before it heads out into the open sea for the first time. Astute will leave Barrow and head to Faslane which will be it's home port when it is a commissioned submarine. The trip will also be the start of sea trials which will last a number of months.

Mantis takes to the air

BAE's Mantis UAV prototype has taken to the air for the first time. The demonstrator, part of a joint BAE/MOD project, took off from the Woomera test range in Australia. Mantis is a "UK alternative" to the Predator/Reaper design and could carry out the reconnaissance and strike roles. The project will built confidence in a UK MALE (medium-altitude, long-endurance) UAS (unmanned aerial system) to use all the current acronyms.

Armistice Day

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 1918 the guns finally were silenced in what was to be the end of the "war to end all wars". Of course it did not prove to be that way, indeed the fighting continued in Eastern Europe for a few years more as the 3 great Central & Eastern European empires collapsed. And in 1939 the world went to war again.

There has scarsily been a period of peace since then, somewhere in the world the guns rumble on. This year the British forces have lost more troops than at any time since the Falklands War. On this day we remember the fallen of the First World War and those who have served and fallen and been affected in conflicts ever since including those left behind to grieve and cope with the aftermath of warfare.

Trafalgar comes to the end

HMS Trafalgar, lead ship of the nuclear attack submarine class, has returned home for the last time following 26 years of service. The boat will now be decommissioned, the first of the class to be so. Trafalgar was the first British submarine to circumnavigate the globe and the first to fire a Tomahawk cruise missile. Much of the ship's company are likely to be assigned to HMS Ambush, one of the Astute class submarines which are replacing the Trafalgar class.