Briefings : Trident costs, Anglo-French Co-op, Gripen-NG

• The UK Treasury is asking the MOD to see if the costs of replacing the UK's strategic nuclear deterrent can come out of the MOD budget and not a separate ring-fenced budget outside of the core MOD budget. Meanwhile the mirage of only buying 3 submarines not 4 has come up again but i thought they found the cost savings were fairly small overall and the loss of flexibility and cover fairly big?
• The UK and France are to launch a study into military co-operation. The two countries will see which competencies can be shared and which cannot. One area of co-operation could be in buying inflight refuelling tankers as both the UK and France plan to buy the A330 based MRTT.
• Sweden will buy the Gripen-NG Saab say though a formal announcement has not yet been made. Saab are confident Gripen will be in Swedish service beyond 2040 and Gripen-NG could be bought before the end of the decade.
• Royal Navy Sea King pilots have been training for their forthcoming deployment to Helmand province in California.