enchanced astute
would be very surprised if that was on the radar....never really been talked about and we have had visits from "project successor"...(the people building the subs for vanguard replacements)...
as for the number of ships where do you get 30 from..what brings you to that number..... it all depends completely on what the government want the RN to do...if they continue with a presence in the GULF..whilst maintaining one in the carribean, med, southlant, indian ocean, other NATO and treaty commitments, taking on piracy, protecting UK shipping world wide..
whilst having one on permanent readiness for UK response force/Towed array patrol ship...then you will find that 30 is simply not enough..it is not enough now..hence why they are falling apart...
what do you drop..?
Carribean - counter drugs and stops millions upon millions of £££ worth of drugs getting to the UK
southlant - protects the falklands and now vital energy research/drilling
Med - protect UK shipping (being an island nation, that is quite important)
indian ocean - anti piracy which is really causing the international community to have a big head ache
gulf - other than maintaining a presence..protect (again) UK shipping which there is a massive amount
etc etc etc etc
as for names of the ships....it is all political and goes with the times...
as for saying big carriers are for world players..? are you mental..? carriers (or the aircraft on them) will offer the frigates/destroyers air protection "over the horizon"....you can maybe defend some thing "over the horizon" by only risking a few people and their aircraft rather than a whole warship...
also, they actually count as an "air field"...so would we need as many "RAF bases over seas..? another potential saving...why have one in cyprus AND bahrain...when you can have one that can move between the two...???....again, all part of that thing about protecting british interests as I have mentioned above
edit - to add further to the suggestion of building an "enhanced astute"....it is not as simple as making the astute a few meters longer and throw in 4 (will have to be) vertical tubes...to alter the current design like that would mean building/designing a completely new submarine..the hydrodynamics of the thing would all have to be worked out...like what end do you put the tubes..? how do you compensate for the weight..? in what way will you replace the weight of a launched missile..on a boat that size, launching a missle and not flooding the tube could well send it on its side...then you have the command and control systems of the missile system...they are pretty in depth and take up lots and lots of space....
believe it or not, it does not cost a great deal more to build a bigger submarine..(apparently) as many of the parts in them are cheaper as they are not rebuilt "smaller" and kept the standardised size...again, building missiles for an "enhanced astute"...who will design these..? how much will that cost..? the trials, the testing..you will need to have built the sibmarine before you test the weapons...? all will come in way way over budget...as right now, the system and facilites are all in place for the way we do it.
