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Slowly but surely.

DATE:24/11/08
SOURCE:Flight International

quote:

UK prepares for carrier operations with JSF
By Craig Hoyle


The UK is making significant advances in its preparations for carrierborne operations with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and expects to sign a contract by late February to acquire three aircraft to support test and evaluation of the type.

Partners to the US-led JSF project have until 28 February to commit funds to buy aircraft for use by a joint test team during initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) activities, with the Netherlands and the UK expected to acquire low-rate initial production examples.

The UK government is due to make a decision on its IOT&E investment before year-end, and should sign...

...To be assigned to Royal Air Force and RN squadrons as a replacement for the BAE Systems Harrier GR9/9A, the JCA will provide the strike force for the navy's two future aircraft carriers (CVF), the first steel for which will be cut in early 2009. With a displacement of 65,000t, each CVF vessel will be capable of deploying an air wing of up to 40 aircraft, including 36 JCA.

Eurofighter programme officials have recently hinted at possible UK interest in a marinised variant of the RAF's Typhoon multirole strike aircraft, but Air Cdre Mark Green, JCA team leader for the UK Defence Equipment and Support organisation, notes: "We know how to do STOVL operations in the UK." However, he adds that the UK's commitment to the F-35B "will not be set in stone until we buy fleet aircraft".

Preparations for UK operations of the CVF/JCA combination are moving fast, with the RN's 22,500t carrier HMS Illustrious now hosting advanced trials of Qinetiq's VAAC Harrier testbed. The aircraft is testing a shipborne rolling vertical landing technique, being considered by the UK to boost the bring-back capabilities of its F-35Bs. This work, conducted in addition to extensive simulator-based trials, is expected to report around March 2009.

Synthetic-based exercises using data for the CVF are also continuing at Qinetiq's Maritime Integration Support Centre (MISC) in Portsmouth, Hampshire, with these intended to prove future concepts of operation and de-risk carrier design activities. The vessels - the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales - will enter service in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

An 11-day visualisation and experimentation exercise concluded at the MISC on 13 November. This tested the CVF's ability to sustain JCA operations in a simulated campaign to prevent conflict between two rival nations. Between eight and 12 aircraft sorties were performed each day, using real F-35 programme software. Smaller-scale events have been conducted since mid-2005.

The MISC housed a representative flying control room (below) to manage the movement of aircraft, with additional elements including air traffic control. Some 23 uniformed personnel supported the exercise, along with up to 60 engineers from BAE Systems Insyte, Qinetiq and over 20 small and medium-sized enterprises.




"We need to get people in front of the equipment that they will actually use to see how that information flows around," says Cdr Simon Pe****, carrier mission system lead for the Ministry of Defence. "We can de-risk applications by trialling early, and the concept of operations is maturing," he adds.

"Our goal was to validate the CVF's ability to support JCA operations," says Peter Craig, mission system visualisation experimentation lead for the Aircraft Carrier Alliance. While a full analysis will take several month...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Enssantor,

Just more progress:

quote:

DATE:16/02/09
SOURCE:Flight International

UK to sign for first F-35 Joint Strike Fighters 'within weeks'
By Craig Hoyle

The UK is expected to sign a deal "within the next few weeks" to participate in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) phase, says minister for defence equipment and support Quentin Davies.

Davies and representatives from the UK Ministry of Defence's Joint Combat Aircraft integrated project team visited Lockheed's Fort Worth manufacturing site in Texas in February. During the visit they held discussions with officials from the company and the US armed services.

Topics covered in the talks spanned issues such as operational sovereignty, in-service support, the integration of UK-specific equipment and programme costs, says Davies, who adds that the visit "helped answer some questions".

The minister told a launch event for the UK Royal Navy's "Fly Navy 100" celebrations in London on 16 February that he believes the programme is "well under control, and there are already indications...

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: IrishGuard,

Another update from the TELEGRAPH:

The UK may be getting the F35C instead of the F35B for its new Queen Elizabeth class carriers/CVFs being built.

quote:

Defence jobs at risk as MoD drops jump jet fighter engine
Up to 750 British defence manufacturing jobs are at risk as the Ministry of Defence is expected to announce it will drop a Rolls Royce fighter engine in favour of a cheaper American alternative.
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Published: 8:58PM BST 05 Aug 2009

The decision is expected to cost the leading British engine manufacturer up to £5 billion in lost orders over the coming decade and will be a blow to its Bristol-based workforce.
It will come as an embarrassment for the Government after Lord Mandelson made an announcement last month at the Rolls Royce headquarters in Derby that the company was "among the best in UK manufacturing".

In a significant about turn the MoD has indicated that it will ditch the jump-jet version of Joint Strike Fighter in favour of the conventional model, as the planes for its two new aircraft carriers.The Daily Telegraph has learnt from senior defence officials that an announcement will be made this autumn.
The move, welcomed by many defence analysts and the Royal Navy, will mean that the MoD has wasted £500 million of taxpayers' money paid to Rolls Royce to develop the highly complex engine to allow vertical take-off similar to the Harrier jump jet.
A domestic row is also brewing as Rolls Royce was not widely consulted on the forthcoming decision. The company said it regarded the story as "speculation" and would not comment any further.
But the company faces job losses with up to £5 billion in lost revenue in engine sales if the MoD rejects the "B" version of JSF fighters and goes for the "CV" conventional model which takes off from an aircraft carrier runway.
The decision will also have a significant impact on relations with Washington because it will increase the price of the 350 US Marine Corps jump-jet fighters that have been ordered, forcing the US military to ask for money from Congress.
The about-turn will also mean that the first of two 65,000 tonne carriers under construction, HMS Queen Elizabeth, will have to be redesigned with cost penalties. It is possible the recent £1 billion rise to £5 billion for the carriers might by partly attributable to the change of plan.

(...)

The decision also comes with some risk as the Navy will be reliant on the Americans developing a new electro-magnetic catapult to launch the fighters off the carrier.
"This is a real risk because the new catapult design is a major undertaking. It is not just a widget," said a defence aviation source. "If it breaks then the planes can't fly and the carrier is useless.
"Also the UK has no serving experts in this area of carrier flying so it's a real step in the dark."
In an official statement the MoD said: "To maximise the flexibility that the carriers will offer over their service life, they are being built to an adaptable design that can operate both Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) and Carrier Variant (CV) type aircraft."
It added that the STOVL or "B" variant of the JSF remains "our prefered solution".

From the SHIPPING TIMES:

quote:

Build programme 'well under way'...

UK Carrier build gains momentum

The Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) is forging ahead on the Queen Elizabeth (QE) Class, having recently made contract awards worth £325 million that will drive momentum into the ongoing build of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

On 14 January, Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy MP visited Govan to welcome the contracts which have been placed in Scotland. Following the visit, he said:
(...)

The award of these contracts by the Alliance is a clear indication of the progress that is being made on the QE Class programme and the momentum achieved in 2009. In total, the Alliance is expected to award around £1.5 billion of contracts across the programme.
(...)

Pics of the ship's bulbous bow being put together at the A&P Tyne yard before they were transported to Portsmouth.

From the SHIELD GAZETTE:

From the MoD website:

Pic of the new carrier's bow before it leaves on a barge on its trip from Devon to Rosyth for merging with other parts of the hull.

U.K. Carrier Effort Could Be In for More Changes

DefenseNews
July 6, 2011

LONDON - The Royal Navy's aircraft carrier program could fall victim to further changes if the Ministry of Defence fails to balance its books in the near term, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO).


A conceptualization of the Queen Elizabeth-class carrier. (U.K. Ministry of Defence)

"We are worried that the continuing difficulties the MoD is facing in balancing its budget leave carrier strike vulnerable to further changes in strategic direction as a result of broader corporate decisions taken to address this generic problem," the government financial watchdog said in a report to be released July 7.

The MoD is concluding a three-month review aimed at balancing military capabilities against priorities. The review, which follows last year's strategic defense and security review, is expected to lead to announcements of new cuts.

The carrier project has been subject to numerous reviews, first by the Labour and now the coalition government, which has added time and cost to a project first mooted by the strategic defense review of 1998.

In last year's review, the government looked at canceling the carrier program, the NAO report said. Canceling both vessels would have saved 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) even after it had paid out 2.4 billion pounds to shipbuilder BAE Systems under business agreements signed by the previous Labour administration.

Yet canceling the program without replacing it with other work would have triggered the collapse of the British warship building industry.

Although the "Department considered cancellation, which was feasible and offered significant medium-term savings, it concluded that this would be unaffordable in the short-term," the report said.

One option looked at by the National Security Council, the high-level body which made the final decisions on the defense review, was to provide BAE with alternative work by building two additional Type 45 destroyers, the report shows.

Instead, the government decided to continue building both carriers. But only one will be fitted with the catapults and arrestor wires required to launch the F-35C version of the Joint Strike Fighter. The British were previously on track to buy the F-35 B STOVL version.

Redesign work and complicated new gear will add up to 1.2 billion pounds to the cost of the operational carrier, which is now estimated at 6.2 billion pounds. In 2007, total cost per carrier was estimated at 3.65 billion pounds.

'Secondary Priority'

The carrier program was reckoned by military chiefs outside the Navy to be a "secondary priority" to retaining amphibious capabilities or making significant further inroads in destroyer and frigate numbers, said the report.

All three naval capabilities suffered cutbacks as the government opted for a 7.5 percent cut in defense spending over four years, as well as moving to address a 38 billion-pound black hole in unfunded liabilities over the next decade left by the previous Labour administration.

The NAO said that equates to about a 20 percent reduction in defense spending in the period to March 2015. If funding is not increased in real terms after 2015, as government ministers have said is their intention, the "department will have to make difficult judgments about which capabilities it will need to scale back or forgo completely," the report said.

The carrier's susceptibility to the MoD's deep budgetary problems was just one of the risks highlighted by the NAO report into whether the warship program is value for money.

In particular, the report said it was "deeply concerned" that changes to the program as a result of the government's strategic defense and security review had introduced more technical, cost and schedule uncertainty.

Previously, the Queen Elizabeth-class warship program had been a relatively mature project with understood risks and funded mitigation plans, said the NAO.

The report went on to raise doubts about the way the British intend to operate the 65,000-ton aircraft carrier and said there are "major risks" in reconstituting capabilities around 2020 because naval air strike operations were axed as part of the defense review.

Michael Whitehouse, the NAO's chief operating officer, said the defense review had radically changed the Royal Navy's carrier strike concept.

"It generated 3.4 billion pounds in savings but introduced significant levels of operational, technical, cost and schedule uncertainty. It will take two years for the MoD to reach a mature understanding of the consequences of the decision," he said.

Those savings include ditching the Harrier and the associated Invincible-class carrier force, which will save 999 million pounds over four years; changes to the timing of F-35C aircraft will save a further 624 million pounds in the same period.

"The risks to the delivery of the new carriers are compounded by more generic problems with defense acquisition - notably the MoD's continuing difficulties in balancing its budgets," said Whitehouse.

What happens to the other carrier will be decided after the next defense review in 2015.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox defended the decision to put one warship into extended readiness and operate the other.

"We inherited a massive defense deficit, which included a carrier project that was already 1.6 billion pounds over budget. The defense review put this program back on track and delivered 3.4 billion pounds of overall savings to carrier strike," Fox said. "The NAO has noted that our decision to build the second new aircraft carrier makes financial sense, supports U.K. industry and the significant cost and capability advantages of the aircraft we now plan to fly from it."

Other key points revealed by the NAO report include:

Switching to the F-35C will allow the government to use the aircraft to fill the gap left by a July 2010 decision to delete 1 billion pounds in funding from its program to provide a deep and persistent offensive capability in the post Tornado era.

Only 12 F-35Cs will be deployed initially, reducing the daily sortie rate to 20 compared with the original requirement for 36 aircraft to generate 72 sorties.

Having only one carrier will reduce time at sea to five years in seven, or about 150 to 200 days compared with 435 days with two carriers.

The carrier strike capability will not be operational until late 2020. The first of class, which will not be equipped with the equipment to launch and recover aircraft, could be used to derisk technology.

Britain has opted to investigate the U.S. electromagnetic aircraft launch system rather than steam and will make a final investment decision next year.

Construction by a BAE-led alliance is progressing well and achieved 48 of 53 milestones in 2010-11 on time.

The F-35C was consistently the more capable and cheaper to operate aircraft. The STOVL variant was selected for wider political, military and industrial reasons.

MoD is planning to use the carrier to deploy aircraft and a broad range of operations, including a Royal Marine Commando Group or Special Forces squadron in what it calls Carrier Enabled Power Projection. The NAO says the carrier doesn't have the full range of capabilities to do this without assistance from other vessels.