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Old 6th May 2021, 17:31
  #6208 (permalink)  
airsound

 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Bourton-on-the-Water
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After all the negative stuff about the outbound carrier group, how about a spot of positive stuff that doesn't come from WEBF, hmmm? This is from Thin Pinstriped Line. (My bold bits!)

....this is a huge success story for the Royal Navy, which has spent time and money over many decades investing in a range of different projects to ensure that the UK could field a credible carrier strike capability. This isn’t just about the carrier, but the whole picture of ships, escorts, support and all the enablers required to make it happen.

The result is an asset that is truly joint in nature, and which will be of benefit both to all three UK services, but more widely allies too.

Nowhere is this truer than the fact that a core part of the airwing is derived from the presence of 10 US Marine Corps F35 jets, supported by a large contingent of US military personnel onboard. They form an integral part of the ships company and will be embarked throughout the deployment.

This marks the first time in history that a significant US military force has embarked on a foreign vessel in peacetime as an integrated part of a ships airwing for an operational deployment.

Although highly limited ‘cross decking’ has occurred, usually linked to landing/recovery and possible overnight stops, interoperability is far more limited than some people imagine. In fact other than the odd training deployment (such as a small number of French aircraft embarking for maintaining carrier skills, or the occasional south American ‘touch and go’) it is difficult to find any record of this ever occurring before.


Integrated is a quite different concept to that of just landing and taking off. It means that the jets and their crew are part of an integrated weapon system, at the disposal both of the local commander and more senior political decision makers in both nations, to be employed as seen fit.

It means crews embarking as part of the ships company, working seamlessly together as one to plan the mission, arm the aircraft, prepare them for take-off, before conducting a mixed multi-national mission, then recovering to the ship where the aircraft will be serviced by a mixed crew. In other words, the US Marines embarked onboard are an organic part of the ship and are treated as such.

It is difficult to find words to describe adequately just how big a deal this is – it means that the Royal Navy has built an aircraft carrier that the US armed forces feel comfortable embarking a fully worked up squadron of jets on and conducting routine operations off. The level of planning that has gone into this is huge – it means the right IT, the ability to embark different stores, and ensure that any minor national differences on equipment are properly supported.

From a planning perspective it means that the US is prepared to put its most advanced fighter aircraft onto a foreign vessel and let it be employed operationally – meaning full discussion of tactics, ‘sneaky tricks’ and other very sensitive issues around how to not just exercise together but go to war together as a joint force.

This is a big deal – there are no other countries on earth that do this, and it demonstrates a huge level of trust and support between the two nations.

Some will mock this, incorrectly seeing it as the UK somehow being reliant on ‘Uncle Sam’ to bail them out and put planes on decks. Such a view is tediously inaccurate nonsense. The UK F35 force is still building up to strength and deliveries of the initial 48 (with more very likely) and while this is going on, will not always have l8 aircraft available to deploy.

This doesn’t mean we won’t – it just means that for a little bit longer there may be a smaller than expected UK fixed wing presence. Over time, as the UK commitment grows, expect to see the airwings grow and over time there will almost certainly be 20+ jets onboard plus supporting helicopters.
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