Will news regarding the Harrier sale ever be released officially by MOD? Is the US really getting a bargain? Are we receiving anything in return - perhaps to help fill the shortfall in maritime force projection capability?
Originally Posted by foldingwings
Same outcry when Bucc/Phantom Ops ceased but it didn't stop the Harrier/SHAR success from carriers in subsequent years. It will be the same again when the wheel spins back to the position the FAA were in in the 70s (when they relied on RAF crews to sustain their fixed wing capability).
Quite a big difference though. The old
Ark and her Phantoms and Buccs left RN service in 1978, but the RN was back in the fixed wing game within two years with
Invincible and Sea Harrier. And it was going from cat/trap operations to simpler STOVL operations. This time there is going to be a gap of at least nine years, with far more of an issue with losing experienced personnel, and we are going from STOVL to nothing for a decade then to cats/traps.
The 1970s run down of the FAA was a major cause of loss of aviation related knowledge and expertise in the wider RN.
Originally Posted by Engines
Getting to an embarked F-35 capability will be huge challenge for the people now in harness, best of luck to them all.
Absolutely - which is why I think continued embarkations of US/Italian/Spanish Harriers will help, after all only a finite number of people can be sent on exchange.
But apart from the issue of skills and preparing for the future - what happens in the crises of this decade? What if we find ourselves in a situation where we really do need carrier aviation? What fallback is there? SDSR did not foresee Libya, and NATO succeeded largely by luck. I would hope that the contribution made by shipborne aircraft is pointed out to politicians. Where is next?
I can remember the 1990s, when the carriers seemed to be in continual demand, with deployments to the Adriatic and several to the Middle East in responses to crises, and finally a return to the Adriatic during the Kosovo campaign. Then Sierra Leone in 2000, where
Illustrious had to wait for the slower
Ocean to catch up. Will THIS decade be more like 1990-2000, or more like 2000-2010 (land based conflicts against a non state opponent)?
Dangerous times ahead - dangerous times in which to have this capability gap. The UK has an unfortunate track record of disposing of things and then finding out the hard way they we still need them.