Royal Navy reveal visions of future fleet

[NutLoose]

https://news.sky.com/story/royal-navy-unveils-vision-of-the-autonomous-fleet-of-the-future-12406388

The Royal Navy has unveiled a vision of what the British fleet could look like in the future, including an enormous flying drone station based in the stratosphere Their concept for the flying drone station has it attached to an enormous helium balloon sitting in the upper stratosphere, which the proposal suggests could be covered in material that would collect solar energy for powe

All very good, but should that not be an RAF facility? ;)



https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1124/image_9881d8726dc5ebb89612d1aa25e83857dc614f98.jpeg

[HAS59]

Gerry Anderson died in 2012 - it seems as if his ghost lives on.

[ORAC]

Captain Scarlet surely?

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/500x335/image_0fb2a0f39c1f6bf985d1f58edceebc85cb7ed119.jpeg

[Just This Once...]

Seems like the RN addiction when it comes to the Strategic and Operational Air environment still has them diluting their responsibilities for a trained, sustained and capable surface and sub-surface capability.

This may seem a bit comical from the Army and RAF perspective but it does real damage to the Maritime environment. At what point did the RN decide the sea was either too boring or just too difficult to make it their reason for getting out of bed every morning?

At this rate we will soon see the Army unleashing a Maritime vision for themselves to backfill the capabilities repeatedly overlooked by the RN.

[andytug]

That just looks like another extremely large and vulnerable target to me......one pop and it's gone.

[Davef68]

The 'sky carrier' has been such a trope of SciFi for so long (Marvel in many iterations, Gerry Anderson, Doctor Who etc) that it was inevitable someone would come up with a real-world proposal. I suppose we can laugh, but sometimes this type of blue sky thinking can lead to practical solutions. Sometimes.

[charliegolf]

Are we certain this isn't Sharkey telling the RN how its vision ought to be?

CG

[treadigraph]

Couldn't the balloon, er Drone Station, just launch some lightweight suicide drones at the target (or missiles if you like)? It all seems a bit like over thinking the problem to me...

[dctyke]

Couldn't the balloon, er Drone Station, just launch some lightweight suicide drones at the target (or missiles if you like)? It all seems a bit like over thinking the problem to me...

In the future the most devastating will be launched from the back of a transit van!

[Asturias56]

"Seems like the RN addiction when it comes to the Strategic and Operational Air environment still has them diluting their responsibilities for a trained, sustained and capable surface and sub-surface capability."


No money for that but you can get a graphic artist for washers these days and a few beers for the ideas session don't cost a lot either

Heaven forfend someone would be looking at fitting modern surface to surface missiles to the escort fleet

[Timelord]

Has someone from Project Astra defected to the Navy?

[Not_a_boffin]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/royal-navy-outlines-future-vision

Here's the origin of it. It's basically an industry cadre of newbie graduates who are given free reign to come up with ideas in an unconstrained stylee. Some of us old farts tend to add that it's unconstrained by any sort of engineering basis or feasibility but that's being a little churlish.

They have previous.....

https://www.ship-technology.com/features/featurewarships-of-the-future-how-will-the-royal-navy-sail-in-2050-4718658/

No procurement money or programmes were harmed in the making of this concept......

[FODPlod]

Perish the thought that the Royal Navy should task some bright young engineering students to apply a bit of blue sky thinking to the exploitation of sunrise technology to meet our future requirements instead of snoozing fat, dumb and happy with the status quo.

P.S. The Royal Navy ordered its first airship (HMA No.1) in 1909 although the first to fly was HMA No.2, purchased in 1912.
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/34378

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willows_airships#Willows_No._4_-_His_Majesty's_Naval_Airship_No._2

[chopper2004]

https://news.sky.com/story/royal-navy-unveils-vision-of-the-autonomous-fleet-of-the-future-12406388



All very good, but should that not be an RAF facility? ;)



https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1124/image_9881d8726dc5ebb89612d1aa25e83857dc614f98.jpeg


Frankie‘s outpost old school reconnaissance so says Sky Captain

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/220x324/6e4c538c_da3e_4452_9ea8_5be70979cb2f_f7900907d017dd7106ab64e 9095dc575c6cc0127.jpeg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JcBO7o8QlnQ

[Just This Once...]

No procurement money or programmes were harmed in the making of this concept......

Well someone thinks it was worth endorsing:

...and reflects how the Royal Navy is thinking too," added the Royal Navy's second most senior officer.

Vice Admiral Nick Hine

[ORAC]

Doesn’t matter who wrote it, or what their brief was - the RN oiblished it with their name on it and no caveats…

[Union Jack]

Perish the thought that the Royal Navy should task some bright young engineering students to apply a bit of blue sky thinking to the exploitation of sunrise technology to meet our future requirements instead of snoozing fat, dumb and happy with the status quo.

P.S. The Royal Navy ordered its first airship (HMA No.1) in 1909 although the first to fly was HMA No.2, purchased in 1912.
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/34378

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willows_airships#Willows_No._4_-_His_Majesty's_Naval_Airship_No._2




In summary, "Fly Navy, Sail Army, Eat Crab"?

Jack
​​​​​​​

[FODPlod]

Doesn’t matter who wrote it, or what their brief was - the RN oiblished it with their name on it and no caveats…
Fash ye not.

Despite your fears, I suspect this was one of the more outlandish of several of the group’s flights of fancy and that, irrespective of the good Admiral’s words, the Royal Navy isn’t QUITE ready to place any orders based on it without staffing and submitting the usual threat assessments, capability definition studies, identification of key user requirements, feasibility studies, fleet trials, cost & operational effectiveness investment appraisals, balance of investment studies, pain & grief statements, concept of operations, etc.

Or are you sufficiently naïve to believe it’s already cut and dried as RN procurement policy?

[ORAC]

Well, as previously said, and as demonstrated repeatedly, they do have this thing for chasing air power at the expense of the surface and sub-surface fleet…. Even if it’s just at the level of utilising the time and efforts if their youngest and brightest.

[Asturias56]

" the Royal Navy isn’t QUITE ready to place any orders based on it without staffing and submitting the usual threat assessments, capability definition studies, identification of key user requirements, feasibility studies, fleet trials, cost & operational effectiveness investment appraisals, balance of investment studies, pain & grief statements, concept of operations, etc."


Ahh thanks for that - makes sense - its a cunning scheme to keep people busy behind their desks for the next 10 years !!

[Not_a_boffin]

Well, as previously said, and as demonstrated repeatedly, they do have this thing for chasing air power at the expense of the surface and sub-surface fleet…. Even if it’s just at the level of utilising the time and efforts if their youngest and brightest.

Demonstrated repeatedly? Evidence please.
Chasing air power? Despite the pretensions of the 103 year experiment, the RN has always embraced airpower since inception, understands its value and wants to ensure that it is available when required.
Expense of surface and sub-surface fleets? A cursory examination of budgets shows you where the money actually goes....

[Not_a_boffin]

" the Royal Navy isn’t QUITE ready to place any orders based on it without staffing and submitting the usual threat assessments, capability definition studies, identification of key user requirements, feasibility studies, fleet trials, cost & operational effectiveness investment appraisals, balance of investment studies, pain & grief statements, concept of operations, etc."


Ahh thanks for that - makes sense - its a cunning scheme to keep people busy behind their desks for the next 10 years !!

You might have noticed that there's been a bonfire of staff billets in NCHQ over the last couple of years. This isn't a back door attempt to recreate them!

[FODPlod]

A more realistic, less sensationalised version of the conceptual thinking:

The future of the Royal Navy and how it could further embrace autonomous technology, including drones, has been unveiled. Led by a design challenge for young engineers from UK Naval Engineering Science and Technology (UKNEST), the Royal Navy will develop a Future Autonomous Fleet programme that could shape how it operates over the next 50 years…

Although in the conceptual phase, the Royal Navy is on track to implement one of these futuristic visions into reality over the coming decade – The Persistent Operational Deployment Systems (PODS). PODS are interchangeable modules that can be fitted to the surface fleet. Similar in design to a shipping container, the PODS create the idea of a ‘plug and play’ warship and will enable Royal Navy ships of all sizes to be more adaptable and versatile when deployed. Delivered using innovative technology such as heavy-lift drones or autonomous boats, a ship will be able to receive the equipment it needs to be re-tasked quicker without the need to go into a port to collect it…

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2021/september/12/210912-royal-navy-outlines-future-vision

[tucumseh]

Sounds like Thunderbird 2.

[Deltasierra010]

SciFi pie in the sky, a helium balloon would be far too vulnerable to attack, in the same way large surface ships would also be very difficulty to defend from a determined large scale attack. Very few ships have been sunk by enemy action since WW2, those that were showed how vulnerable they are to modern missiles.
Underwater craft deploying drones are much more likely to effective both in deterrent as well as attack.

[FODPlod]

A bit more meat on the bones:
DSEI – When is a box Not a box? The need to think differently (https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2021/september/15/20210914-dsei-when-is-a-box-not-a-box)

[NutLoose]

I am delighted that we are getting after this: we have launched the 1SL Fellowship to deepen our critical thinking across all our workforce; we have established the Percy Hobart Fellowship to promote digital innovation throughout all levels of the Service; we are about to commence the updated junior staff course that promotes critical-thinking and business skills; we have opened recruitment to consider personnel on the Autistic Spectrum; and we are building a tool to capture the hidden skills of our people – a true digital profile. Small steps in refreshing our approach and harnessing the talent of all our people.

What an excellent choice of name for the Fellowship, for those that do not know Percy Hobart was the innovator who developed the funnies used during the landings on DDay.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-funny-tanks-of-d-day

One other thing in the paragraph that caught my eye was looking at recruiting people with Autism.