Select committe Carriers
The patience of the witnesses in the face of quite staggering ignorance is commendable.
"4 rails are different to 2 rails", err yes......
NAO. Staffing 5 versions of the report in 7 days, if I heard correctly.
The chairman seems unaware that the witnesses know their stuff and in relative terms the NAO haven't got a clue.
"4 rails are different to 2 rails", err yes......
NAO. Staffing 5 versions of the report in 7 days, if I heard correctly.
The chairman seems unaware that the witnesses know their stuff and in relative terms the NAO haven't got a clue.
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Staggering
The lack of knowledge and basic intelligence from the chairwoman and other members of this committee is amazing!
Honestly if I was in any position of power to decide who goes on this committee, she would be removed immediately. She is not fit for her role.
She proved countless times that she did not read the NAO report fully, and the parts that she read she did not understand. The confusion of the meaning of para 24. in the first 15 mins is outstanding.
I am shocked that someone who obviously has had no chairing and questioning training (or did not retain any of it) and displaying total failure of creating any sort of cognitive reasoning can be in her position so openly.
So glad I indirectly work for those buffoons........
Honestly if I was in any position of power to decide who goes on this committee, she would be removed immediately. She is not fit for her role.
She proved countless times that she did not read the NAO report fully, and the parts that she read she did not understand. The confusion of the meaning of para 24. in the first 15 mins is outstanding.
I am shocked that someone who obviously has had no chairing and questioning training (or did not retain any of it) and displaying total failure of creating any sort of cognitive reasoning can be in her position so openly.
So glad I indirectly work for those buffoons........
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I did not mean those two. They did reasonably well attempting to answer stupid and inane questions from an ignorant and aggressive committee.
Adm Hussain could have sair (re the number of catapults)...."UK is buying the 2 door version of the EMALS car whereas the USN are buying the 4 door, otherwise they are identical"
Adm Hussain could have sair (re the number of catapults)...."UK is buying the 2 door version of the EMALS car whereas the USN are buying the 4 door, otherwise they are identical"
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Bismark.... are you sure you watched, the same programme as me???? Hussain hadnt got a scooby doo, what he was on about, Sir Ian Mcintosh, and Ted Anson, and the like, would be ashamed of his lack of knowledge on all things FAA ... ps and we will have 6 aircraft in 2020 as well
Just listened to a bit more
"If we buy CV later, the unit price goes down"
"How does that work?"
Shine a bl**dy light.
They should have stood up, stated that the chairpersons ignorance was too embarassing to be televised any longer, and walked out.
"If we buy CV later, the unit price goes down"
"How does that work?"
Shine a bl**dy light.
They should have stood up, stated that the chairpersons ignorance was too embarassing to be televised any longer, and walked out.
With President Barack Hussein Obama, perhaps your chaps should get the downgraded export software as well? 
Bismark raises an interesting point - the PAC has a certain reputation amongst the media as being thorough and authoritative. The problem is that a perusal of the evidence sessions for their investigation into the carrier and prior to that Typhoon are pretty alarming in displaying something of a lack of grip of the subject matter, as well as a tendency to decide that the witness (the supposed expert) must be wrong if their evidence doesn't fit the understanding (such as it is) of committee members, even if that evidence appears to have been drawn from a Guardian report based upon someone's posting here on Pprune...
Bismark raises an interesting point - the PAC has a certain reputation amongst the media as being thorough and authoritative. The problem is that a perusal of the evidence sessions for their investigation into the carrier and prior to that Typhoon are pretty alarming in displaying something of a lack of grip of the subject matter, as well as a tendency to decide that the witness (the supposed expert) must be wrong if their evidence doesn't fit the understanding (such as it is) of committee members, even if that evidence appears to have been drawn from a Guardian report based upon someone's posting here on Pprune...
Originally Posted by david parry
Bismark.... are you sure you watched, the same programme as me???? Hussain hadnt got a scooby doo, what he was on about, Sir Ian Mcintosh, and Ted Anson, and the like, would be ashamed of his lack of knowledge on all things FAA ... ps and we will have 6 aircraft in 2020 as well
I thought he answered the overbearing Margaret Hodge's questions (didn't she like the sound of her own voice?) with extraordinary patience and candour. When she demanded absolute answers to simplistic questions, he didn't try to BS but admitted where further study was needed to assess relative risks and make the appropriate decisions. As he remarked, the CVF project is as complex as the organisation of the 2012 Olympics but it was like watching someone trying to explain Einstein's theory of relativity to a difficult five-year old.
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His Lordship, when asked about cat/traps...Quote if Emals dont work, we will install steam!!!! ( not bad for a carrier that was having none of the above at launch being VSTOL) and asked about the 150 day operational sea time, and cover, Quote it can be extended in an emergency to 2years!!!! 6 aircraft in 2020 rising to a squadron of 12 . Then to 200 in 17 yrs time iirc. So not only has he good engineering skills PLOD. But he is a master mariner as well 
Dont suppose we will see his 2 balls flying from the carrier for 2 years
Dont suppose we will see his 2 balls flying from the carrier for 2 years
His Lordship, when asked about cat/traps...Quote if Emals dont work, we will install steam!!!! ( not bad for a carrier that was having none of the above at launch being VSTOL) and asked about the 150 day operational sea time, and cover, Quote it can be extended in an emergency to 2years!!!! 6 aircraft in 2020 rising to a squadron of 12 . Then to 200 in 17 yrs time iirc. So not only has he good engineering skills PLOD. But he is a master mariner as well Dont suppose we will see his 2 balls flying from the carrier for 2 years
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if Emals dont work, we will install steam
The low build up of JCA is purely down to the funding profile - decided by Ministers - how long will it take to get to Typhoon full strength?
How many scenarios will require a fully loaded CVF? Not often is the answer.
As Adm Hussein says, the planning figure for CVF is 150-ish days per year. If the OP goes on longer I am sure she will stay deplyed as long as required, and anyway we will have 2 fully booted with Cats by 2025.
Hussein's hesitancy was due mainly to his disbelief at the idiocy of the committee.
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Bismark, I agree.
I watched the programme end to end, and couldn't believe the inane performance of Mrs Hodge and some others in her committee. My wife (who knows only that aircraft generally have two wings, and that a carrier is something that floats) readily grasped the "4 rails are different to 2 rails" rationale.
A performance akin to similar inadequacies frequently displayed by Cameron and his team.
And the only thing that the MoD Finance Director lacked was his fag-packet!
I watched the programme end to end, and couldn't believe the inane performance of Mrs Hodge and some others in her committee. My wife (who knows only that aircraft generally have two wings, and that a carrier is something that floats) readily grasped the "4 rails are different to 2 rails" rationale.
A performance akin to similar inadequacies frequently displayed by Cameron and his team.
And the only thing that the MoD Finance Director lacked was his fag-packet!
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And the only thing that the MoD Finance Director lacked was his fag-packet!
The Chairwoman demanded absolute answers to simplistic questions in the manner of "How long is a piece of string?" and the Admiral provided suitably qualified answers (although most of his qualifications were cut short because she didn't understand them):
His Lordship, when asked about cat/traps...Quote if Emals dont work, we will install steam!!!! ( not bad for a carrier that was having none of the above at launch being VSTOL)...
The possible requirement to install cats and traps was taken into account from the start of the CVF project (link), even if it was only the provision of adequate space in the drawings. As Admiral Hussain pointed out several times during the hearing, EMALS has already performed many successful launches ashore during extensive trials in the States:
June 8-9/11: EMALS performs 18 launches of a VX-20 Sqn. C-2A Greyhound cargo delivery aircraft, over a wide range of aircraft weights. The C-2 is also the E-2 Hawkeye AWACS plane’s base airframe. US NAVAIR.
June 1-2/11: EMALS takes a new step by launching a T-45C Goshawk jet from the NAVAIR Lakehurst, NJ test site. VX-23 Sqn. made 12 successful launches with the Goshawk over this period, as part of on-going aircraft compatibility testing. US NAVAIR.
Dec 18/10: The EMALS test catapult at Naval Air Systems Command in Lakehurst, NJ successfully performs the 1st electro-magnetic aircraft catapult launch. The F/A-18E Super Hornet from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23) was piloted by Lt. Daniel Radocaj. Chief Petty Officer Brandon Barr of NAWCAD’s Test Department was the “shooter,” assisted by Petty Officers 1st Class Hunsaker and Robinson, and Petty Officers 2nd Class Williams, Wong, and Simmons.
However, if it "dont work", then steam is indeed the only viable alternative to power the cats. But as the Admiral said, installing the necessary boiler(s) and associated equipment (for which CVF has more than enough space) would be more intrusive than fitting EMALS as they will have to go deep inside the bowels of the ship with all the extra risk, hassle and expense entailed. He also pointed out that steam technology would rapidly become obsolete compared to EMALS, hence more difficult and expensive to support. When she heard that the US carriers would be fitted with four rails as opposed to two in the QE Class, the Chairwoman took great delight in declaring that the systems were therefore "different" so the RN 'version' would carry more risk. As Bismark has already pointed out, this is just the difference between a car having four doors or two doors. The Chairwoman also seemed oblivious to the (good) implications for risk of EMALS being fitted in the US Navy's Gerald Ford Class carriers before it is fitted in the QE Class.
...and asked about the 150 day operational sea time, and cover, Quote it can be extended in an emergency to 2years!!!!
Perfectly true. While operational availability is planned at 150 days per year, this is a constraint imposed more by the people on board and other factors than the ship itself. Commercial ships certainly don't need docking or major maintenance inside periods of less than two years, nor should the QE Class. Main engines have even been replaced on board CVS in mid-Atlantic.
6 aircraft in 2020 rising to a squadron of 12 . Then to 200 in 17 yrs time iirc.
That's the situation with which he has been landed owing to decisions made by others. He has had no choice in the number or type of aircraft being acquired. He just has to make sure they have a suitable platform from which to operate although this is still a difficult enough proposition when so many questions remain to be answered.
So not only has he good engineering skills PLOD. But he is a master mariner as well
Dont suppose we will see his 2 balls flying from the carrier for 2 years
As an engineer, Admiral Hussain is unlikely to be flying his flag from anything afloat soon. However, nothing is as black or white as you suggest or the Chairwoman of the PAC wants to believe.
Originally Posted by david parry
His Lordship, when asked about cat/traps...Quote if Emals dont work, we will install steam!!!! ( not bad for a carrier that was having none of the above at launch being VSTOL)...
Originally Posted by Defense Industry Daily
June 8-9/11: EMALS performs 18 launches of a VX-20 Sqn. C-2A Greyhound cargo delivery aircraft, over a wide range of aircraft weights. The C-2 is also the E-2 Hawkeye AWACS plane’s base airframe. US NAVAIR.
June 1-2/11: EMALS takes a new step by launching a T-45C Goshawk jet from the NAVAIR Lakehurst, NJ test site. VX-23 Sqn. made 12 successful launches with the Goshawk over this period, as part of on-going aircraft compatibility testing. US NAVAIR.
Dec 18/10: The EMALS test catapult at Naval Air Systems Command in Lakehurst, NJ successfully performs the 1st electro-magnetic aircraft catapult launch. The F/A-18E Super Hornet from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23) was piloted by Lt. Daniel Radocaj. Chief Petty Officer Brandon Barr of NAWCAD’s Test Department was the “shooter,” assisted by Petty Officers 1st Class Hunsaker and Robinson, and Petty Officers 2nd Class Williams, Wong, and Simmons.
Originally Posted by david parry
...and asked about the 150 day operational sea time, and cover, Quote it can be extended in an emergency to 2years!!!!
Originally Posted by david parry
6 aircraft in 2020 rising to a squadron of 12 . Then to 200 in 17 yrs time iirc.
Originally Posted by david parry
So not only has he good engineering skills PLOD. But he is a master mariner as well
Dont suppose we will see his 2 balls flying from the carrier for 2 years