Lord West miffed as RAF to control carriers
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Whether or not Lord West is right that it's barking mad to have a light blue officer running the show, I'd say it's at least East Ham (one stop short of Barking) that we've ended up with the following:
1. No shore-based MPA to protect the assets
2. RN with only 6 attack submarines to protect the carriers and do all their other tasks
3. Too few RN surface ships to protect the carriers etc
4. Going for a deadweight lift fan ac and thereby imposing the associated ski-jump configuration on these 2 v expensive targets. Therefore:
1. No shore-based MPA to protect the assets
2. RN with only 6 attack submarines to protect the carriers and do all their other tasks
3. Too few RN surface ships to protect the carriers etc
4. Going for a deadweight lift fan ac and thereby imposing the associated ski-jump configuration on these 2 v expensive targets. Therefore:
i) No embarked fixed-wing MPA or ASW assets
ii) No embarked AWACS, AAR or EW/ELINT ac
iii) No possibility of CoD
Woof, woof.
ii) No embarked AWACS, AAR or EW/ELINT ac
iii) No possibility of CoD
Last edited by Ali Qadoo; 27th Oct 2015 at 05:45. Reason: Wrong terminology - thanks to Tourist for pointing this out
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My money is on Sir Bernard Gray, Chief of Defence Materiel and Head of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S). As a 3* responsible for delivering a joint (strategic?) capability, Sir Stephen Hillier will probably be reporting direct to him anyway, just like his equally-ranking counterparts, the Chiefs of Materiel for Fleet, Land and Air.
The Director Carrier strike who works for him is an RN 2* and there's a light blue 1* who works for him running the CEPP desk....
Not for the first time Lord West is not showing himself as a beacon of common sense...
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Lord West is always good for a Tabloid headline! MSOCS and NaBs posts cover the reality of the situation. I do not know of anyone else currently in Dark Blue getting too upset about this.
Ali, the choice of Carrier design and aircraft is covered elsewhere on here but don't believe everything you read in the media about F-35B. Take both positive and negative with a pinch of salt to find the truth in the middle.
On your other points - rotary assets can do a pretty good job in the roles described, fixed wing aircraft are not really required, although F-35B ISTAR capability is useful. So:
i) Merlin Mk 2 is a potent ASW asset, possibly the best rotary ASW platform in the world at the moment. A lot of improvements over the Mk 1.
ii) Crowsnest AEW helo (Merlin bagger) has announced which design won the competition and Thales are working on further testing at the moment. AAR refueling may be an issue. EW/ELINT capability is built into F-35.
iii) CoD doesn't have to be done by a Greyhound. On CVS and Ocean we did/do CoD with Lynx, Merlin and occassionally had stuff flown out to us by V-22. As V-22 has been modded to enable it to fit the largest F-35 engine components in the back, I'm sure people are looking at how the UK can work with our US friends if the need arises. Going back to ii) the V-22 has also done trials as a V/STOL AAR asset. Whilst too expensive for the UK to buy V-22 there is no reason to think that we couldn't host US assets, if the operational situation calls for it.
Ali, the choice of Carrier design and aircraft is covered elsewhere on here but don't believe everything you read in the media about F-35B. Take both positive and negative with a pinch of salt to find the truth in the middle.
On your other points - rotary assets can do a pretty good job in the roles described, fixed wing aircraft are not really required, although F-35B ISTAR capability is useful. So:
i) Merlin Mk 2 is a potent ASW asset, possibly the best rotary ASW platform in the world at the moment. A lot of improvements over the Mk 1.
ii) Crowsnest AEW helo (Merlin bagger) has announced which design won the competition and Thales are working on further testing at the moment. AAR refueling may be an issue. EW/ELINT capability is built into F-35.
iii) CoD doesn't have to be done by a Greyhound. On CVS and Ocean we did/do CoD with Lynx, Merlin and occassionally had stuff flown out to us by V-22. As V-22 has been modded to enable it to fit the largest F-35 engine components in the back, I'm sure people are looking at how the UK can work with our US friends if the need arises. Going back to ii) the V-22 has also done trials as a V/STOL AAR asset. Whilst too expensive for the UK to buy V-22 there is no reason to think that we couldn't host US assets, if the operational situation calls for it.
Last edited by WhiteOvies; 27th Oct 2015 at 12:16. Reason: Spelling
