when it looks as if we're going down to 10 or less frigates and a handful of SSN's you really have to wonder why people are coming up with a plan to spend even more on the carriers

One must clearly define the enemy in order to substantiate a Budget.

Some of us discussed the RFI for UCAV Cats & Traps on the US Navy Drone Tanker thread in August 21.

Any estimates on how long it would take to install even a limited UCAV cats and traps capability? A year??

wasn't it designed for but not fitted steam cats and traps. I have no idea if it would be easier or harder to fit in a UCAV emals (or even it exists on paper). But imagine it would happen same time as its midlife refit

It was, it wasn’t, it was, it wasn’t…

Will that mean adding an angled deck?

Not necessarily. Navy Lookout examined the options when the RFI was issued, angles deck was just one of them.

https://www.navylookout.com/cats-tra...unched-drones/

USN spent a boatload of money getting EMALS to work - will they just hand the technology over to the UK, or will they want sizable licensing fees?

Perhaps MI-6 can find a bargain basement deal somewhere.

General Atomics owns the design rights for the EMALS and yes why wouldn't they (GA) license it as they are going to license it to the french for their next carrier

But the R&D that went into EMALS was paid for by the US Taxpayer - I would think at least part of the license fees belong to them.

I said early on in the thread that it was stupid to build the carriers to be dependant on one type of aircraft and that it needed the flexibility of a cat and trap…

Typical government and MOD penny pinching, spend billions on Carriers but fail at the last hurdle in giving the ships the capability to cross deck with other types or future developments.
Well no doubt now they will only decide to go ahaed after the POW is repaired meaning more time out of service instead of running the projects in parallel.

Before getting too excited, we should try to remember that this is pre decision and future possibilities are being explored. This year HMS Prince of Wales will deploy to the Western Atlantic for SRVL trials, and additionally she will do trials of a STOL UAV system. This will help assess the feasibility of STOL UAV operation alongside F-35B and Merlin operations.

One of the reasons for experimentation is to take the AEW role away from the Crowsnest roled/fitted Merlins can return to the critical ASW role - a core carrier role. To save money not all the Merlins were upgraded from HM1 to HM2. Interestingly the aircraft is still being produced.

Poland wants to buy 22 AW101 transport helicopters - Gagadget

The Polish Navy will receive the first of four AW101 helicopters this summer. The contract, worth more than $400 million, was signed four years ago. At the same time Poland wants to order more than 20 more helicopters.

If only we could take the opportunity to purchase a few more ASW Merlins at the same time - perhaps six to eight to cover the Crowsnest cabs?

For some reason ASW frequently gets overlooked, yet it is one of the reasons for having carriers and has been since the Second World War.

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Okay, @rich_scott2 @navalnewscom reports that @RoyalMarines Col Phil Kelly has been talking about "Project Ark Royal" the @RoyalNavy's study into catapults & arrester gear for uncrewed aircraft aboard @HMSQNLZ & @HMSPWLS.
So, time for another little "let's unpack this" #thread 🧵

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...412527113.html
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https://www.navylookout.com/hms-west...vice-in-doubt/

HMS Westminster refit suspended and her return to service in doubt

Unofficial naval sources say that the frigate HMS Westminster has been found to be in such a poor state that it would be difficult to justify the expense of repairs and her refit has been stopped, pending a decision on her future.…

If HMS Westminster is axed, it would take RN frigate numbers down to just 10, although this will return to ‘full strength’ by the mid-2030s as 13 new frigates are either under construction or on order. We will not repeat in detail here all the obvious risks and additional pressures on the fleet that will be created by further loss of escorts during the intervening period.

Ten frigates - so using the usual metric that means 3-4 available. Looks like we'll need to continue borrowing some to keep the Carrier group in being

And how we'd cover 2 carriers in seperate locations is going to be a stretch

The area of the deck would allow for an angled deck without too much modification (in terms of deck area). Catapults and arrestor gear are another matter - the ship was designed for them, and voids existed in the hull for them, but word is those got 'filled up' once the initial decision to go STOVL was made (Hence the extortionate costs given to convert PoW to CATOBAR post2010 SDR)

The idea of a catapult on the bow alongside the Ski ramp is an interesting one

Then why not assess the others in the class that are laid up and recommission the best of the bunch, after all your going to refit it anyway, or is this just an excuse to bin it?

https://www.naval-technology.com/fea...e-23-frigates/

" or is this just an excuse to bin it?"

I think that's the case- reading ORAC's article

he problem is "spending money" :(

​​​​​​​"The Type 23 LIFEX programme has taken much longer and cost far more than originally anticipated as serious age-related obsolescence, mechanical and structural problems have come to light. HMS Iron Duke returned to her home base in Portsmouth recently, 53 months after starting her LIFEX refit. The RN says the project was the most complex of any undertaken on the Type 23s and structural repairs to the hull involved almost twice the work of any previous refit in the class. The cost implications are obvious and the additional expense of getting one ship to sea may have cannibalised the budget available for others."