LONDON — The expectation was that the Royal Air Force's (RAF) Hercules C-130J fleet would get a bit of a breather after the drawdown from a long Afghanistan campaign was completed at the end of last year.
But the reverse has been true, adding to the debate over whether the upcoming British government strategic defense and security review (SDSR) will revise the aircraft's intended 2022 out-of-service date.
"We thought we would be less busy after Afghanistan, but what we found is we are busier. We made an assumption and it has not quite worked out that way," said Sqn. Ldr. Stuart Wright, the executive officer of XXIV Squadron, the RAF's air mobility operational conversion unit.
As if to emphasis the point, Wright, who was giving a training brief to reporters at the RAF's Brize-Norton base in Oxfordshire, England, on April 27, had been on the phone for much of the previous evening trying to piece together a plan involving three crews and a C-130J to fly supplies to support the emergency aid effort in the wake of the Nepal earthquake.
In the last few months, the RAF's 24-strong J fleet has been involved in the fight against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq, the Ebola crisis in West Africa, supporting the United Nations in South Sudan, a defense exercise program and a host of other tasks — including supporting British special forces.
That's stretched platform and crew resources following the withdrawal from service of the Hercules C-130K fleet used by the special forces in 2013, leaving the RAF, for the moment, with a fleet of C-130Js, C-17s and A330 tanking and transport aircraft to provide air mobility.
The plan is the C-130J will be gradually withdrawn starting next year as the RAF ramps up operations of the first of 22 Airbus A400M airlifters, due to complete delivery by the end of 2018.
The much bigger A400M is scheduled to replace the C-130 as the RAF's transport workhorse, sending the J into what some think is premature retirement. The aircraft is also planned to take over the special forces role once a number of still-to-be-delivered capabilities are added.
The debate is not just about A400M capabilities, though. Some in the special forces argue that the Airbus aircraft is just too big for the covert insertion of troops, whatever its capabilities.
Doug Barrie, the senior air analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that while retention of the J would give the RAF more flexibility, there are tradeoffs.
"You wonder exactly what the special forces view is about going into some environments in such a big aircraft," he said of the A400M. "Overall I could see a small number of C-130s being held in the fleet for a bit longer than currently planned. The A400M is a big aircraft that can carry an awful lot a long way, whereas retaining the J would offer you greater flexibility to match aircraft and loads."
Wright said he could "always see a requirement for the Hercules, particularly in the special forces role. It's very good at what it does, it's quite discreet, nobody pays it much attention.... From a financial perspective, though, we can't afford to run the two fleets ... which is why the A400M will eventually take over."
Despite the imminent start of the J fleet being run down, money is still being spent maintaining the capabilities of the aircraft and the crews. The air mobility conversion unit, which aside from the C-130 trains crews and maintainers of the A400M fleet and maintainers on the C-17 fleet, recently took delivery of new visuals from simulator maker CAE for J training. Wright said the RAF is also expected to have a software and hardware upgrade known as Block 8.1 operating on the aircraft by 2019.
While the debate about retaining seven or eight aircraft, probably the longer Mark 5 model. for the special forces role still looks unresolved, at least from the outside, A400M numbers are starting to ramp up. Two of those aircraft have already been delivered, and although the handover schedule is slower than expected, a third aircraft, and the first with a defensive aids suite fitted, is close to being flown to Brize-Norton.
Airbus wouldn't confirm delivery numbers for this year, but an industry executive viewing the Airbus assembly plant in Seville, Spain, recently said a further six aircraft on the line had been counted, which appeared to be destined for the UK this year.
Progress on bringing the A400M into full operational service is in part the key to whether defense planners will push back the out-of-service date of some C-130s, industry executives said.
The issue will likely be resolved by the SDSR. That's scheduled to get underway sometime after a new government comes to office after the May 7 general election
But the reverse has been true, adding to the debate over whether the upcoming British government strategic defense and security review (SDSR) will revise the aircraft's intended 2022 out-of-service date.
"We thought we would be less busy after Afghanistan, but what we found is we are busier. We made an assumption and it has not quite worked out that way," said Sqn. Ldr. Stuart Wright, the executive officer of XXIV Squadron, the RAF's air mobility operational conversion unit.
As if to emphasis the point, Wright, who was giving a training brief to reporters at the RAF's Brize-Norton base in Oxfordshire, England, on April 27, had been on the phone for much of the previous evening trying to piece together a plan involving three crews and a C-130J to fly supplies to support the emergency aid effort in the wake of the Nepal earthquake.
In the last few months, the RAF's 24-strong J fleet has been involved in the fight against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq, the Ebola crisis in West Africa, supporting the United Nations in South Sudan, a defense exercise program and a host of other tasks — including supporting British special forces.
That's stretched platform and crew resources following the withdrawal from service of the Hercules C-130K fleet used by the special forces in 2013, leaving the RAF, for the moment, with a fleet of C-130Js, C-17s and A330 tanking and transport aircraft to provide air mobility.
The plan is the C-130J will be gradually withdrawn starting next year as the RAF ramps up operations of the first of 22 Airbus A400M airlifters, due to complete delivery by the end of 2018.
The much bigger A400M is scheduled to replace the C-130 as the RAF's transport workhorse, sending the J into what some think is premature retirement. The aircraft is also planned to take over the special forces role once a number of still-to-be-delivered capabilities are added.
The debate is not just about A400M capabilities, though. Some in the special forces argue that the Airbus aircraft is just too big for the covert insertion of troops, whatever its capabilities.
Doug Barrie, the senior air analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that while retention of the J would give the RAF more flexibility, there are tradeoffs.
"You wonder exactly what the special forces view is about going into some environments in such a big aircraft," he said of the A400M. "Overall I could see a small number of C-130s being held in the fleet for a bit longer than currently planned. The A400M is a big aircraft that can carry an awful lot a long way, whereas retaining the J would offer you greater flexibility to match aircraft and loads."
Wright said he could "always see a requirement for the Hercules, particularly in the special forces role. It's very good at what it does, it's quite discreet, nobody pays it much attention.... From a financial perspective, though, we can't afford to run the two fleets ... which is why the A400M will eventually take over."
Despite the imminent start of the J fleet being run down, money is still being spent maintaining the capabilities of the aircraft and the crews. The air mobility conversion unit, which aside from the C-130 trains crews and maintainers of the A400M fleet and maintainers on the C-17 fleet, recently took delivery of new visuals from simulator maker CAE for J training. Wright said the RAF is also expected to have a software and hardware upgrade known as Block 8.1 operating on the aircraft by 2019.
While the debate about retaining seven or eight aircraft, probably the longer Mark 5 model. for the special forces role still looks unresolved, at least from the outside, A400M numbers are starting to ramp up. Two of those aircraft have already been delivered, and although the handover schedule is slower than expected, a third aircraft, and the first with a defensive aids suite fitted, is close to being flown to Brize-Norton.
Airbus wouldn't confirm delivery numbers for this year, but an industry executive viewing the Airbus assembly plant in Seville, Spain, recently said a further six aircraft on the line had been counted, which appeared to be destined for the UK this year.
Progress on bringing the A400M into full operational service is in part the key to whether defense planners will push back the out-of-service date of some C-130s, industry executives said.
The issue will likely be resolved by the SDSR. That's scheduled to get underway sometime after a new government comes to office after the May 7 general election
Naval Today said:
These are very valuable, and realistic exercises.
At least five submarines will run various individual and group attack and recon scenarios against individual and groups of vessels from ten countries. Thirteen surface vessels in all.
In addition, three MPA aircraft from France and Germany, will join in and assist in finding and prosecuting the subs. That will mean Atlantique II and P-3C Orion aircraft respectively.
Jura The idiot
General
I found though this:
Don’t tell Moscow: Five of Britain's six nuclear subs held up in the repair shed
BRITAIN has just one nuclear-powered submarine on active patrol, after defects and routine repairs left the remainder of the fleet in port.
source:
could the article be right, or it's "sensational"?
Well, you quoted the article I posted about the Ambush's (2nd Astute sub) return from its voyage...and this article says it hasn't gone out yet. You decide.
Ambush is available, after just returning, and Astute is back out. So there's two available right there.
Whenever you have five of six vessels total you will generally have:
- One preparing for maintenance
- One or two in maintenance
- One working up after maintenance
- Two available
Nothing abnormal about this at all in peace time.
If they needed to surge, they could rush the one working up into service, delay the one preparing for maintenance, and keep the other two deployed...making four available.
During the Falkland's War, the Royal Navy rushed ships into service...either pushing the commission forward, or hurrying up their maintenance schedule... so that more would be available.
During World War II, the US regularly rushed repairs through to keep ships out at sea.
Jura The idiot
General
Jeff I'm puzzled, as your article is dated
(soon after the RN press release: dated October 10), while the newspaper article I quoted, dated
says
so, could the HMS Ambush be sent to for example the GUIK gap like today or tomorrow? (maybe yes! I just might misread something)