UK Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Obi Wan Russell said:

Well we had four spare after the T22B3 Frigates were paid off. Just goes to show how tight the UK Government is that they won't stump up for another two sets of Launchers. ...

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Jura said:

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says "In April 2016,

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stated that the vessel had been relegated to use as a training ship due to manpower and technical shortages, although this is disputed by the MOD.

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so now the author should probably check

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HMS Dauntless:Written question - 40030
Q
Asked by

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(Dunfermline and West Fife)
"To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether HMS Dauntless is being used as a harbour training and accommodation ship."

A
Answered by:

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"The introduction of Engineering Training Ships is an important component of the Royal Navy's comprehensive programme to improve training and career development opportunities by increasing training capacity.

Ships in the operating cycle immediately ahead of refit will be used to deliver training alongside home Bases and Ports. HMS DAUNTLESS entered this profile in February this year. A reduced Ship's Company reside on board as normal, augmented by trainees who use the opportunity to gain experience through development activities in a realistic environment."

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Obi Wan Russell said:

Dauntless hasn't been cut from the fleet permanently, she will begin her refit next year and recommission after that; another T45 will follow her through the cycle then. ...

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Royal Navy take delivery of their final Wildcat helicopter
27/10/2016

825 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) has taken delivery of the Royal Navy’s final Wildcat HMA2 at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton.

Commander Simon Collins, Commanding Officer (CO) of 825 NAS took delivery of the final Wildcat Helicopter ZZ530 from Leonardo Helicopters on Tuesday 25 October 2016.

825 NAS were joined by members of Leonardo Helicopters and the CO of RNAS Yeovilton, Commodore Jon Pentreath OBE, to accept ZZ530 into the Fleet Air Arm.

Cdr Collins said; “I am immensely proud to take delivery today of ZZ530, the final production Wildcat HMA Mk 2. I have been honoured to have commanded both 700W and 825 NAS and during my tenure as CO I have received 15 out of the 28 aircraft so feel deeply involved in this programme.
"During this time I have also seen the Wildcat force grow from its infancy to the capable and highly effective unit it has become today, with Wildcat flights already currently deployed across the globe.
"This day marks the end of one chapter of the Wildcat story, and the beginning of the next which will undoubtedly be a long and illustrious career at the forefront of future naval aviation operations.“

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Jura said:

... this way one free set of Harpoon canisters will become available soon, once the Dauntless is back ... when will this happen, by the way?

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Obi Wan Russell said:

Depends if Dauntless ...

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Jura said:

has any of the Type 45 test-fired a Harpoon yet?

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UK’s Defence Secretary announced on Friday that first steel for the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates would be cut in summer 2017.

Michael Fallon made the announcement during a visit to Govan in Scotland and added that the deal was subject to final contract negotiations.

Fallon also announced a £100 million contract with MBDA to deliver the Sea Ceptor self-defense missile system for the ship. The contract will support design work, allow equipment to be manufactured to equip the entire Type 26 fleet, and install the system on the first three ships.

This follows a £183 million investment in the maritime indirect fire system, the Type 26’s 5-inch calibre gun earlier in the summer, bringing the total investment in the program so far to £1.9 billion.

The construction start for the Type 26 program was delayed indefinitely back in July this year after the Ministry of Defence reportedly rejected BAE Systems proposal for a £275 million reduction in price along with a promise to start work on time.

The Ministry was looking for savings of £500m in the £11.5 billion Type 26 program.

The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR15) cut the number of anti-submarine Type 26 Global Combat Ships to be built from 13 to 8.

The secretary also announced that the MOD plans to sign a contract shortly to start building of the two additional offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) pledged to in the SDSR, both of which will be delivered in 2019, protecting jobs on the Clyde before the start of the Type 26 programme gets fully under way.

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Jura said:

according to NavalToday UK finally starting work on Type 26 frigates

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It is widely accepted that the current total of 19 surface escorts falls far short of what is needed to meet the UK’s strategic aims. With the Type 26 frigate programme now fixed at 8 ships, the only way surface escort numbers are ever going to be increased is to build more of the cheaper Type 31 frigate (General Purpose Frigate – GPFF). The 2015 SDSR committed government to “at least 19” frigates and destroyers but on 4th November 2016, when talking in the context of frigates, the Defence Secretary said “We will have fleet larger than the fleet at the moment”. This is a positive sign and at least suggests intent in government build more than 5 Type 31 frigates.


Could exports and economies of scale put greater numbers within reach?
The recent devaluation of the pound by 20%, with speculation that its value will bottom out at $1.10 (meaning around a 30% devaluation) makes UK based shipbuilding considerably more competitive than even six months ago. The export potential of a Type 31 and even the Type 26, which until recently appeared very limited, may be more realistic in this new financial reality.

The Treasury-led development of a National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) begun in January 2016 and is primarily focussed on naval surface ship construction, is due to report before the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 23rd November. The NSS has a lot of ground to cover and the RN must hope it can offer more than George Osborne’s feeble 2015 plan to build one new warship every two years.

France has recently announced construction of its new 4,200 tonne FTI frigate at an estimated cost of £690 million per ship, and shipbuilder DTMI estimates there is market potential for at least 40 such frigates. If government wants a thriving warship building sector, investing a little more in making the Type 31 a more powerful flexible design at a better price point than the FTI offering could reap dividends. UK warship exports lag way behind France and Spain and there is much work to be done to get back into this important market. If government is able to commit to more than the bare minimum 5 ships for the RN, this could leverage economies of scale and increase confidence from potential foreign buyers.

25 escorts, a realistic target ?
The RN manpower crisis may have stabilised by the late 2020s but the lower manning requirements of the Type 26 and Type 31 will be very welcome. The Type 23s and 45s fleet combined needs around 3,550 but the overall requirement should fall by about 1,000 to around 2,550 or allow more vessels to be manned. A younger fleet should be able to offer a slightly higher level of availability.

The 2008 defence review suggested that 30 surface escorts were needed to meet the RN’s operational requirement. Commitments and threats have in no way reduced since 2008.

To escort the operational aircraft carrier and maintain the existing global commitments appears to require, at the very least 10 surface escorts deployed at any one time. Assuming that these units can achieve 40% availability, this suggests a surface fleet of 25 frigates and destroyers. This would require buying 11 Type 31s. In the current climate where the Type 26 construction is not set to start before summer 2017 and the Type 31 exists only on paper, this may seem fanciful. There is some hope that attractive industrial and export benefits with UK-wide construction could just tempt the Treasury to properly back the programme. Currently the future frigate budget is set around £8Bn. If the 8 Type 26 cost around £750M each, as it stands the 5 ‘planned’ Type 31 can have a maximum unit cost around £400M. Adding another 5 or 6 ships to what is already in the funding plan might cost something like £200m per year. This would seem a small price to pay when this could help re-balance the capability of the surface fleet and sustain several shipbuilders for a decade or more.

It seems quite likely the Type 31 will be built by a consortium (similar to the Aircraft Carrier Alliance) led by BAE Systems, but with work shared around UK shipyards. The NSS should shed more light on this but such an arrangement helps spread the economic benefits around the UK and beyond the Clyde which will be largely occupied with Type 26 work.

Can the Type 31 project deliver a credible frigate?
As we touched on

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the Type 31 concept is attempting something extremely challenging. Within a constrained budget and relatively tight timeframe, industry must deliver a frigate that will be an effective platform into the 2030s and 2040s. As an example to avoid, work on the Type 26 will begin two decades after the project to replace the type 23 then called the “Future Escort” was announced in 1997. The 10-year design to delivery schedule will require very tight discipline by the customer in not moving the goalposts during the project and the contractor to deliver on time and on cost. This is possible but will be in contrast to the problems of most large UK defence procurement projects in the last 30 years.

The Type 31 will emerge into a world of

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to surface ships. Hypersonic missiles, lasers, weaponised unmanned vehicles and super-quiet conventional submarines are all proliferating. In this high-intensity conflict even the Type 26 may struggle, will the less sophisticated Type 31 cope?

In terms of design, the basic Type 31 model must be a capable patrol and general purpose frigate, suitably equipped to undertake independent deployment, but also capable of stepping up to act as carrier or amphibious escort if needed. The main cost savings over Type 26 must be found in its smaller size, lighter armament, reduced survivability and more basic propulsion.

If the Type 31 is going to perform as a useful escort then it needs more than self-defence weapons. Like the type 26, it will still need good sensors, command systems and some self-protection. Assuming Sea Ceptor is fitted then it can provide and basic air defence umbrella over a few ships. Growing underwater threats demands the RN have more anti-submarine platforms. The Type 26 will undoubtedly be a fine submarine hunter but the Type 31 must also be a deterrent to submarines if it is to be considered of real use as an escort. One of the big cost-drivers for the Type 26 are the noise-hygiene measures to reduce self-radiated noise that impairs in passive detection of submarines. The Type 31 will inevitably have nosier propulsion. Perhaps operating a few of its own unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) as sensor platforms could be an answer for the Type 31’s need for effective anti-submarine capability on the cheap. The Thales Captas 4 offers very compact towed array sonar that should also be a minimum requirement for the Type 31. Fitting of anti-ship or land attack weapons will probably have to take a lower priority.

At around £1Bn each the Type 45 and the Type 26 can almost be considered ‘capital ships’, with which few risks can be taken. A cheaper, more ‘expendable’ ship offers important flexibility on operations. During the Falklands war, lacking available minesweepers, it was the cheap Type 21 frigate HMS Alacrity that that was the sacrificial lamb tasked to sail through Falkland Sound to see if there were any mines. (Fortunately there were none and she survived unscathed).

In conclusion
The Type 31 remains controversial,

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has even called it “the pointless class”. The specification is still very fluid, even within the navy apparently “everyone within NCHQ has a different view”. Ultimately the design will have to be evolved fast and an off the shelf solution seems to be the most realistic way forward. The main image above shows the BMT Venator-110, probably the best baseline option of the 3 outline design proposals for the Type 31 in the public domain at the time of writing. We will examine these proposals in a subsequent article.

What is certain is that the importance of decisions on the Type 31 programme should not be underplayed or seen as of secondary importance to the Type 26 programme. A well designed Type 31 frigate has the potential to maximise the potency of the fleet whilst rejuvenating warship building in the UK. But a leap of faith is needed to choose the right design, and then follow through and build in sufficient quantity to ensure economies of scale.

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Jura said:

according to NavalToday UK finally starting work on Type 26 frigates

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A LONG-AWAITED Government project to build eight new Type 26 frigates has finally got the go-ahead after months of delays, cuts and apparent indecision which had threatened hundreds of shipbuilding jobs in Scotland.


After months of dodging questions about a timeline for the new warships, which are hailed as vital to Britain's naval capability, the Ministry of Defence has revealed work will begin next summer.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon hailed the eight anti-submarine Type 26 global combat ships as the Royal Navy's "next generation" vessels.

But the project, which has been scaled back from an original order of 13 vessels, and which was meant to have begun earlier this year, has been beset by controversy.

Speaking to Express.co.uk,

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, branded the reduction in the number of frigates "disgraceful" and criticised the delays to the project.


The Labour peer, who sits on the joint committee for national security strategy, said: "I am glad that we are definitely going ahead next summer, that we are starting to build them.

"But I think it is disgraceful that we are going from 13 to eight; I think the delay has been poor."

He said the number of destroyers and frigates had steadily declined from more than 50 in 1991, and blamed both Conservative and Labour governments for "chopping" up Britain's sea defences.

Lord West said: "In 1991 we had 52 destroyers and frigates; since then the Conservatives have cut something like 22 out of that and Labour have cut 11.

"So the Conservatives have been chopping at twice the rate of labour. But basically everyone has been chopping it."


He continued: "I think it is national disgrace. It is all very well having offshore patrol vessels but they are not the same as frigates.

"We need a steady drumbeat of complex warship orders, that will drive down the costs - one frigate being built per year.

"We would then have a steady build of numbers of shops available for our nation."

Steel-cutting on the project will begin in the summer of 2017 subject to final contract negotiations, the MoD has confirmed.


Sir Michael said: "Backed by Britain's rising defence budget, the Type 26 programme will deliver a new generation of cutting-edge warships for our Royal Navy at best value for taxpayers.

"The UK Government's commitment today will secure hundreds of high-skilled shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde for at least two decades and hundreds more in the supply chain across Britain."

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: "This is a momentous commitment for Scotland that will strengthen and secure our shipbuilding industry on the Clyde for the future.

"The UK Government is backing jobs on the Clyde and in its shipyards - and this investment is only possible because of the broad shoulders of our strong UK defence budget."


Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith said the decision to build the vessels was "long overdue".

She said: "I welcome the fact that the Government has finally come forward with a timetable for building the Type 26 frigates.

"This long-overdue announcement will at last give some certainty to the workforce on the Clyde who have been kept in the dark for too long.

"The delays to the project and the cut from 13 to eight ships have been profoundly damaging and we will continue pressing the Government to ensure that they do not back away from this decision."

The UK Government is said to have invested a total of £1.9 billion to date in the Type 26 programme, which will replace the Type 23 frigates.

The ships will be able to be deployed around the world, and be capable of undertaking roles from high-intensity warfare to humanitarian assistance.

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