UK Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jura said:

Aug 31, 2017

second point: so called Arrowhead Sep 8, 2017 I'm going to call #4

(just a concept study, as are #2 and #3 above)

third point: I still think the BAE will win

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The UK remains on target to achieve initial operational capability (IOC) with the Lockheed Martin F-35B in late 2018, with its personnel training and testing activities gathering pace.

Eight of the 11 short take-off and vertical landing aircraft so far accepted by the UK are now supporting training at the US Marine Corps' MCAS Beaufort facility in South Carolina, with the activity involving 140 of its personnel. "By the end of this year it is planned that the UK will have 14 of these jets," the Ministry of Defence says.

The Royal Air Force's 617 Sqn will be reformed in the USA early next year, before bringing nine jets back to the service's RAF Marham base in Norfolk by mid-year, says Air Cdre David Bradshaw, the UK Lightning force commander. The unit should secure IOC for deployable land-based duties by the end of 2018, he confirmed during the DSEI exhibition in London earlier this month.

In advance of the jets' arrival a new integrated training facility is beginning to take shape at RAF Marham, which will eventually accommodate four linked full-mission simulators for the F-35B.

Bradshaw says training activity on the UK's F-35Bs will be divided equally between live flying and synthetic-based instruction. He attributes this balance to improvements in simulation technology, and "restrictions in the live environment, such as security – not wanting to give away tactics, techniques and procedures".

Meanwhile, initial aircraft carrier flight trials are scheduled to take place off the US East Coast involving the Royal Navy's HMS Queen Elizabeth "in the autumn of next year", Bradshaw says. Maritime IOC is expected for the F-35B by the end of 2020, coinciding with the vessel's entry into service.

Simulator-based training will also be possible aboard the RN's two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers. The vessels have design space to accommodate a pair of deployed mission rehearsal trainers, each of which has two cockpits, enabling a four-ship formation of pilots to conduct mission rehearsal.

Build-up of the UK Lightning force will continue with the arrival at Marham in 2019 of the 207 Sqn operational conversion unit, followed by the establishment of a second frontline squadron – 809 NAS – in 2023.

"All squadrons will have a mix of both RAF and RN personnel," Bradshaw says. "This is very different to the [BAE Systems] Harrier force, which evolved over time, rather than being joint by design from the outset." Assistant chief of the air staff Air Vice-Marshal Mike Wigston says the MoD expects its joint Lightning force to eventually be comprised of 60% RAF and 40% RN personnel.

The UK has so far ordered 48 of its planned eventual fleet of 136 F-35s, and 18 of the aircraft should have been accepted by the end of next year.

BAE also recently hosted a multinational training activity at its Samlesbury site in Lancashire, during which F-35 pilots from the UK, Italy and the Netherlands rehearsed possible joint scenarios involving other aircraft types and ground forces, via desktop simulators. The company describes the activity as having included the provision of "digitally-aided" close-air support, using the F-35's variable message format datalink.

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Military chiefs are considering reducing the size of the Royal Marines by 1,000 as part of a cost-cutting defence review, The Times understands.

Royal Marine participation in an exercise with their US and Dutch counterparts in California this month has already been ditched to bank savings, sources said.

A range of “views” are being presented to Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, chief of the defence staff, and Stephen Lovegrove, the defence department’s permanent secretary, on the UK’s military capabilities and what could be cut to save money.

Other options include scrapping at least one amphibious assault ship, the early retirement of a fleet of C130 transport aircraft and a slowdown in the purchase of F35 fast jets. “There are no sacred cows,” an army source said.

No final decisions have been taken but the fact that such cuts are being considered challenges the official narrative that the national security capability review, led by the Cabinet Office, is about ensuring that Britain is best able to respond to emerging threats as opposed to a need to balance the books.

“It is about affordability,” a defence source involved in the process said. The Ministry of Defence must find up to £3 billion a year in savings to fund a ten-year plan for the shape and size of the armed forces that was unveiled in 2015.

Sir Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, has said that he does not recognise claims of a £30 billion hole in his budget. He maintains that his department’s ambitions laid out in the strategic defence and security review will be paid for in part by “efficiencies”.

Senior military officers and civil servants privately say that this is not possible. “Give us more money or else we have to cut capability,” a second defence source said.

The MoD is due to submit a final set of options to Mark Sedwill, the national security adviser in charge of the mini defence review, on November 28. He is expected to finish his work by the middle of December but his conclusions are unlikely to be published before January.

A reduction in the size of the 6,640-strong Marines would free up cash for the rest of the navy, which is managing an annual shortfall of at least £300 million, sources said. A cut of 1,000 Marines equates to about “£50 million a year”. Another source thought that the figure was closer to £100 million if all training and kit was included.

Remaining Marines could be ordered to focus more on Arctic, cold-weather security; being based again on all Royal Navy ships; and operating as specialised units, instead of retaining the ability to deploy at scale on to land from sea.

Two former Marine generals and more former officers said that the government would be mad to tamper with one of the military’s most elite units, which provides about half of the manpower to Britain’s special forces.

The Marines are shrinking by 200 this year so that the navy can hire more sailors to man the fleet. They have also seen overseas training cut. The latest casualty was Exercise Black Alligator in the Mojave Desert in California in which 1,000 Marines were due to take part.

A spokeswoman for the MoD said: “In the face of ever-changing threats, we are contributing to the review of national security capabilities and looking at how we best spend our rising defence budget to support that.”

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UK outlines IOC target for F-35s

The UK remains on target to achieve initial operational capability (IOC) with the Lockheed Martin F-35B in late 2018, with its personnel training and testing activities gathering pace.

Eight of the 11 short take-off and vertical landing aircraft so far accepted by the UK are now supporting training at the US Marine Corps' MCAS Beaufort facility in South Carolina, with the activity involving 140 of its personnel. "By the end of this year it is planned that the UK will have 14 of these jets," the Ministry of Defence says.

The Royal Air Force's 617 Sqn will be reformed in the USA early next year, before bringing nine jets back to the service's RAF Marham base in Norfolk by mid-year, says Air Cdre David Bradshaw, the UK Lightning force commander. The unit should secure IOC for deployable land-based duties by the end of 2018, he confirmed during the DSEI exhibition in London earlier this month.

In advance of the jets' arrival a new integrated training facility is beginning to take shape at RAF Marham, which will eventually accommodate four linked full-mission simulators for the F-35B.

Bradshaw says training activity on the UK's F-35Bs will be divided equally between live flying and synthetic-based instruction. He attributes this balance to improvements in simulation technology, and "restrictions in the live environment, such as security – not wanting to give away tactics, techniques and procedures".

Meanwhile, initial aircraft carrier flight trials are scheduled to take place off the US East Coast involving the Royal Navy's HMS Queen Elizabeth "in the autumn of next year", Bradshaw says. Maritime IOC is expected for the F-35B by the end of 2020, coinciding with the vessel's entry into service.

Simulator-based training will also be possible aboard the RN's two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers. The vessels have design space to accommodate a pair of deployed mission rehearsal trainers, each of which has two cockpits, enabling a four-ship formation of pilots to conduct mission rehearsal.

Build-up of the UK Lightning force will continue with the arrival at Marham in 2019 of the 207 Sqn operational conversion unit, followed by the establishment of a second frontline squadron – 809 NAS – in 2023.

"All squadrons will have a mix of both RAF and RN personnel," Bradshaw says. "This is very different to the [BAE Systems] Harrier force, which evolved over time, rather than being joint by design from the outset." Assistant chief of the air staff Air Vice-Marshal Mike Wigston says the MoD expects its joint Lightning force to eventually be comprised of 60% RAF and 40% RN personnel.

The UK has so far ordered 48 of its planned eventual fleet of 136 F-35s, and 18 of the aircraft should have been accepted by the end of next year.

BAE also recently hosted a multinational training activity at its Samlesbury site in Lancashire, during which F-35 pilots from the UK, Italy and the Netherlands rehearsed possible joint scenarios involving other aircraft types and ground forces, via desktop simulators. The company describes the activity as having included the provision of "digitally-aided" close-air support, using the F-35's variable message format datalink.

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Jura said:

all I can say is God Save The Queen ...

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• Money is needed to plug an estimated £20 billion black hole in defence finances
• Sale includes a £175 million fleet of troop carriers and the Royal Navy flagship
• Equipment has been brought together in a Ministry of Defence sales catalogue