UK Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

UK air force chiefs have re-organised efforts to upgrade their fleet of Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft ahead of an expected decision on whether to buy EuroRadar Captor-E active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars later this year.

Jane’s has learned that the Royal Air Force (RAF) has set up Project Janus to oversee the integration of new capabilities onto the service’s fleet of Typhoon aircraft. Project Janus is being run from the Typhoon Air Capability Programme Management Office at RAF Air Command, RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, according to a staff recruitment advertisement seen by Jane’s .

“The Typhoon programme will transition [Panavia] Tornado GR4 capability onto Typhoon under Project Centurion and subsequently integrate a number of enhancements onto the platform under Project Janus to deliver the aircraft’s future operating state for 2025,” said the advertisement for specialist personnel to help run the project.

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FORBIN said:

Obi Wan Russell or others British
I see it

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Yet i think in more for a Navy as the Royal Navy have a CV is really interesting and even almost indispensable but mainly even with budget cuts considering saying 3/4 of the cost is already paid can we consider that it is because of these 2 CVs than Ocean get retired ( planned ) eventualy the 2 Albion in more RM can lost i see up to 1000 personnals it is a shame ! ?

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Britain mulls warships sale as military cuts deepen

Britain is considering selling frontline warships and has axed two mine-hunting vessels amid a funding crisis.

Military chiefs met yesterday to discuss a new round of cuts as they grapple with a gap in funding of £20 billion to £30 billion over the next decade.

Officials are reported to have discreetly advised the navies of Brazil and Chile that up to five frigates and the Royal Navy’s only two amphibious assault ships could be put up for sale. Two out of a 13-strong fleet of frigates could become available for sale as early as next year, with a further three by 2023, according to Jane’s Navy International, a specialist publication.

It can be revealed that HMS Atherstone and HMS Quorn, two of the navy’s 15 mine-hunters, were scrapped last month instead of undergoing a series of planned upgrades.

The Type 23 frigates, armed with Harpoon anti-ship missiles and with a crew of 185 sailors, are used to track Russian submarines and will play a key role in protecting the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers.

Such a sell-off would mean a reduction in the surface fleet because a new generation of frigates to replace the Duke-class vessels will not come on line until the middle of 2020.

The Ministry of Defence denied any “engagement” with Brazil or Chile and insisted that the total number of frigates would not be allowed to fall below 13. “This is simply not true — early sale of Type 23s without a replacement in place categorically won’t happen,” an MoD source said.

However, insiders told The Times that options are being considered to dispose of up to three frigates. The cost of keeping them running was a factor in the idea of an early sale, one military officer said, adding: “Some have been laid up in order to be disposed.”

Four Type 23s are moored at a naval base in Devonport, Plymouth, including two that are undergoing a period of maintenance, the MoD said. A second source said: “There are options developed to get rid of several Type 23s, but only options. It will be interesting whether they can be sold. Some of the Type 23s are so worn that a huge amount needs to be spent to keep them running.”

The frigates came into service from the 1990s, with an expected life of about 18 years. Delays in obtaining a replacement fleet of eight Type 26 frigates and five Type 31e frigates means that the Type 23s are being forced to run for longer. This is pushing up the cost of maintenance and support at a time of constrained budgets.

The heads of the military convened yesterday for a monthly armed forces committee meeting at the MoD’s main building in Whitehall. It is understood that among the topics for discussion was a range of options to reduce costs as part of annual budgeting and a concurrent small-scale defence review.

Options include possible cuts in the number of soldiers and Royal Marines as well as the axing or delaying of equipment programmes, including the scrapping of HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion, the two amphibious assault ships.

The MoD funding gap has been caused by a failure to meet savings targets, a drop in the value of the pound and over-optimism in the anticipated cost of buying and supporting jets, ships and submarines.

Sir Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, told a committee of MPs yesterday that the national security capability review was being carried out because of increased threats to Britain as opposed to affordability. “We are looking now at strengthening our defence in cyber, space and hybrid and in how to deal with global threats from ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear] and information warfare,” he said. All reports of possible cuts were speculative, he added.

An MoD spokesman said: “We can categorically confirm that there has been no engagement with either Chile or Brazil in respect of Type 23 frigates or the two LPD [landing platform docks].”

WHERE THE AXE IS FALLING

Confirmed cuts

• 200 Royal Marines
• 2 minehunter ships
• Marine training in US and Norway
• Battlefield training for thousands of troops in Canada and Kenya

Proposed cuts

• Army Air Corps to be cut by almost a quarter
• Royal Marines may shrink by 1,000
• 2 amphibious assault ships
• Fleet of Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters
• Possible early sale of Type 23 frigates

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Jura said:

now
BAE Systems to cut UK jobs, slow final assembly rates
2 hours ago

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A decision on whether the British government should put in place a long-term strategy to map out long-term development of the defense aerospace sector could be accelerated following large job losses recently announced by BAE Systems.

“The scale of the job losses is such that it does put an obligation on us to look at that work [a national combat air strategy] and see if it can be accelerated,” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told members of Parliament during an Oct. 25 Defence Committee hearing.

Earlier this month, BAE announced it is to shed nearly 2,000 jobs across several of its U.K. operations, with the brunt of cuts hitting Warton, where the company builds Typhoon fighters and Hawk jet trainers.

Some 750 workers will be made redundant at Warton, northwest England, and a few at the nearby Samlesbury site where it primarily produces F-35 structures, as the company realigns capacity to build fighters and trainers to match its weakening order book.

Fallon told lawmakers it is his ambition to work toward a national combat air strategy, but the government is not “quite there yet” in terms of launching the scheme.

The British introduced a national naval shipbuilding strategy in September, mapping the way forward for industry and government in that sector. A refresh of defense industrial policy in general is expected to be wheeled out by the end of the year.

The defense secretary said Britain doesn’t need a replacement for the Eurofighter Typhoon for at least 22 years, but consideration of the way ahead should start sooner rather than later.

“We don’t need to replace Typhoon until 2040, but it is not too early to start thinking about how we would go about it and ensure that work fits with other work we have been doing, for example with France on the future combat air system,” Fallon said.

Doug Barrie, the senior military air analyst at the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, called Britain’s under-investment in next-generation systems a waste of time, adding that Britain ― in whatever it does now ― will be facing an activity gap as Typhoon production slows.

“Part of the problem the sector now faces is that investment decisions, or more accurately lack of investment, in next-generation programs, from the mid- to late 1990s onwards, are now coming home to roost. A defense aerospace strategy now would still face a fundamental problem of there being a gap between the current generation of aircraft ending production and something new taking up the slack.”

Future combat aircraft

The problem isn’t just an issue for the British. There are similar issues across the rest of Europe, said Barrie.

“A national combat aircraft strategy is a good idea, but, as always, ideas have to be implemented and resourced and planned. These things don’t happen overnight, and in the U.K.’s case the issue is further complicated in the near term because Brexit makes Britain’s involvement in European defense industrial projects more challenging,” he said, using a colloquial term for Britain’s divorce from the European Union.

Barrie said work on the future combat air system, or FCAS, with France was a useful exercise, however the more important question is what happens with the German-led initiative to look at a new-generation aircraft announced mid-year.

“The Germans and French have tied up on this, and it’s my view they have had discussion with the Swedes and Spanish, so you could see a sixth-generation program forming around those nations, with the U.K. sitting on the wrong side of the fence on this,” he said.

Berlin wants a decision on whether the program can move forward by late next year. And Barry said that in terms of the U.K. sector, its “hard to imagine a less propitious set of circumstances as the U.K. tries to extract itself from the European Union.”

Proposals to advance the BAE/Dassault Aviation-led FCAS program to a demonstrator construction phase are likely to be considered at an upcoming Anglo-French summit.

Fallon said he would be reviewing the FCAS program shortly during a visit to London by his French counterpart as part of summit preparations.

The British minister also said that aside from the work with the French, discussions also continue with the U.S. about the development of future combat aircraft.

Paul Everitt , the chief executive of ADS, an aerospace and defense trade association, said the launch of the strategy would be a step in the right direction.

“A national combat air strategy to help maintain the U.K.’s position as a global leader in the sector would be a welcome step. The recent national shipbuilding strategy has given industry a better understanding of likely demand through to the 2030s, which will help guide investment in capability and capacity,” Everitt said.

“Defense aerospace has been a particular success story over the last 70 years, representing 85 percent of the U.K.’s defense exports from 2006 to 2015, and giving the U.K. armed forces an important operational advantage.”

The defense secretary said he called in the BAE chairman, Roger Carr, for a meeting last week to urge the company to keep production lines open while further jet aircraft orders were sought.

“We will continue to work with the company to maximize these opportunities, but in turn we want the company to keep the lines open. ... We also want them to keep their graduate and apprenticeship programs going so that when we are in a position to take further development decision in relation to future combat aircraft, then we have those skills available,” he told lawmakers.

BAE failed to respond in time for this article.

Further export sales of Typhoon remain key to helping bridge the gap until new developments can get underway.

Fallon said he hoped a statement of intent signed with Qatar in September to purchase 24 Typhoon’s and six Hawk trainers would be firmed up into a manufacturing contract by the end of the year.

The government also continues to push for at least a statement of intent from Saudi Arabia to purchase a second batch of Typhoons from BAE for a long-awaited deal for about 48 jets to add to the 72 aircraft already delivered.

Fallon, who was in Saudi Arabia last month, said he believes the Gulf state will “commit to batch two, and we continue to work on the timing.”

BAE expects to build 20 Typhoon’s this year, and that figure is expected to nearly halve to 11 in 2018 with deliveries to the British Royal Air Force and the Royal Air Force of Oman.

The company has previously confirmed it would be slowing final assembly rates but declines to detail how 2019 output might look.

Financial analysts in Britain say as few as five jets could come off Warton assembly line during that year.

Structures for Typhoons being assembled by other nations in the Eurofighter consortium will also continue, particularly for an order secured by Italy for 28 jets for Kuwait.

Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are partners in the Typhoon development with BAE, Leonardo and Airbus for industrial capability.

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The last time the House of Commons voted on whether to renew Britain’s nuclear deterrent in July 2016, the motion was carried by a thumping majority of 355. Those in favour did not include Jeremy Corbyn. Subsequently he has said he would respect the decision. Indeed, in a rare example of the Labour leader appearing to grasp both global and domestic realities, his party’s next manifesto duly promised the renewal of Trident.

Leaving aside Mr Corbyn’s mystifyingly contradictory pledge that he would never push the button if he became prime minister, a broad consensus exists in support of a replacement for Britain’s nuclear-armed submarine fleet. So it should. The current combination of vessels, missiles and warheads, which first entered service in the early 1980s, is destined to become obsolete by the end of the next decade.

Predicting potential threats 13 years hence is a difficult business. Yet within any sober assessment of the geopolitical landscape — Russian expansionism, Chinese sabre-rattling, North Korean aggression, continued volatility in the Middle East and Persian Gulf, uncertainty over future American commitments — few doubt that Britain’s military vigilance must be maintained. This vigilance must encompass a credible nuclear option.

With the autumn budget announcement less than a month away, however, the issue of who pays for the Trident replacement looms large. The projected cost has risen from an initial £20 billion in 2006 to about £41 billion in 2017. This figure includes a £10 billion fund to meet “contingencies” as work in Barrow-in-Furness and elsewhere proceeds. Given the Ministry of Defence’s less than stellar record of cost-control, it is reasonable to assume this fund will be accessed, exhausted and then exceeded. The golden rule of defence spending is that the price always ends up being far higher than the original forecast.

George Osborne, the former chancellor, knew this all too well. On first entering No 11 Downing Street and determined to reduce the deficit, Mr Osborne argued that the cost of Trident’s replacement should remain within the defence ministry’s budget, thus making that notoriously profligate department liable for the inevitable overspend in the years ahead. Liam Fox, then defence secretary, argued just as vociferously that his ministry’s share of expenditure should not be constrained by having to meet such a singular cost. Mr Osborne’s view prevailed.

Five years later, the costs of the programme spiralling, the respective positions of the Treasury and the MoD were reversed. Mr Osborne pushed to have responsibility for the Trident budget transferred to a separate dedicated body. The defence ministry, torn between the potential threat to the rest of its budget yet desperate to keep control over its flagship weapon system, fought back. Mr Osborne, no doubt distracted by the 2015 general election and then the European Union referendum, seems to have given up on his reform. Trident-plus stayed on the MoD ledger.

Hence the inter-service furore described on our news pages today. Philip Hammond, a less creative national accountant than his predecessor, requires the MoD to make a saving of £300 million towards defraying the nuclear overspend. While that represents a trifling sum in Trident, other branches of the armed forces are outraged. Three hundred million pounds is sufficient to fund about 6,000 soldiers. The infantry is already understrength. Further reductions are misguided.

Mr Osborne got it right second time around, just as he got it wrong first time, just as Mr Hammond has now. Replacing Trident is vital to our national defence, and the money, even in straitened times, needs to be found. Yet as a once in a generation outlay, other elements of the armed forces should not have to bear the burden.

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Jura said:

Royal Navy May Sacrifice Its Last Amphibious Ships to Pay For Its New Carriers
October 18, 2017

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could be sensational, so just the link here

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Jura said:

Brazil, Chile eye potential second-hand acquisitions from UK 24 October 2017

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It was reported earlier in the week that Brazil and Chile were considering purchasing Royal Navy warships, the MoD has denied this.

An MoD spokesperson said:

“We can categorically confirm that there has been no engagement with either Chile or Brazil in respect of early sale of Type 23 Frigates or the two LPDs.”

Most notably reported by IHS Jane’s Navy International, it was claimed by the outlet that Brazil and Chile have “quietly been given notice of the potential availability of RN frigates and amphibious ships”.

Janes

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that UK officials have “discreetly advised” that some of the frigate fleet in addition to the two Albion class landing platform docks could become available due to budget cuts.

Recently we received a press release from the MoD claiming that the Royal Navy is “growing for the first time since the Second World War”. Make of that claim what you will.

This comes not long after the Brazilian Navy reportedly sent a proposal to pay for helicopter carrier HMS Ocean in instalments.

According to Brazilian journalist Roberto Lopes in an e-mail to us, the ship’s cost to the Brazilian Navy is fixed at £80.3 million pounds (312 million of Brazilian Reais).

Commander of the Brazilian Navy, Admiral Eduardo Leal Ferreira, claimed that the price of Ocean seemed “convenient”.

HMS Ocean is the UK’s only helicopter carrier and the fleet flagship of the Royal Navy. She is designed to support amphibious landing operations and to support the staff of Commander UK Amphibious Force and Commander UK Landing Force.

According to someone we spoke to currently on-board the vessel, there are rumours that this is one of a number of possibilities:

“People have been talking about what will happen to the ship after 2018, there were rumours that the vessel might be sold to another navy but there’s been no mention of what navy that might be.”

The helicopter carrier was constructed in the mid-1990s and commissioned in September 1998.

This comes not long after recent Government and MoD press releases regarding the Royal Navy made claims that the Royal Navy is “growing for the first time since the Second World War”, those claims have now vanished.

In one of the most notable releases republished across a few government pages regarding the naming of HMS Medway (

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), the Government claimed:

“The OPV programme is sustaining around 800 jobs in Scotland at BAE Systems and is maintaining the vital skills needed to build the new cutting-edge, anti-submarine warfare frigates, the Type 26s, for a Royal Navy growing for the first time since the Second World War.“

However, in

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, that claim has rightfully been edited out and only a quote by Fallon remains making a similar albeit not as outlandish claim.

We even tweeted about this earlier in the Month.

It would appear that standalone references to a growing Royal Navy have decreased across the board with the remaining examples that we could find being included in quotes by officials and therefore, not really all that removable.

Earlier today, we reported on potential plans to cut the number of Type 23 Frigates (one of the type is pictured at the top of this article) in Royal Navy service,

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Recently, we drew attention to claims made by multiple ministers, MP’s and other officials that continue to insist the Royal Navy is growing.

This isn’t true according to the the

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document released by the Government detailing statistics on vessels, land equipment and aircraft of the armed forces. It states:

“At 1 April 2017 there were 73 vessels in the UK Armed Forces: 64 vessels in the Royal Navy and nine in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). This is a reduction of three vessels since 2016 following the withdrawal of three RFA vessels: two Small Fleet Tankers and one Forward Repair Ship (RFA Diligence).

Patrol Ships (18 Inshore and four Offshore) make up the largest proportion of Royal Navy vessels, with 22, as shown in Chart 1 below.

The total number of Destroyers and Frigates (19) as at 1 April 2017 are also in line with SDSR Joint Force 2025 commitments.”

Further, according to the Defence Select Committee, the UK has a “woefully low” number of warships. Chair of the committee Dr Julian Lewis advised earlier in the year that the Government risked leaving the country with fewer than 19 frigates and destroyers.

“The United Kingdom will then lack the maritime strength to deal with the threats we face right now, let alone in the future. We are putting the MoD on notice that it must not let this happen.”

Additionally, Sir John Parker the author of an independent report on the National Shipbuilding Strategy, has indicated that the frigate fleet will fall below 13 frigates unless the Type 31 Frigate build starts soon, something that appears unlikely for a project described by a minister this month as still in “early pre-concept phase” with no design having yet been chosen.

Julian Lewis asked during a Defence Select Committee session on the National Shipbuilding Strategy:

“So what you are saying—and this is a critical point—is that unless we start building the Type 31e frigates in parallel with the Type 26s, there is little chance of not reducing below our existing figure of 13 frigates all told.”

Sir John Parker responded with one word:

“Correct.”

13 frigates are due to leave the service at a rate of one a year between 2023 and 2035. There remains serious concern about the funding and timetable of the fleet that will replace them.

There is also fresh speculation that the Royal Navy will lose the two Albion class landing platform dock vessels. Among other speculated cuts is a reduction of 1,000 to the Royal Marines and the retirement of two minehunters and one survey vessel.

The loss of more ships isn’t growth, no matter who is tallying it up.

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Jura said:

Nuclear Option
Britain’s military strength requires Trident to be renewed, but the cost must not come solely from the Ministry of Defence’s coffers

October 27 2017

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"The projected cost ... about £41 billion ..."
it's more than a yearly UK military budget, so the article has a point:

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timepass said:

THE U.K. COULD PUT ROYAL NAVY TYPE 23 FRIGATES FOR SALE

The U.K. is reportedly considering of putting up to five Royal Navy Duke-class Type 23 frigates on sale.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) denied that it would let the Royal Navy’s frigate fleet drop below 13 ships, but officials told

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the option was being considered, mainly to control operational costs.

As per

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, officials had engaged Brazilian and Chilean officials, indicating that the first two could be available in early 2018, with an additional three by 2023. Jane’s reported that the landing platform dock (LPD) ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark may also be on sale.

The Chilean Navy operates three ex-Royal Navy Type 23 frigates along with a Type 22, while Brazil has two ex-Royal Navy Type 22 frigates. With its experience operating the Type 23, Chile could potentially acquire additional ships with relative ease, provided the Type 23s are in serviceable condition.

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