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The first jets that will perform F-35 trials on-board HMS Queen Elizabeth will be mostly American owned aircraft but flown by British pilots.

The aircraft that will be landing on the supercarrier will belong to the Joint Operational Test team. The team’s mission is to build confidence in the aircraft towards helping clear the F-35 to make the legally mandated advance from Low Rate Initial Production to Full Rate Production. The RAF’s No 17 (Reserve) Test and Evaluation Squadron comprises ten percent of the test program in the JOTT we udnerstand.

The reason that most if not all of the aircraft to touch down will be American isn’t some scandalous outrage (just watch how some papers report this, though) but rather most of the F-35Bs in Joint Operational Test team are American.

After speaking to one of the pilots in the test programme, we understand that the UK only has three (BK1, 2 & 4) test jets that are “orange wired” to take data for post-flight analysis, the rest being operational aircraft. Therefore, it is highly likely that the jets to go on HMS Queen Elizabeth later this year will be “mostly, if not entirely, American but flown by UK pilots”.

We were told that the reason for this is that the JOT team dictate the availability of test jets out of a pool. Our contact said:

“It would be nothing more than symbolic to make UK jets available for the trials and that comes at a significant effort since all of them are based at Edwards AFB in California, not on the East Coast where the ship trial is due to take place.

Therefore, the most obvious and cheaper choice is to use the F-35B test jets based at Pax River, which are US ones. British test pilots like Andy Edgell, Nath Gray, will obviously fly them but there’ll be US pilots too because that’s how Joint Test works.”

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman confirmed:

“As the US’s biggest partner in the F-35 programme, we jointly own test jets which are on track to fly off the deck of our new aircraft carrier later this year.

We will continue to work with our American allies on these trials, and plan for the first momentous landing on HMS Queen Elizabeth to be a British pilot.”

Just wait for this perfectly reasonable bit of trivia to become the subject of the next overblown and sensationalised headlines regarding the new aircraft carriers.

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At a U.S. Marine Corps base in South Carolina, newly minted F-35 pilots from the Royal Air Force are

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for a

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that will finally bring the joint strike fighter permanently to the United Kingdom.

But the work won’t stop once the first four jets from 617 Squadron arrive at RAF Marham in early June, or even when another five F-35Bs transfer to the base by the end of the summer. RAF pilots and maintainers will have to hustle to hit a key milestone — initial operational capability — by the end of the year.

The good news is that they will have a head start. The June flight from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort to Marham is set to happen anytime between June 5 and June 10, weather permitting.

That’s a full two months ahead of schedule, said Wing Cmdr. Scott “Mox” Williams, the U.K.’s senior national representative at Beaufort. Williams has been tapped to lead 207 Squadron, another F-35B squadron, when it reconstitutes in 2019.

“Our base [at Marham]

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. So we are at a point now where we believe we can do that,” he told Defense News during a May 17 visit to Beaufort. “And the final thing... that is really driving it all, is that it gives us more time in the U.K. to do that build up to IOC.”

About 120 RAF personnel and 11 of the U.K.’s F-35Bs are currently stationed at MCAS Beaufort for joint strike fighter training. There, both RAF and U.S. Marine Corps pilots learn from the same curriculum, share jets and fly together on a daily basis.

“We train at a very basic F-35 level that’s common across the two services,” Williams said, adding that the only real difference is that U.S. and U.K. pilots will sometimes go to different briefings.

About 40 of the original 160 RAF personnel stationed at Beaufort — including the pilots who will be making the transatlantic flight next month — have already returned to the United Kingdom to get ready for the build up to IOC at Marham.

The pilots will return to Beaufort in late May to refresh their skills on the simulator and do currency flights, Williams said. Finally, the first four F-35Bs will make their flight across the pond, accompanied by an Airbus A330 tanker that will continuously refuel the aircraft.

For both U.S. and international acquisition programs, the milestone of initial operational capability varies depending on that particular country’s requirements.

Williams declined to say how the RAF has defined IOC, but said it involves having a certain number of planes ready to conduct day or night missions in the areas of air interdiction, close air support, suppression of enemy air defenses, defensive counter air and offensive counter air.

During the build-up to IOC, F-35 pilots will fly missions in the full mission simulator as well as in live flights in local training areas. They will also gain experience in working with other U.K. fighter aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and Panavia Tornado.

But perhaps most importantly, the U.K. pilots will finally have a chance to learn and practice all of the all of tactics unique to the RAF, which will exclusively be taught at Marham ahead of IOC. That makes those extra two months at home station even more important, Williams said.

“Having that six months is great to kind of ramp up the U.K. tactics rather than if you were to wait and do it all in July,” he said. “That would only give us four months to do that workup, which is tight.”

The United Kingdom has committed to buying 48 F-35s, although it has said it will eventually order 138 joint strike fighters.

It will field its F-35B inventory aboard its

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, with the first sea-trial aboard the Queen Elizabeth slated for later this year. Those flights will be piloted by RAF test pilots based either at Eglin Air Force Base or Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Williams said.

Britain’s carrier fleet ceased to exist in 2011 as the country retired its Harriers. However, Williams said that experience with other short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing aircraft can at times be a hindrance to pilots learning the F-35 — something the RAF has termed “Harrier baggage.”

“I speak with experience, because I flew Harriers from the U.K. carriers on a number of occasions. A lot of that institutional knowledge is specific to the Harrier, the Harrier’s handling, the Harrier’s performance capabilities and the actual carrier itself,” he said.

“Nobody can treat this airplane like a Harrier replacement. If you do that, you potentially are only going to unlock a very small proportion of its full capabilities.”

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Members of the flying control and flight deck control teams aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth visited Naval Air Station Patuxent River this week for their first live peek at the F-35B, ahead of the jet’s first trials aboard the ship this autumn.

According to a press release, about 20 members of the HMS Queen Elizabeth team witnessed F-35B test aircraft BF-02 and BF-04 taxi, perform two vertical landings apiece, and conduct a couple short takeoffs. The ground reverberated as each aircraft approached the tarmac for its vertical landings led by the F-35 Pax River Integrated Test Force team, hovering for several seconds prior to descending.

The next day, the Ship’s team took over and, acting as landing signal officers, taxied an F-35B for the first time. Persistent rain limited the team’s activities on Thursday prior to their Friday departure back to the United Kingdom.

In terms of getting his personnel familiar with the F-35B, prior to this fall’s ship trials off the U.S. eastern seaboard, the trip was a success, said Royal Navy Cmdr. James Blackmore, Commander Air aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth.

“It’s the first time they’ve ever seen the jet or been up and close to it as it’s performing its flight manoeuvres, so they got to feel the environment of what it’s like, the sort of noise, the heat, the sound and the pressure of the aircraft, so that when it comes to deck for the first time, it’s not a surprise,”Blackmore said.

As HMS Queen Elizabeth’s ‘air boss’, Blackmore is in charge of all aviation activity onboard a ship “that’s been designed specifically for the F-35,” he said.

At roughly 70,000 tons, HMS Queen Elizabeth is smaller than U.S. Navy carriers, but its flight deck and hangar are about the same size, Blackmore said. He noted the key difference between the two nation’s aircraft carriers is the Queen Elizabeth class’s flight deck, which is designed exclusively to handle helicopters and the F-35B.

“From the keel up, it’s all been about F-35 from day one,” he added.

“I was fortunate enough to fly the last ever Harrier launched from a UK aircraft carrier in 2010, so if you like, I almost closed down what we used to do,” Blackmore said.

“The fact that eight years later, I’m now here opening that back up with the team is really good.”

Blackmore called the F-35B “a step change for the U.K. in how we’re going to conduct business.”

“The fact that’s it’s F-35 is pivotal, because you’re in the fifth-generation game now with aircraft, which brings stealth, sensor fusion, advanced weapons and the ability to project aviation and power ashore at your choosing,” he said

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British Army flags potential interest in US FVL helicopter programme

• 24 MAY, 2018
  
• SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
  
• BY: DOMINIC PERRY
  
• PRAGUE

A senior army officer says the UK military is still evaluating how to replace its combined medium-category transport helicopters, but has warned European industry that unless it develops a future rotorcraft that offers a step-change in speed and range capability, then it may instead select US-built products.

At present, the Royal Air Force's fleet of Airbus Helicopters Puma HC2s have an out-of-service date of 2025, followed by the Leonardo Helicopters AW101 Merlin HM2s and HC4/4As in 2029 and 2030, respectively. However, work is ongoing to understand the feasibility of extending their service lives.

Speaking at SMI's Helicopter Technology Central and Eastern Europe conference in Prague on 23 May, Lt Col David Amlot from the British Army Air Corps, said if replacement of the two types was delayed, the timeline could "effectively align" with the introduction of Future Vertical Lift in the US inventory.

Although FVL is not yet a programme of record, a technology demonstration phase is under way with Bell Helicopter developing its V-280 Valor tiltrotor and a combined Sikorsky-Boeing team working on the SB-1 Defiant compound rotorcraft.

Both are designed to fly faster and further than the current fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks. If FVL is launched on schedule, and focused on the medium-weight class, it would deliver a new helicopter in the mid-2030s.

But recent statements from the US Army have hinted that a lighter helicopter for the armed scout mission may become the priority.

Amlot says the UK is looking for a "revolution" in performance, rather than "sustainment" of the status quo, quoting a desired speed, range and performance not achieved by conventional rotorcraft designs.

"We are keen to know if any other manufacturer is doing something similar to Bell or Sikorsky, but our studies to date have not revealed anything," he says.

"If we want to be truly revolutionary in terms of our capability, we only see one programme out there."

While Amlot acknowledges that the UK is "not committed to following FVL", noting that another direct procurement from the USA would not fully support the country's industrial agenda, "it is the programme we are most closely aligned to", based on current timelines.

Questioned by an Airbus Helicopters representative, Amlot remains insistent, noting that during market surveys of Europe's helicopter manufacturers, none of their current or development programmes can fly "revolutionary degrees faster".

He acknowledges that although the French airframer's H160M offers a number of advancements in terms of its acoustic signature and use of carbonfibre, it is "not in the area we anticipate the need to service in the 2030-40 timeframe".

And despite its clean-sheet design, the H160M is "still based on 1960s rotorcraft technology", he says.

British Army studies suggest that a total of around 800 orders would be required to support a "bespoke" European development programme; the service calculates that militaries across the continent require only a maximum of 450 medium-class helicopters in the 2030-2040 period.

However, separate forecasts from a NATO working group on future rotorcraft technology and Leonardo put the figure at over 900 helicopters requiring replacement, excluding those operated by the USA, by 2045.

Both Airbus Helicopters and Leonardo Helicopters are working on high-speed rotorcraft – respectively the Racer compound helicopter and AW609 and Next-generation civil tiltrotor – but these are predominantly for the civil sector.

NATO member states could collectively drive the launch of another high-speed military rotorcraft programme, with initial scoping studies under way.

"As long as we make a start fairly soon we can develop a new system within NATO to replace a number of helicopters over the next 20 years, starting in the 2030s," says Pat Collins, from the UK's Defence Equipment and Support procurement body, who has been co-chairing the science and technology element of the NATO study.

However, the challenge will be to persuade countries to agree a way forward, he says. "It really needs buy-in from a number of nations to say this is what we want from that timeframe."

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Jura said:

interestingly, in the most recent article

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, Russians are positive about the Sea Ceptor

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A new anti-air missile system designed to protect the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers as well as other ships in the fleet has been declared operational, the UK defense ministry has announced.

Developed at a cost of about £850m (approx. US$1.1b), the Sea Ceptor is the Royal Navy’s new short-range shield against air attack.

Already tried and tested, the system will be deployed about the Type 23 frigates and gradually replace the ageing Seawolf missiles. The new Type 26 frigates, three of which are currently under construction, will also be fitted with the system.

Sea Ceptor defends escort vessels within a maritime task group, such as for the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, and combined with the Artisan radar which is becoming prevalent on the Type 23s, tracks more than 800 objects simultaneously.

The system has been installed on four ships in the Type 23 class so far, Argyll, Montrose, Westminster and Northumberland, and was already tested by three of them.

The latest test firing of the system was conducted by the HMS Montrose. The third test firing successfully intercepted a fast-moving drone target.

The missile system is to be declared operational by the UK defense secretary Gavin Williamson during a speech at the Rusi Sea Power conference in London. “Fitting our warships with this ground-breaking technology not only protects our navy but shows we are world leaders at sea,” Williamson will say.

“HMS Argyll will be the first ship to deploy with this cutting-edge system when she heads to support peace and security in the Asia Pacific region later this year.”

Richard Smart, Director Weapons for the MOD’s procurement organisation Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), said: “Sea Ceptor’s entry into service with the Royal Navy is a significant milestone, a massive achievement for everyone involved and a proud moment for the team.

“It’s really exciting to be delivering a new capability that will form part of the protection for the new aircraft carriers and will help to keep our service personnel and our country safe.”

The system uses a new Common Anti-air Modular Missile or CAMM, that weighs 99 kilograms, has a range of over 25 kilometers and reaches speeds of up to three times the speed of sound. According to MBDA specifications, the system will have the ability to deal with multiple targets simultaneously, protecting an area of around 500 square miles (1,300 square kilometers) over land or sea.

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Jura said:

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

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Jura said:

from inside
May 27, 2018
Bahrain or bust – Type 23 frigate to be permanently based in the Gulf

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"Of our 17 non-mothballed escorts ..."
I kinda forgot about that 'strength'

and the last sentence: "The Type 31 programme is the most realistic hope for an increase in numbers, though the five promised are not yet even in the MoD equipment funding plan."

Apr 1, 2016

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Viktor Jav said:

The British armed forces are not taking well to the budgetary cuts at all. And this is coming at a difficult time when Britain's leadership is calling ever more upon them and the British economy is still in the grey are following Brexit.
The next few years or decade would be a rather bleak one for Britannia.

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Jura said:

from inside
May 27, 2018
Bahrain or bust – Type 23 frigate to be permanently based in the Gulf

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... the last sentence: "The Type 31 programme is the most realistic hope for an increase in numbers, though the five promised are not yet even in the MoD equipment funding plan."

...

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A Babcock-led industry team has officially unveiled the Arrowhead 140 concept as their design for the UK defense ministry’s Type 31e general purpose light frigate program.

Babcock, Thales, OMT, BMT, Harland and Wolff and Ferguson Marine are all part of the team bidding for the UK MoD’s £1.25 billion Type 31e program.

As announced on Thirsday, the Arrowhead 140 will have a hull form based on the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates OMT designed for the Royal Danish Navy.

The decision to base the Arrowhead on the in-service Danish frigates is aimed at lowering program risks, the team said, adding that their Type 31e contender was engineered to minimise through-life costs.

At almost 140m the platform will optimise operational flexibility. This ‘wide beam’ ship is easier to design, easier to build and easier to maintain due to its slightly larger size, Babcock said.

“Arrowhead 140 will provide increased survivability, operability and capability – compared to a standard 120m design. When you consider that this ship can be delivered at no extra cost and that it will support improved radar performance, increase platform stability and facilitate better helicopter operations in bad weather, whilst enhancing crew comfort – we believe it will bring a significant edge to modern naval capability,” Craig Lockhart, Babcock’s managing director, Naval Marine said.

Arrowhead 140’s distributed build and assembly approach, comprising Babcock Appledore in North Devon, Ferguson Marine on the Clyde, Harland and Wolff in Belfast with integration at Babcock Rosyth, Fife, optimises the partners’ UK facilities, innovation and skills whilst cleverly ensuring capacity for parallel programmes remains. All of which is geared to generate a genuine resurgence in shipbuilding across the UK and when coupled with the virtual design alliance between Babcock, OMT and BMT it supports the intent of the UK National Shipbuilding Strategy.

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Jura said:

Tuesday at 7:50 AM... speaking of Type31 ... Arrowhead 140 design for UK Type 31e frigate revealed

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(vid inside; didn't watch)

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