Royal Navy matters

[buglerbilly]

U.K. Budget Cuts May Target Royal Navy Amphib Vessels

By andrew chuter

Published: 11 January 2010

LONDON - The future of Britain's amphibious warfare capabilities will come under the microscope this year, along with the rest of the military, as a post-election defense review seeks to square a new government's foreign policy aspirations with a potentially crushing shortage of funds.

The Royal Navy's 5 billion pound ($8 billion) program to build two 65,000-metric-ton aircraft carriers is among the potential casualties in any dial-back in capabilities, as Britain targets defense as a department where spending may be cut to pay down its crippling public finance debt.

Cancellation of one or both carriers by a new government is a concern here, and the move would have a severe impact on potential amphibious assets.

The carriers, the first of which is under construction, have been deliberately designed to be able to operate helicopters such as the Chinook and Apache for amphibious operations as well to carry strike aircraft.

The size of Britain's Royal Navy has been shrinking for years, with escort ship numbers bearing the brunt of the cuts. Last month, the government announced a further reduction, taking a hydrographic ship and a minesweeper out of service to help pay for equipment needed in Afghanistan.

The general downsizing of the Navy, though, has not yet affected amphibious warfare capabilities. The current Labour Party administration may have a poor record funding Britain's armed forces, but capability in amphibious shipping has grown considerably in the last decade or so.

Most of the warships were on the drawing board before Labour came to power in 1997, but they were backed by a strategic defense review the following year, which emphasized expeditionary warfare. The Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have added two Albion-class landing platform docks, four Bay-class landing ship docks and an Ocean-class helicopter assault ship in the last 12 years.

How vulnerable the amphibious capability will be to defense cuts as the next government seeks to remedy Britain's ailing public finances is a decision for the strategic defense review planned by all three major parties here after the election, which must be called by early June.

Nobody knows how the review will play out, but senior naval sources said that while littoral maneuver remains a pillar of the maritime defense strategy, alongside the aircraft carriers and nuclear deterrence, they are confident Britain will retain a significant capability in the sector.

"Where else in the military do you get the combination of being able to deliver anything from soft-power projection to hard-power delivery of violence into the battlespace, at a time and place of our choosing, from a sovereign base sitting off someone's coastline?" a senior naval source said. "Littoral maneuver is part of the family silver and should not be sacrificed for the short-term aberration that is Afghanistan.

"The worst-case scenario is that one or two of the vessels are put on low readiness," the source added. "These are not generally high-end technology ships, and regeneration from being alongside would not be difficult once the MoD's financial issues are resolved. In terms of getting rid of them altogether, no, I don't see that."

A former senior MoD official agreed.

"There is little in the way of early savings to be made from cutting the amphibious warfare capability here except in running cost and people," he said. "In the end, though, whether any of them go or whether they stay comes down to what kind of nation the defense review wants us to be."

Logistically Sustained From Sea

A Royal Navy spokesman justified continued high-level amphibious capabilities, saying, "every military intervention engaged in by the U.K. has been logistically sustained from the sea and therefore has an amphibious underpinning. As an example, Afghanistan was an amphibious operation at its inception, with forces launched from, sustained from and recovered to HMS Illustrious in the Indian Ocean.

"Today, our operations in Afghanistan are dependent on sustainment from the sea, and 50 percent of air power over Afghanistan comes from [U.S. Navy] carrier-based air."

Lee Willett, the head of maritime studies at the Royal United Services Institute here, said one immediate issue for amphibious-capability supporters is the fact that the war in Afghanistan has taken the focus away from naval operations.

"The Royal Marines have a high public profile and are heavily engaged in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, but they are not being used in the way they are trained for - they are being flown in and out of the country by the Royal Air Force," he said.

"Nevertheless, the requirement for high-end punch to go ashore, as well as the ability to conduct conflict prevention and humanitarian roles, gives the British government political and military options, which should make the case for amphibious even stronger in future," Willett said. "If Britain wants to retain expeditionary capabilities, it will need amphibious assets."

A second analyst said it is "all about money. An amphibious warfare capability is expensive. There may have to be cuts, particularly during a time when littoral maneuver is having a holiday while the Marines are used as light infantry in Afghanistan."

Naturally, that is not how the Royal Navy sees its activities. For example, last year the amphibious forces took part in a major naval exercise to the Far East, regenerating core skills along the way. Funds permitting, the Navy plans another big amphibious exercise for 2011, while a strike carrier exercise that will include amphibious assets, including the helicopter assault ship HMS Ocean, is planned with the U.S. military this year.

Cuts to frigate and destroyer fleets are pushing amphibs into roles they were never designed for. For example, Bay-class Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships are in places such as the Caribbean and in the Arabian Gulf supporting operations in Iraq.

The amphibious warfare capabilities of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers could be scrutinized during the defense review.

Willett said the Royal Navy is reinforcing the view that the carriers are more than just strike platforms and provide a flexibility that other assets can't match.

"It is important to keep the two new carriers and HMS Ocean if Britain wanted to guarantee a comprehensive amphibious capability," he said. Ocean is tied into the issue of whether the Navy has three platforms - one carrier strike, one amphibious and one in maintenance. It makes Ocean and its replacement, around the end of the next decade, vital, he said.

The ex-MoD official said that building 65,000-metric-ton warships to be part-time amphibious vessels is an "incredibly expensive" way of providing capability.

"It doesn't really make sense. Perhaps it would be better to buy more Ocean- or Albion-class ships at a fraction of the cost," he said. ■

[Zen9]

Littoral maneuver is part of the family silver and should not be sacrificed for the short-term aberration that is Afghanistan.

Please give this chap a medal, and possibly promote him.

PS. This maybe my only time posting, since the last time I registered and logged out, I could not then logg in after.

[buglerbilly]

Future British Frigate Takes Shape

Thursday January 21st 2010, 9:26 am


Future Surface Combat. BAE art.

by DAVID AXE

BAE Systems has released the first artist’s impressions of the planned Future Surface Combatant for the Royal Navy. The British government has awarded the U.K. defense contractor a 3.4-million-pound contract for initial design work on the vessel, which is intended to replace the existing Type 22 and Type 23 frigates beginning in around a decade.

The FSC will have a lot in common with the U.S. Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship. BAE’s concept art depicts a vessel with the “stealth lines and … other capabilities inherent in USS Freedom,” according to Iain Ballantyne, writing in Warships International Fleet Review. Like the American LCS, FSC will have a huge flight deck, with room for a large helicopter plus vertical-takeoff robots. The two designs both feature stern ramps for quickly launching small boats.

Where FSC and LCS differ is in hull form and “modularity.” The U.S. Navy is experimenting with the mono-hull Freedom as well as the trimaran USS Independence and will pick one for the full production run of more than 50 Littoral Combat Ships. The Royal Navy built a trimaran demonstrator, RV Triton, in the 1990s and found it “clearly not persuasive,” Ballantyne wrote. FSC will be mono-hull.

Also, LCS is built to accomodate different mission modules, in theory allowing a single ship to rapidly switch between anti-sub, anti-mine and surface patrol missions. FSC will probably be hard-wired for its missions, reflecting the European preference.

The Royal Navy wants at least 17 FSCs for anti-sub and patrol missions. The class could also gain air-defence missiles to help protect the two large aircraft carriers under construction. To keep the RN’s current frigates in service until the FSC is ready, several frigates are getting life extensions out to 30 years or more.

[JKM Mk2]

Interesting comment: the RN found the LCS trimiran hull-form to be “clearly not persuasive”

I wonder if that could be a general comment on the Austral design and be part of USN thinking with the LCS program. i.e. 'Independance' is interesting as a concept ship but the GD 'Freedom' design will ultimately win the competition.

Of course there is a different operational concept between LCS and FSC which probably makes the comment irrelevant to the LCS competition.

I also wonder how many of their 17 wishlist the RN will finish up with given their current budget woes!

Cheers
JKM

[buglerbilly]

My opinion they'll be lucky to get 12..............6 x Type 45's and 12 of the FSC..............PATHETIC if one considers that the arguments during the 80's were about the frigate/destroyer force dropping below 32 warships!!!

BUG

[JKM Mk2]

If you also take into account all the other 'proposed' reductions (admitedly only rumors at this stage, but...) max 5/6 Astutes, only one carrier (if any!), Vangard replacement on shakey ground, reduction in RFA, rethinking the Royal Marines and Fleet Air arm ..... Pathetic would have to be the operative word here.

I'm sure the Argies are taking this all in and planning their next move! In a few years time the Royal Navy will not be in much of a position to do very much about anything IMHO!

Cheers
JKM

[buglerbilly]

Building UK’s Future Aircraft Carriers


Final assembly to take place at Babcock’s Rosyth dockyard.

Babcock International looks at one of the UK’s most complex defence programmes

07:40 GMT, March 16, 2010 After many years in gestation, the UK’s new aircraft carrier programme – a highly complex engineering, logistical and project management undertaking – is coming to life, as the manufacturing programme gains momentum. In the following Babcock International, part of the integrated industry/UK MoD alliance, the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, responsible for the design and build of the Queen Elizabeth (QE) Class aircraft carriers, provides an insight to defpro.com readers into the programme and the company’s contribution, from preparations to ongoing work and the progress being made.

As preparations are being made for the imminent shipment of the first Lower Block from Babcock’s Appledore shipyard in Devon to Rosyth (marking a significant milestone and start of the assembly and integration process), and with work having recently begun on a section of the hull at Portsmouth (the fifth UK shipyard to start construction on the programme), work on this national project is now underway at sites across the country, with blocks under construction and many of the systems and machinery items in production.

At 65,000 tonnes, 280 metres long, 74 metres wide and 56 metres high, the two vessels will be the UK’s largest warships, each with a flight deck area of around 4 acres (1.6 hectares) from which to project airpower anywhere in the world. Inevitably, the scale of the operation and technical and logistical complexity of the delivery programme for these vital joint military assets is equally huge.

Infrastructure preparations

At Babcock’s Rosyth dockyard, where final assembly and integration of the massive Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers is to take place, a significant programme of civil engineering works is in-hand, to allow entry of the blocks from the various dockyards where they are being built, assembly in No.1 Dock, and then departure of the completed vessels. Works to modify the dock itself began in March 2008.

“Modifications to No.1 Dock have now been successfully completed within the planned timescale and budget,” Babcock Warships Managing Director Mike Pettigrew comments. “This has included cutting back the huge granite steps (known as ‘altars’) along the sides of the dock to adapt its conventional V-shaped profile to a U-shape, and widening the gated entrance.”

Following the construction of a massive five cell, 50,000 tonne cofferdam (a temporary structure to create a dry work environment), the dock was de-watered in October 2008, and work was then undertaken to remove the intermediate caisson cills and jambs; install 165 rock anchors through the dock walls; build the new propped gate cills and jambs; demolish the original entrance to the dock and construct a new, wider, entrance; and reconstruct the foundations for the new gate. With the removal of the ‘altar steps’ the dock floor is some nine metres wider.

Two intermediate gate positions, recessed into the walls, have been located to suit the build strategy for the carriers, and the modified floating caisson gate has been installed. The primary skidding system, used to support and move the blocks in the dock once the water has been removed, has also been constructed. This carries the upper docking and skidding system comprising tools, jacks and rams required to support and manoeuvre the sections of the vessel to a high degree of accuracy during assembly.

Work to modify the direct entrance is still on-going. Rosyth has the largest non-tidal basin for ship repair in the UK, separated from the Firth of Forth by an existing sliding gate entrance to hold the water back. This is being widened by four metres to over 42 metres, and the substantial engineering project that this entails is due to be completed later this year.

Additionally, rails for the gigantic Goliath crane have also been installed, and the crane itself will arrive at Rosyth this autumn. “After four months to erect, test and commission it, the crane will be operational by early 2011,” Babcock Project Director Sean Donaldson reports. “At a height of 68 metres to the underside of the main beams, and with a span of 120 metres to cover the construction area of the new carriers, the Goliath crane will be largest in the UK. Its 1,000 tonne lifting capacity is provided by three hooks, which provides a valuable degree of flexibility. The crane will lift and place the carrier modules, including the upper blocks and sponsons, as well as the bow block, islands and aircraft lifts.”

Design and build

The design and build of the carriers is managed by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA); an integrated industry/MoD alliance comprising Babcock, BAE Systems, Thales UK and the UK MoD (acting as both partner and client), which is responsible for delivering the ships to time and cost. In addition to the modular build strategy involving construction at different locations, the design is being carried out at a number of different sites using 3D modelling, bringing its own challenges.

Two different CAD tools have been used; Tribon on the forward sections and Foran on the remainder. Babcock’s role includes almost 50% of the CAD-based modelling design and development work on the vessels and, as the assembly site for the carriers, its Rosyth-based engineering design team receives data in both CAD formats. Having one of the largest pools of marine design expertise in Europe, and familiarity with different CAD formats has been an important factor, according to Babcock Integrated Technology Director Ian Lindsay.

“Discussions with the software vendors has led to the successful procurement and integration of both systems allied to the associated hardware, allowing the whole ship to be modelled seamlessly (in itself a project involving hundreds of thousands of man-hours) to ensure that all the separately manufactured elements work together,” he says. “Massive servers are needed to hold all the information, to which all the high spec workstations needed are linked, requiring a high speed of communication for considerable quantities of data. Investment in integrating the software has been backed with parallel infrastructure investment, centralised offices and training programmes.”

Drawing board to reality

As the project moves from modelling to manufacture, construction of various blocks and component parts is now underway at five of the six UK shipyards involved (at Glasgow, Rosyth, Newcastle, Devon, Portsmouth) and is due to begin at Birkenhead in summer 2010, in addition to nearly 100 further contracts throughout the supply chain. The blocks include four Lower Blocks, five upper Central Blocks, 12 sponson units, and two island superstructures, each of which will be transported by sea to Babcock’s Rosyth dockyard for assembly and integration. The project has been aptly described as a gigantic 3D jigsaw puzzle.

Already initial component units for the first carrier sponsons have begun arriving at Rosyth. The first shipment, from Babcock’s Appledore yard in Devon, arrived last August, comprising 11 fabricated units and two flat packs for the first of the sponson blocks, each unit measuring around 10 metres long by 7.5 metres wide and three metres high, and weighing 20 to 36 tonnes. The 12 different sponson units for each carrier form part of the ship structure to provide a wider flight deck.

This was the first of some 20 shipments from Appledore to Rosyth for each of the two vessels, including the 12 sponson units, two shipments for the Lower Block 1 sub blocks, and four shipments for centre block units. For the first carrier these are taking place at various intervals from August last year to early 2012.

Each of the shipments received at Rosyth will allow work to start on combining the 20-40 tonne individual units into 300 tonne blocks. Major outfit can then commence on electrical cabling and equipments, mechanical pipe systems and equipments, ventilation ducts and equipments, furniture and propulsion, weapon or aviation systems. This will lead to completion of the approximately 1500 different compartments and numerous systems, prior to whole ship assembly.

Shipment of Lower Block 1 will be taking place by barge in the coming weeks. Manufacture of this block at Appledore has included the huge ‘bulbous bow’; a protruding ‘bulb’ at the bow of the ship just below the waterline which alters the water flow around the hull to reduce drag, increasing the carrier’s speed, fuel efficiency and stability. Similar in size and appearance to a conventional submarine, manufactured by joining massive steel plates to produce the complex curvature required, this component alone measures a substantial 27 metres long and 9.5 metres maximum height, and weighs some 315 tonnes, giving a good indication of the enormity of the vessel.

“The assembly and integration stage will involve the use of our heavy lifting, alignment, and fabrication skills,” Pettigrew points out. “As block build progresses, two 500 tonne transporters (delivered to Rosyth last year) as well as the Goliath crane, will play a major part.”

System advances

Meanwhile, many of the various components and machinery have been manufactured or are under construction, such as the diesel generators and turbines, aircraft lifts and steering gear, and progress is also being made on a number of the vessels’ systems. Among these, the highly mechanised weapons handling system (HMWHS) , and integrated waste management system (IWMS), both designed and being built by Babcock, are two examples.

Here again, strong progress is being seen, with component delivery milestones recently announced. The first component of the HMWHS, a pair of hydraulically operated magazine doors each measuring 12 metres wide by 3 metres high and weighing 6000kg, were delivered to schedule for integration at the end of last year. “These will be fitted within the deep magazine complex and are designed to operate automatically as part of the HMWHS,” Babcock Integrated Technology director Matt Hatson explains. “Delivery of the doors was required at this early stage in the build programme as their size and location within the ship means that the doors are an integral component of the vessel. The door insert is welded into the bulkhead of the ship.”

The HMWHS provides mechanical handling facilities for moving palletised munitions around the deep magazine and weapon preparation areas, and a series of weapons lifts connect the magazines, hangar, weapon preparation area and flight deck. This innovative solution to munitions handling represents the first maritime application of shore-based commercial warehousing processes using automated systems with all-electric control, adapted for safe transport and stowage of munitions in a warship environment. The system equates to more than 300 linear metres of handling and storage equipment, with multiple stowage locations for high levels of flexibility and redundancy, and plays a critical role in meeting enhanced operational capability requirements. It is estimated to yield a 65% reduction in manpower required for what is traditionally a labour-intensive, time-consuming and potentially hazardous process, thereby helping to reduce through-life costs and adopt increased safety standards.

Similarly, the first major component of the IWMS, the waste water treatment plant, was also delivered at the end of 2009 by Babcock, ready for installation. The QE Class aircraft carriers are to have the first fully integrated waste management system in a warship, which addresses the collection, transfer, treatment, stowage and disembarkation of the various fluid and solid waste streams generated onboard the carriers, and will process these until the outputs are benign and compatible with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) requirements for overboard discharge, or enabling them to be stored efficiently until landed.

Fluid shipboard waste includes, black water (sewage), grey water (from showers, washbasins, galleys and laundries), and bilge water (oily water waste accumulating in the bottom of the hull), while solid waste products include clinical waste, sanitary waste, food waste, paper, glass, metals and plastics. The IWMS integrates these waste streams and final treatment into a coherent system operating through the ship’s Integrated Platform Management System. It will minimise the manpower requirement and remove some of the current labour associated with waste handling, as well as freeing up valuable on-board storage space, and minimising reliance on shore side facilities. The system will also ensure that increasingly stringent environmental and marine pollution control requirements are met.

“Systems such as these, along with the construction of the vessels themselves and the multiple components that involves, are seeing years of combined design, effort, and integration, starting to come to fruition, thanks to close working between the Aircraft Carrier Alliance partners and throughout the national supply chain,” Pettigrew remarks. “As Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth commented recently, the progress already being made to deliver these assets which will be a cornerstone of future defence policy is a testament to the skill and professionalism of UK industry.”

[SteveJH]

Isnt using multiple CAD programs just asking for trouble? Or do they use a common file type?

[buglerbilly]

Nah not really as even opposing systems always have the ability to read each others files............I cannot think of ANY Industry-standard system that cannot do this. Most of the systems are commercially available to anyone in any case so its in no ones interests to make things too hard to swop between each other................

[Chunder]

Nah mate, with most CADs when it comes to the actually projection of the drawing - you can save the file in any number of recognisable formats. Whether the other program will allow you to modify that or not (from licensing & or data recognition) is another matter. I.E Using a more modern data format will not be recognisable on an older system (at least with Autodesk Inventor)

I have not heard of either program.

You might find though that one may be more base modelling, and another having more structural analysis capability in it. As CAD suites can be very expensive (Base will start at around 8 G - all the way up to 100's of G's) along with their updates and yearly releases - companies tend to hang onto their suites as long as possible. So even this is not really a rule of thumb.

Autodesk Inventor gives me about 10 different file formats to save in - and can recognise other file formats & coding.

[JimWH]

Different CAD packages being unable to talk to one-another was one of the problem with the Astute class in the late 1990s. But that's ancient history in CAD terms. I also rather suspect that this particular lesson from the Astute program has been thoroughly learned.

[SteveJH]

OK, fair enough. My latest experience with CAD was Autocad in high school....so...i know nothing....

Anyway, only reason I even brought it up is because, wasnt CAD issues one of the problems they had with Astute?

[buglerbilly]

The ASTUTE problem was due, as far as I know, to lack of people who knew how, not the system they used..........

[buglerbilly]

France offers to join forces with UK's nuclear submarine fleet

Officials from both countries have discussed a deterrent-sharing scheme but Britain has so far opposed the idea

Julian Borger and Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk,

Friday 19 March 2010 00.05 GMT


A Royal Navy Trident nuclear submarine. Photograph: Corbis

France has offered to create a joint UK-French nuclear deterrent by sharing submarine patrols, the Guardian has learned.

Officials from both countries have discussed how a deterrence-sharing scheme might work but Britain has so far opposed the idea on the grounds that such pooling of sovereignty would be politically unacceptable.

Britain and France each maintain "continuous at-sea deterrence", which involves running at least one nuclear-armed submarine submerged and undetected at any given time. It is a hugely expensive undertaking, and its usefulness in a post-cold war world has long been questioned by disarmament campaigners.

Britain's independent deterrent, based on Trident missiles carried by submarines, could cost the country up to £100bn, according to some estimates, once planned modernisation to the fleet has been completed.

France also maintains a four-submarine Strategic Oceanic Force, with each submarine armed with 16 missiles.

Last September the prime minister said Britain's submarine fleet could be reduced from four to three as a gesture towards disarmament, but the total financial savings were reported as relatively small.

"We have talked about the idea of sharing continuity at sea as part of a larger discussion about sharing defence burdens," a French official said.

A British official confirmed that the French government had raised the idea of shared "continuous at-sea deterrence", but added that any such scheme would cause "outrage" in the midst of an election campaign.

Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown discussed the idea when the French president visited London in March 2008. The joint declaration afterwards simply said the two countries would "foster our bilateral dialogue on nuclear deterrence".

The same month, Sarkozy hinted at the potential for shared deterrence in a speech at Cherbourg. "Together with the United Kingdom, we have taken a major decision: it is our assessment that there can be no situation in which the vital interests of either of our two nations could be threatened without the vital interests of the other also being threatened," he said.

Sarkozy and Brown met again in Downing Street last Friday and "discussed some issues on the nuclear agenda", according to Downing Street, but he would not say whether the idea of joint UK-French deterrence had been explored further.

Following an underwater collision between French and British nuclear-armed submarines last February, France's defence minister, Herve Morin, said the two navies would consider co-ordinating patrols. "Between France and Britain, there are things we can do together … one of the solutions would be to think about the patrol zones," he said.

It is unclear whether Morin's offer was taken up by the Royal Navy. The Sarkozy proposal would go much further – Britain and France would take turns to maintain an underwater vigil.

Proposals for closer UK-French defence co-operation have been driven by Paris, British defence officials emphasised yesterday, though Brown may raise the issue in remarks today to the Foreign Press Association in London.

Britain and France could synchronise nuclear deterrent patrols and co-operate in the deployment of surface fleet task forces, sources say. However, British officials played down the possibility of formal agreements on the nuclear deterrent – or on sharing each other's aircraft carriers.

"We could not make a full commitment," a defence source said, referring to the deployment of carriers. He referred to the British intervention in Sierra Leone 10 years ago and Iraq. France did not "want to have anything to do with" either operation, the source said.

However, both governments say they recognise the potential scope for much closer co-operation both in terms of strategy and in procuring new weapons systems.

Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, has spelled out the possibilities of closer co-operation on a number of occasions recently.

"Our most important bilateral relationship in Europe is with France," he said in a keynote speech. "Most importantly, we are Europe's only two nuclear powers and we contribute greatly to Nato's security because of this. A future Conservative government will continue and strengthen this relationship."

He added that if the Conservatives formed the next government, the Ministry of Defence would invite France to make a formal submission to the promised Strategic Defence and Security Review "stating what they expect from their relationship with the United Kingdom".

Fox told the Commons earlier this week: "We will need to be able to project power on a strategic level alongside the US and France."

He is expected today to point to the advantages of closer defence procurement co-operation with France – on a bilateral basis, he will emphasise.

Successive British governments have been committed to a policy of "continuous at-sea deterrence", with one nuclear-armed submarine on patrol at any time. Naval commanders in the past have argued that to ensure this would require four Trident submarines – one on patrol, one preparing to go out on patrol, with two others being refitted, perhaps one needing an unexpected and long period in dock.

Those in favour of maintaining four submarines also argue that producing three would be almost as expensive, because many of the costs go on initial research and development, building the infrastructure and training the workforce.

France has three nuclear-armed submarines plus a new sub yet to be deployed. Unlike Britain it also has aircraft capable of carrying nuclear bombs.

[Riđđu]

[B]France offers to join forces with UK's nuclear submarine fleet

Officials from both countries have discussed a deterrent-sharing scheme...

De Gaulle would not be happy to see this! Anyway, remember what happened couple of years ago when M. Sarkozy proposed nuclear weapons burden sharing with Germany…

[buglerbilly]

Royal Navy Gets Green Light on Frigates, Subs

By andrew chuter

Published: 25 Mar 2010 14:43

LONDON - Britain's Royal Navy has the government's green light to get a new generation of frigates and two more nuclear attack submarines, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth told Parliament.

BAE Systems Surface Ships has a four-year, 127 million pound ($189 million) contract for assessment work on the Type 26 frigate, which is to replace Type 22 and 23 warships. The first Type 26 is to enter service around the start of the 2020s.

Part of the Future Surface Combatant program, the Type 26s will be used primarily to ward off submarines and support land warfare. Expected to displace around 6,000 tons, the warship may carry vertically launched precision strike and anti-air missiles, and include a mission bay on the stern to launch small boats, unmanned vehicles and special forces.

A second element of the FSC program, a general-purpose warship, is in the concept planning stage.

Last month, an MoD official said the ministry was holding talks with Australia and New Zealand about cooperating on the FSC program.

The MoD has also received approval to move ahead with the fifth and sixth Astute-class nuclear attack submarines. The government stopped short of giving full construction go-ahead to the two vessels but said it is providing 300 million pounds split roughly evenly for initial construction - primarily early steelwork - on boat five and long-lead procurement activities for boat six.

The MoD has already spent close to 150 million pounds on long-lead items for boat five.

The Astute submarines cost around 1 billion pounds each. The first of class, HMS Astute, is presently undergoing sea trials; it is to be handed to the Royal Navy later this year.

A seventh Astute-class boat is planned for the Royal Navy, although the government hasn't officially committed to purchasing it.

Still, union leaders from Barrow-in-Furness, where Britain's nuclear submarines are built, met defense procurement minister Quentin Davies earlier this week and were told the government is committed to building seven Astutes.

A final decision on the seventh boat will likely have to await a defense review planned after a general election expected for early May.

In a third maritime-related deal, the MoD said it had signed a 15-year strategic business agreement with Babcock International covering surface warships and nuclear submarine support. The deal extends Babcock's management roles at Clyde and Devonport naval bases, and covers engineering on major warships and nuclear submarines.

The naval contract announcements are the second time this week the government has revealed major defense contracts. Earlier, they named General Dynamics UK as the winner of a specialist armored vehicles deal for the British Army that could eventually be worth billion of pounds. They also said they were buying three Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft from the U.S. government to replace the Royal Air Forces retiring fleet of Nimrod R1 aircraft. A further round of defense orders are expected from the government next week ahead of an announcement of a date for the general election.

[buglerbilly]

Contract signed for Assessment Phase of Navy's next warships

An Equipment and Logistics news article

25 Mar 10

The MOD has signed a contract for the Assessment Phase of the Royal Navy's next generation of warships - the Type 26 combat ship.


Computer-generated image of the Type 26 combat ship
[Picture: BAE Systems 2010]

A team led by BAE Systems Surface Ships, working with the MOD, will consider design proposals for the Type 26 combat ship, named in recognition of its planned multiple roles.

The Type 26 will replace the Type 22 and 23 frigates, which are to begin leaving service at the end of the decade. The ship will provide support for land operations as well as undertaking other key tasks such as anti-submarine warfare.

The Assessment Phase will play a critical part in ensuring that the necessary capabilities identified during the Strategic Defence Review are incorporated into the Type 26 design.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced the contract for the Type 26's Assessment Phase today.

He also announced that progress will continue on the Astute Class of submarines, the largest and most advanced attack submarines ever ordered for the Royal Navy.

The MOD is proceeding with the initial build work for Boat 5, as well as procurement activities to ensure key items for Boat 6 are available when needed.

The MOD has also negotiated a long term partnering agreement with Babcock Marine covering surface ship and submarine support activities.

This 15-year commercial arrangement - known as a Terms of Business Agreement (TOBA) - will generate financial benefits to the Department of over £1.2bn.

It represents the MOD's ongoing commitment to providing world-class capability for our Armed Forces in the most cost-efficient manner.


Computer-generated image of the Type 26 combat ship
[Picture: BAE Systems 2010]

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said:

"Planning for future defence is crucial. It is our duty to provide key equipment that will ensure the UK is properly prepared to meet its own defence needs in an ever changing world, and continues to play an important role in maintaining global security.

"Programmes like the Type 26 and Astute not only ensure the Royal Navy continues to have cutting-edge capability but also sustain the industry that supports them.

"These commitments, and the long-term partnering agreement with Babcock Marine, will protect the long-term future of the maritime industry and preserve the industrial capability and skills needed to carry out future programmes cost-effectively."

First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, said:

"These programme announcements are welcome news for the Royal Navy. You simply cannot have an effective Navy without capable frigates, and the Type 26 combat ship will form the future backbone of the Royal Navy's surface combatant force, alongside the new Type 45 destroyers.

"These ships will be highly versatile, able to operate across the full spectrum of operations, from war-fighting to disaster relief.

"The Astute Class submarine gives us a real edge, exploiting stealth and covert presence to offer enormous utility across a wide range of military tasks, everything from anti-submarine warfare, through intelligence-gathering, to striking targets far inland."

The key design aims for the Type 26 are for a ship that is:

• Versatile - able to undertake a number of roles;
• Flexible - to adapt to the changing needs of defence;
• Affordable - both in build and support through its service life;
• Exportable - designed with the international market in mind.

[Riđđu]

Computer-generated image of the Type 26 combat ship
[Picture: BAE Systems 2010]


What is the logic behind that hangar arrangement? Some British tradition?

[Deks]

No VLS on the T26? I had thought that was something of a standard for new surface combatants, why is it not appropriate here ?

[Gubler, A.]

What is the logic behind that hangar arrangement? Some British tradition?

The hangar is to be combined with a multi role mission deck like on LCS with space for containers and small boats/UUVs and the like. As to having a CIWS on the aft starboard side this would appear to be a top weight issue to keep it a deck down despite cutting the firing arcs in half.


No VLS on the T26? I had thought that was something of a standard for new surface combatants, why is it not appropriate here ?

There is space forward between the CIWS and gun for a small VLS pack for Sea Wolf/ESSM sized missiles. It’s only a ‘small’ ship that big gun up forward is a 76mm Oto gun. This is a traditional ‘frigate’ (ie tradition as in Nelson) and similar in concept to the USN’s 4,000 tonne LCS and the RAN’s 2,000 tonne SEA 1180 Offshore Patrol Combatant ie ‘corvette’ project. So the focus on mission systems is the mission deck, self defence and maritime interdiction weapons.

[buglerbilly]

I wouldn't go drawing too many conclusions from these images.............this design is in early conceptual stages and what eventuates when Final Design stage is achieved in 6-7 years could be completely different from this..............

The first warship is unlikely to be built much before 2020 or later............

[buglerbilly]

UK Government Go-Ahead for Fifth and Sixth Astute Submarines

25 Mar 2010 | Ref. 065/2010

Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom: BAE Systems today welcomed news it had been given the go-ahead to begin constructing the fifth Astute class submarine and start the procurement process for a sixth vessel.

It follows a statement made earlier today by UK Secretary of State for Defence, Bob Ainsworth, in which he underlined the Government’s continuing support for the Astute programme.

The first of class Astute attack submarine is currently undertaking sea trials, the second (Ambush) is due to be launched later this year, and the third and fourth (Artful and Audacious) are both advanced in their construction.

The Secretary of State said: “The Government has made a contractual commitment to proceed with the initial build of Astute Boat 5 and long lead procurement activities associated with Astute Boat 6, at a total cost of over £300M. This commitment is necessary now to ensure a consistent workload for the UK’s submarine building industry.

“This investment will allow the timely delivery of the Astute class boats, which are the most advanced attack submarines ever ordered for the Royal Navy. Furthermore, since the same industrial skills, experience and capability are necessary to deliver the successor deterrent submarine programme, this investment will play a part in ensuring a smooth transition from the Astute programme to the successor deterrent.”

John Hudson, Managing Director of BAE Systems, Submarine Solutions commented: “I am delighted the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the submarine programme today. This order represents a key milestone in the overall Astute class submarine programme, and underlines the Government’s confidence in BAE Systems’ ability to deliver an advanced submarine capability for the Royal Navy.

“The commitment to the successor programme will allow BAE Systems to continue to recruit highly-skilled engineers to meet existing and future workload requirements, and progress the concept design work. Just as importantly, it will help sustain key skills and capabilities throughout our workforce, our suppliers and partners.

“The 7,400 tonne submarines will be the fifth and sixth of what is expected to be a seven boat Astute class, the largest and most powerful attack submarines ever built in Britain for the Royal Navy. The Astute class will replace the Swiftsure and Trafalgar class, which have been in-service since the 1970s and 1980s respectively.

Work is expected to start immediately at the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness.

The first of class Astute submarine successfully completed its first phase of sea trials having left Barrow for its operational base in Faslane in November 2009. The programme of sea trials continues, including a successful first at-sea dive off the coast of Scotland.

Test and commissioning of second in class Ambush continues ahead of its scheduled launch later this year. The command deck module – the largest of the boat’s modules - has been shipped into third in class Artful, successfully completing one of the boat’s 2010 milestones. Construction of major steelwork for fourth in class Audacious continues after its keel was laid in 2009.

[buglerbilly]

Bow sections of Navy's new carrier are ready

An Equipment and Logistics news article

6 Apr 10

The bow sections of one of the UK's two new aircraft carriers have now been completed and have set sail to where the ships' will be assembled.


A bow section for the Navy's new carrier
[Picture: POA(PHOT) N Harper]

The bow sections for the Queen Elizabeth carrier are travelling by barge from Babcock's Appledore shipyard in Devon to Rosyth in Scotland, where the ships will be assembled. The barge journey is expected to take six days.

The two sections will make up the bow of the ship, and together weigh about 400 tonnes.

The larger of the two sections, called the bulbous bow, is similar in size and shape to a conventional submarine, yet only a tenth of the full length of the ship.

It is designed to increase speed, fuel efficiency and stability, sitting just below the waterline to help the ship cut cleanly through the water, reducing drag.

The second section sits above, making up decks seven to five below the aircraft hangar.

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies, said:

"The progress we are making with the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers is not only good news for the Royal Navy it is good news for defence and the UK defence industry.

"This national project will sustain thousands of jobs in shipyards and in the wider supply chain.

"The carriers will be a cornerstone of future defence policy and a key asset for our Armed Forces as a whole, providing four acres of sovereign territory which can be deployed to support operations anywhere in the world."



The bow sections set sail
[Picture: POA(PHOT) N Harper]

Chief of Material Fleet Vice Admiral Andrew Mathews said:

"Seeing these sections, which are only a small part of the ship, makes the overall scale of the carriers clear.

"The transportation of the bow sections to Rosyth will be a key step in the construction of these hugely important ships.

"The two Aircraft Carriers of QE Class will provide the UK with a large, deployable airfield capable of projecting airpower globally, including fast jets, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, to support Joint Operations for up to 50 years.

"It was important from the start of the project to achieve maximum efficiency using new construction techniques. For example, the ‘block integration' method has allowed us to build the ship in many locations simultaneously, reducing the time it takes to construct. It has the added advantage of spreading the economic benefits widely across the country."

Work now continues on the forward section of the ship, from the keel up to the flight deck.

Shipyards throughout the UK, including Glasgow, Rosyth, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Devon and Birkenhead are contributing to the project.

[buglerbilly]

From The Times April 9, 2010

US-Russia nuclear pact means UK can delay Trident renewal, analysts say

Deborah Haynes, Defence Editor

The US-Russia pact offers Britain a chance to delay any decision on renewing its nuclear deterrent rather than pushing ahead with an expensive plan to replace a fleet of Trident submarines, analysts said.

Such a move, opposed only by the Liberal Democrats, would lock Britain into at least another three decades of keeping a full-time at-sea deterrent in contrast with disarmament efforts championed by President Obama.

“The more momentum President Obama generates on disarmament, the more out of place the immediate decision to renew Trident will look,” Ian Kearns, a senior Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told The Times. “It’s about exploring options for delaying the UK decision for another five years in order to save money and signal UK support for Obama’s agenda.”

Britain has four Trident submarines, which are up for renewal at a cost of £20 billion. Labour and the Conservatives believe that the replacement must go ahead to ensure Britain’s security. They said that postponing the decision on whether to replace the submarines would result in a gap in the deterrent because Britain’s nuclear arsenal has already been reduced to its lowest level.

In contrast, the Liberal Democrats are in favour of increasing the lifespan of the current Trident fleet, while looking at possible alternatives such as medium-range nuclear missiles launched from a tactical submarine.

Tom Collina, research director for the Washington-based Arms Control Association, agreed that the new US-Russia treaty should prompt other nuclear powers to review their much smaller arsenals.

“For countries like the UK and China, it is time to start thinking about how you can start contributing to the process,” he said, while acknowledging that the US and Russia would have to make significant cuts to their stockpiles before the rest of the nuclear club would be willing to join a multilateral disarmament process.

[buglerbilly]

Britain needs the Navy to provide firepower – not a ferry service

The Senior Service has been sidelined in Afghanistan but still has a role to play, says Con Coughlin.

By Con Coughlin, UK Daily Telegraph

Published: 6:30AM BST 23 Apr 2010

HMS Albion arriving at Portsmouth harbour, carrying stranded service personnel and holidaymakers from Santander Photo: Helen Yates In times of crisis, there is no more reassuring sight than a Royal Navy warship hoving into view. In Victorian times, gunboat diplomacy was regularly employed to protect British citizens from the evil designs of foreign potentates, or to persuade hostile governments to think twice before taking on the might of the British Empire. More recently, the Navy's contribution was vital to the success of the Falklands campaign, while British warships have seen active service in many of the world's major conflict zones, from the Gulf to Sierra Leone.

So the arrival of HMS Albion at the northern Spanish port of Santander this week, to rescue hundreds of stranded Service personnel and tourists, serves as timely reminder of how important it is for this island nation to have a well-resourced and effective Navy.

Gordon Brown's shabby leadership betrays our vital mission in AfghanistanIn terms of the long and noble tradition of our Senior Service, rescuing a school football team, a Girl Guide troop and the Mayor of London's father hardly compares with the feats of the past. But, then, the fact that the Royal Navy can only get into the headlines these days by providing an emergency ferry service for fractious holidaymakers is indicative of just how little public attention is paid to it. Indeed, its role in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan has been so peripheral that many people might be surprised to discover that we still have a navy at all.

In fairness, it is not the Navy's fault that the two major wars Britain has fought in the early 21st century have been in countries with little or no access to the sea. These conflicts have been low-intensity, where the overwhelming priority has been force density – boots on the ground – rather than the hi-tech stuff, such as cruise missiles and anti-aircraft batteries, at which the Navy excels. As with the RAF, the Navy has been mainly reduced in Afghanistan to providing a support role for the movement of troops and equipment to and from the conflict zone. The only contribution of real note has come from the Royal Marines, who have fought heroically.

The Navy has also been badly hit by Gordon Brown's insistence on footing the bill for the war in Afghanistan by slashing expenditure on other parts of the defence budget, with the result that it has often had more ships moored at Portsmouth than on active service. Yet it must share some of the blame for its decline in the military rankings, given its less than impressive showing on those rare occasions when its expertise has been called upon.

Senior naval officers are still on the receiving end of cruel barbs from the other Services about the 15 personnel kidnapped by Iran's Revolutionary Guards three years ago, after the crew of HMS Cornwall failed to intervene. When they appeared, weeping, on Iranian television, the young sailors seemed more concerned about losing their iPods than the humiliation their capture heaped on the Navy. There was further embarrassment last year with the failure to prevent an elderly British couple being abducted from their yacht by Somali pirates, even though armed personnel were nearby.

But even if it appears that the Navy has seen better days, it still has a crucial role to play – a factor that will need to be given serious consideration when the next government begins the long-overdue defence review. Just because most of our military effort today is focused on fighting a war in a landlocked country does not mean that the wars of the future will be fought in similar circumstances. Prior to the September 11 attacks, one of our most successful overseas interventions was in Sierra Leone. The aircraft carrier Illustrious made a crucial contribution: with its Harrier jets providing vital air cover for the Paras fighting on the ground. The carrier's presence also allowed helicopters to fly troops and supplies to and from the combat zone.

Sierra Leone could provide the model for future operations, where the three Services pool whatever resources are needed. Certainly, the need for greater flexibility is likely to increase after the general election, as none of the three main parties appears to have an appetite for committing to the type of open-ended intervention we have seen in Afghanistan. After more than a decade of fighting Blair's wars, the last thing Labour wants is another overseas adventure. The Tories seem keen to revert to Douglas Hurd's policy of keeping out of any conflict that does not directly impinge upon Britain's national interests, while the pacifism of the Liberal Democrats makes them constitutionally unsuited for the prosecution of modern warfare.

That means that the next government will be more inclined to use the Sierra Leone model than the Afghan one if it became necessary to launch military action against Islamist terrorists in Yemen or Somalia. And to guarantee success, we will need all the naval firepower we can muster.

[buglerbilly]

UK nuclear submarines 'in service despite serious safety flaws', leaked memo finds

Two British nuclear submarines were allowed out to sea with “serious” safety problems that could have led to a fatal explosion, a leaked government memo has disclosed.

By Andrew Hough

Published: 8:00AM BST 03 May 2010


HMS Tireless, pictured, and HMS Turbulent were allowed to leave port with important safety valves blocked. Photo: MoD

HMS Tireless and HMS Turbulent were allowed to leave port with important safety valves blocked in what the Ministry of Defence memo admitted was a “serious incident".

The leaked memo, written last week by senior MoD officials, found that nuclear reactors on both vessels were allowed to be used "without overpressure protection on steam generators".

The blocked valves, contained on the hull of the submarines, meant steam from nuclear-powered boilers would not have been able to be released in an emergency.

Experts said the build up of pressure could have led to an on-board explosion which could have caused a deadly radiation leak.

The submarines should have been declared were unfit for service.

During this time HMS Turbulent was involved in operations around the Atlantic and visited Bergen in Norway, the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, and Faslane naval base near Glasgow.

The memo said the problem went undetected on HMS Turbulent for more than two years and unnoticed on HMS Tireless for more than a year.

The problems were finally detected last month, two months after Tireless started sea trials from its home port at Devonport naval base in Plymouth.

The memo, circulated to managers, naval personnel and civilian workers and leaked to The Guardian, concluded the safety flaws raised major questions about the "weak and ambiguous" safety procedures in the Royal Navy.

It admitted the incidents should have been prevented.

"Despite there being several potential safety nets, none succeeded in identifying and arresting the events," it stated.

As a result senior officials have ordered a complete shake-up of safety procedures.

John Ainslie, a spokesman for Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, who monitors nuclear submarine activity, said such detailed safety warnings and criticisms were proof of the MoD’s concern.

"This is one of a series of serious problems that they've had with the nuclear fleet and at some point, there will be serious consequences," he said.

John Large, a consultant on nuclear safety who advises governments on submarine safety, added: "It was a very significant failure.

“These two submarines were unfit for service. It was a perilous situation."

The MoD admitted “issues” were identified during checks with a spokesman confirming the contents of the memo.

“We can confirm that, as part of routine maintenance checks, an issue was identified on HMS Turbulent and HMS Tireless which has now been resolved,” the spokesman said.

“We take safety extremely seriously and as soon as we were aware of this potential issue we took action to address the problem.

“Detailed investigations to assess the cause and any possible safety implications are ongoing and it is too early to speculate on the outcome of those investigations.”

[buglerbilly]

The original Guardian article..........

Nuclear submarines went to sea with potentially disastrous defectBritish vessels Turbulent and Tireless allowed to leave port with safety valves sealed off, risking catastrophic explosion, leaked memo reveals

Severin Carrell and Rob Edwards guardian.co.uk,

Sunday 2 May 2010 17.56 BST Article history

Two British nuclear submarines went to sea with a potentially disastrous safety problem that left both vessels at risk of a catastrophic accident, the Guardian can reveal.

Safety valves designed to release pressure from steam generators in an emergency were completely sealed off when the nuclear hunter killers Turbulent and Tireless left port, a leaked memo discloses.

The problem went undetected on HMS Turbulent for more than two years, during which time the vessel was on operations around the Atlantic, and visited Bergen in Norway, the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, and Faslane naval base near Glasgow.

It was not noticed on HMS Tireless for more than a year, and was finally detected last month, two months after Tireless started sea trials from its home port at Devonport naval base in Plymouth.

Tireless was involved in another serious incident in 2007, when two submariners were killed in an onboard explosion in air purification equipment. In 2000, it was stranded in Gibraltar for nearly a year after a leak from pipework leading from its reactor, putting immense strain on British relations with Spain.

The Ministry of Defence memo, which was written last week, admits that both cases involving the sealed-off valves were "a serious incident" that raised major questions about "weak and ambiguous" safety procedures at Devonport dockyard and within the Royal Navy.

The blocked valves, on the hull of the submarines, meant that steam from nuclear-powered boilers could not have been released in an emergency, leading to a potentially disastrous build-up of pressure.

John Large, a consultant on nuclear safety who advises governments on submarine safety, said: "It was a very significant failure. These two submarines were unfit for service. It was a perilous situation."

He said sealing these valves was like blocking the valve on a domestic pressure cooker. If pressure had built up to dangerous levels, the submarine's steam circuit could have burst, leaking radioactivity into the submarine and shutting down the reactor. "There would be a risk of fatalities," Large said. "This was such a glaring and fundamental omission. It's jaw-dropping."

The MoD memo, which has been circulated to thousands of managers, naval personnel and civilian workers at Devonport and Faslane naval bases, admits that the incidents should have been prevented but that safety procedures were seriously flawed.

"Despite there being several potential safety nets, none succeeded in identifying and arresting the events" before the submarines left the dockyard, the memo reveals. It adds there has been a major shake-up of safety procedures.

The MoD told the Guardian: "We can confirm that, as part of routine maintenance checks, an issue was identified on HMS Turbulent and HMS Tireless which has now been resolved.

"We take safety extremely seriously and as soon as we were aware of this potential issue we took action to address the problem. Detailed investigations to assess the cause and any possible safety implications are ongoing and it is too early to speculate on the outcome of those investigations."

The memo said that the problem arose after the hull valves were replaced by "test blanks" during repair and maintenance work at the privatised Devonport nuclear dockyard. These test blanks were fitted for "essential" leakage tests on the hulls and "useful" strength and leakage tests of steam discharge pipes inside the vessels.

They should have been removed before the submarines left the dockyard to begin their pre-operational "work-up" voyages in advance of going on patrol. But there was "poor" discipline at Devonport.

The nuclear reactors on both vessels were allowed to be turned on and operated in sea trials and during full operations "without overpressure protection on steam generators", the memo states.

John Ainslie, a spokesman for Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, who monitors nuclear submarine activity, said that the very detailed safety warnings and criticisms in the memo showed the MoD was extremely worried about the discovery.

"This is one of a series of serious problems that they've had with the nuclear fleet and at some point, there will be serious consequences," he said. "What this document picks out is a concern that they're missing something as serious as this because the maintenance procedures are very complex. There's the clear potential that they're not picking things up that they should."

[buglerbilly]

Now the Navy gets a 'drone' of its own: Unmanned attack boat to be used against maritime terrorists and pirates

By Mail On Sunday Reporter

Last updated at 10:24 PM on 26th June 2010

Military chiefs have tested a revolutionary unmanned attack boat to use in the war against maritime terrorists and pirates who threaten British ships.

The new £8million remote-controlled craft – which could have come straight from the pages of a James Bond novel – is being considered by officers in the Special Boat Service, the maritime equivalent of the SAS.

The 35ft-long Israeli-built ‘Silver Marlin’ can be used for electronic warfare and mine clearance. Coated in bullet-resistant Kevlar and equipped with radar, it has a 7.62mm calibre weapon system with laser aiming, range finder and target illuminator and can carry missiles.


Remote-controlled: A Silver Marlin attack boat on a test run

With a maximum speed of 45 knots, the drone can operate for 24 hours over a distance of 500 miles. It carries a TV camera to send back images of its missions and has sensors to detect small boats or obstructions up to four miles away.

SBS officers and civil servants recently trialled the Silver Marlin with American special forces Seals in the Middle East.

A senior Special Forces source said: ‘These vessels have huge potential and can be exposed to a higher risk than operations involving troops. They could clearly be used ahead of an amphibious assault, steered by controllers through minefields to identify an approach to land while providing real time pictures for commanders.’

An MoD spokeswoman said: ‘There are no current plans to assess or procure Unmanned Surface Vehicles. However the MoD continues to explore a range of options to meet our future capability requirements.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289849/Now-Navy-gets-drone-Unmanned-attack-boat-used-maritime-terrorists-pirates.html#ixzz0s15hGDvw

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

MBDA Says Aster 30 Problems Resolved

Posted by Robert Wall at 6/28/2010 5:08 AM CDT

I'm sure the RN will be ecstatic about this................

A series of Aster 30 firings from French, Italian and British vessels appear to have validated a fix MBDA had to make to the air and ballistic missile interceptor after performance problems were unearthed.

The Royal Navy last year suffered two failures with the Sea Viper configuration, which forced MBDA to make design changes and also to delay delivery of further Aster 30s.


(credit: MBDA)

The company now says that it has completed a series of launches to demonstrate that the design changes work. “The trials were conducted over a range of scenarios of steadily increasing complexity, culminating in a final trial featuring a salvo firing against a sea skimming target performing a high-g terminal maneuver,” the company says.

Launches were conducted from the Italian Andrea Doria frigate, the French Forbin frigate, and British Longbow trial barge using two ranges in the Mediterranean.

[JimWH]

Well that's a relief. Shooting from Daring herself is due before the end of the year isn't it?
I wonder when Longbow is going to decommission, and what they're going to do with her mission systems when they're done?
[IIRC 8 SAMPSON-PAAMS have been built, the first production standard prototype is now a land-based simulator, the second production standard prototype is aboard Longbow, and the six production sets are aboard the Darings. Like the 3 prototype Nimrod MRA4, that extra set does seem like a great opportunity to fractionally increase capability if extra cash becomes available any time in the next 5 years time.]

Actually, my mistake, 3 prototype SAMPSON were built. One was used in testing, one was used for system integration (and is now the simulator) and one was used aboard Longbow. Which means there are going to be two of them floating around...

[buglerbilly]

NOT in the next 3-5 years but I expect more Darings to be ordered, at least two but hopefully more...............let's see if anything comes out of the new review?

The Con/Lib Dem Coalition I expect to be in power for at least two Terms, possibly three which should be good news for the Forces.

[SteveJH]

I thought the System on Longbow and the system on the Simulator were supposed to go onto the 5th and sixth Darings.

[buglerbilly]

They were or so it was said............but 5 and 6 don't exist at the moment................

[SteveJH]

They were or so it was said............but 5 and 6 don't exist at the moment................

5 was launched last October, 6 is supposed to be launched this October. I think that means they exist.

[buglerbilly]

My bad, I meant 7 & 8............obviously I need to use more fingers when counting

[buglerbilly]

Review into Costs of Trident

(Source: U.K Ministry of Defence; issued July 6, 2010)

A review of the cost of renewing the Trident nuclear system will look at a number of elements associated with the deterrent to ensure they provide value for money, Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said yesterday.

Dr Fox said during a defence debate in the House of Commons yesterday that the Government has committed to maintaining Britain's nuclear deterrent but that the renewal of Trident should be scrutinised to ensure value for money.

Dr Fox said the value for money review would be completed by the end of the month and the findings would go to the Cabinet Office and be considered by the National Security Council.

The council's conclusions will 'inform' both the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the cross-Whitehall Comprehensive Spending Review which will be published in the autumn.

At Commons question time Dr Fox said:

"The programme will cover the timetable itself, submarine numbers, the number of missiles, missile tubes and warheads, infrastructure and other support costs, and the industrial supply chain."

On the commitment to maintain Trident and not to consider it in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, Dr Fox said:

"We know that abroad there are a number of countries trying to develop nuclear weapons.

"We do not know what will happen between now and 2015, the timescale for the Trident replacement programme, and we cannot play fast and loose with Britain's defences."

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Teams Vie To Provide C2 Helos for UK Carrier

Posted by Bradley Peniston | July 21st, 2010

By ANDREW CHUTER, FARNBOROUGH, UK – The first skirmishes between two industry teams vying to provide Britain’s new aircraft carrier force with an airborne surveillance and control capability were being played out at the Farnborough air show this week.


The Thales UK / AgustaWestland proposal for the Royal Navy's Crow's Nest program hangs a sensor from the ramp of an AW101 Merlin. (Thales image)

A Thales UK and AgustaWestland team and a rival offering from Lockheed Martin, possibly in partnership with Northrop Grumman, were briefing Ministry of Defence officials on their solutions to provide the Royal Navy with a surveillance capability fitted to AW101 Merlin helicopter.

The long-serving Sea King Mk7, which provides the current capability, is being taken out of service in 2016 and the RN has been searching for some time for a replacement.

V-22 Osprey, Hawkeye and other options have been looked at and discarded. Now the British have settled on the Merlin platform, which is already widely used by the military here.

The Merlin offers longer endurance and can fly at higher altitude then the Sea King. Additionally, the British will have spare airframes in their inventory to use for the requirement.

Around 10 machines are expected to be required by the RN, although the number and the requirement will not be settled until after the strategic defense and security review is complete in October.

The two potential bidders for the project, known as Crow’s Nest, are proposing radically different solutions.

The Thales/AgustaWestland team is offering to use the existing Searchwater 2000 radar and Cerberus mission control system from the Sea King in what it calls a “low-cost, low-risk” solution to provide the airborne surveillance and control capability for the new Queen Elizabeth carriers when the first of two warships enter service in 2016.

The Sea Kings were recently upgraded with improved radar and other capabilities and the system is now being used overland as part of the surveillance operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Thales-supplied Searchwater would be palletized, allowing rapid role-on roll-off to increase the role flexibility of the machine. The radar is deployed through the rear ramp of the Merlin.

Lockheed declined to discuss the details of its potential proposal.

Industry executives at the show said the company is looking at using a Northrop Grumman AESA radar adapted from a fighter application.

Under the Lockheed plan, several radar arrays are believed to be dotted around the Merlin fuselage to give the 360-degree coverage demanded by the RN.

Lockheed said in a statement that it was “in discussions with industry partners, including Northrop Grumman, who can work with us to offer a proven yet technically superior design for the Crow’s Nest opportunity.

The U.K. arm of Lockheed Martin has been involved with the AgustaWestland-built Merlin for the last 18 years as the systems integrator. It is currently under contract to provide an extensive mid-life upgrade of avionics and other systems on the machine.

The Merlin is already used by the RN in the anti-submarine role and a number of AW101s used by the British Army in the support role will be switched to provide seaborne lift when the entire Sea King fleet is pensioned off mid-decade.

[Deks]

Is utilising the merlin platform purely a cost-cutting measure? It'd make sense if so, but I wouldn't have thought so otherwise.

[JimWH]

Hawkeye was effectively ruled out when the UK confirmed the decision to go with F-35B: although it was possible to still have a CVF with cat and traps for the AEW, doing so would come at a considerable price in both monetary terms and operationally (i.e. flight deck ops would become a nightmare). V-22 was some advantages over Merlin, but again comes at a considerable price*, and so I'm not surprised that it's been eliminated either. Merlin as the preferred platform was really to be expected.
As is the offer to bring across the Cerberus mission systems: the closest thing to zero-risk that can realistically be organised. I am intrigued by the Lockheed bid though, without more details it is difficult to assess, but the idea sounds interesting. It also sounds complicated, and I'd be quite surprised if they could get the system to a workable state by 2016. Even if the dollar hose principle is applied (pour money onto a project and a working system grows).
So, I'm backing Cerberus as the most likely final solution, with the hope that in the medium term (2016-2020) an upgraded radar system can be mated to the system to make use of the additional payload and altitude available to the Merlin.

*Buying the aircraft, and then operating them.

[buglerbilly]

EADS Defence & Security Radars Protect Royal Navy Vessels

(Source: EADS; issued July 21, 2010)

-- Sophisticated identification systems avoid accidental attacks on friendly forces and support new Air Traffic Control requirements
-- New equipment increases situational awareness for allied forces and improves security for airborne and naval forces
-- 250 systems under contract worldwide

EADS Defence & Security (DS) provides several ships of the Royal Navy with advanced identification systems in order to enhance flight safety and situation awareness.

Defence Electronics (DE), an integrated activity of DS, has been awarded the Maritime Mode S Interrogator Capability (MSMIC) contract by the UK MoD to deliver its MSSR (Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar) 2000 I identification systems for the installation by 2011 onboard vessels such as the Type 42 destroyers, the "Invincible" class aircraft carriers and the future assault ships.

The system is the first secondary radar of its type worldwide. It is capable of both military and civil Air Traffic Control interrogations, thus supporting new requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority. EADS Defence & Security will provide local support and project management through its Test & Services division based in Ferndown.

"Providing latest technology IFF systems like MSSR 2000 I increases situational awareness for allied forces" explained Bernd Wenzler, CEO of Defence Electronics, “and therefore increases mission success and security for airborne and naval forces.”

IFF systems, so-called secondary surveillance radars (SSR), precisely collect data such as origin, course, speed etc. of individual aircraft by automatically sending interrogation signals which are answered by so-called transponders on-board friendly aircraft. Thus, the IFF systems ensure reliable identification of incoming aircraft, thus substantially reducing the risk of accidental attacks on friendly forces. This data exchange in the military field is based upon encrypted signals which cannot be analyzed or jammed by hostile forces.

Secondary radars are also used in civil Air Traffic Control (ATC). In a civil ATC mission, MSSR 2000 I sends out interrogation signals to all the aircraft and collects the responses. Thus, the radar provides a real-time overview of aircraft positions and additional aircraft data which results in a significant improvement in air traffic control and in the efficient use of air space.

Defence Electronics has delivered IFF systems to several NATO nations for ground and naval applications. For example, the MSSR 2000 I interrogator protects the German Navy K130 corvettes and F122/123 frigates as well as the French Navy "Mistral" assault ship and the Australian amphibious ships. In total, DS has approx. 250 systems in 29 nations under contract.

EADS Defence & Security is a systems solutions provider for armed forces and civil security worldwide. Its portfolio ranges from sensors and secure networks through missiles to aircraft and UAVs as well as global security, service and support solutions. In 2009, DS – with around 21,000 employees – achieved revenues of EUR 5.4 billion. EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2009, EADS generated revenues of EUR 42.8 billion and employed a workforce of about 119,000.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Converteam develops catapult launch system for UK carriers

By Tim Fish

26 July 2010

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is investing in the development of an electromagnetic catapult system for the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers in case procurement of the F-35B short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) version of the Joint Strike Fighter is abandoned.

Power conversion specialist Converteam UK announced on 20 July that in 2009 it was awarded a GBP650,000 (USD1 million) follow-on contract to continue the design, development and demonstration of high-power electrical systems for its EMCAT (electro-magnetic catapult) system and that work on the contract was nearing completion.

The naval director at Converteam UK, Mark Dannatt, told Jane's on 22 July that a small-scale EMCAT system had been completed in 2007 to prove the operation of modern linear motor, energy stores and control systems. Since then, extensive testing of the system has been successfully undertaken, as well as further work at the request of the MoD to enable Converteam UK to scale the system up to a full-size catapult suitable for the RN's new aircraft carriers.

"The EMCAT is designed to fit in the space envelope that has been allowed within the aircraft carrier for a catapult. The intention of building and designing a small electromagnetic catapult and then developing the technology so that it could be scaled up was always a de-risking exercise in case the MoD did not choose the STOVL aircraft or it was considered necessary to launch other types of aircraft from these ships. The option would then exist to fit a catapult and operate conventional carrier-borne aircraft," Dannatt said.

255 of 525 words
Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2010

[buglerbilly]

CCM unveils Centurion shipboard soft-kill decoy launcher

By Richard Scott

27 July 2010


Centurion trains on to the appropriate bearing and the selected launcher barrel is depressed to the optimum firing angle. (Richard Scott/NAVYPIX)

UK-based Chemring Countermeasures (CCM) has revealed a new trainable shipborne soft-kill decoy launcher to meet requirements for improved countermeasures payload placement.

Known as Centurion, the 130 mm 12-barrel system is being offered as a candidate option for the UK's Maritime Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (MIDAS) programme. MIDAS is looking at the progressive enhancement of the soft-kill capability on board Royal Navy ships and includes the replacement of the existing Outfit DLB/DLJ fixed-barrel launcher units.

According to CCM, the effectiveness of ship-launched expendable countermeasures – including chaff, infrared and obscuration decoys, corner reflectors and many active offboard decoys – is critically conditioned by their placement in time and space. "Maximising the capabilities of both current and future products to meet the current and future threat scenarios critically depends upon accurate positioning of the deployed decoy or individual placement of submunitions," it says.

"This is best achieved through a launching system that can be positioned in both azimuth and elevation, which, when fighting the ship in a multi-threat environment significantly reduces the need for ship manoeuvre."

174 of 391 words
Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2010

[buglerbilly]

Carrier construction begins on the Mersey

An Equipment and Logistics news article

27 Jul 10

The nationwide programme to build the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers passed another milestone when construction on the first ship, the Queen Elizabeth, began in Birkenhead yesterday, Monday 26 July 2010.


Computer-generated image of the Future Carrier
[Picture: via MOD]

Birkenhead company Cammell Laird is the final shipyard in the programme to begin construction and will build two of the sections that will make up the ship's giant flight deck.

Construction began yesterday when Minister for International Security Strategy Gerald Howarth started the crane that laid the first of the steel plates for the flight deck.

Together the two sections will weigh in at 7,500 tonnes - more than a Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer.

The work is worth £44m to Cammell Laird and will provide a significant number of jobs in the area, boosting the local economy.

As he toured the yard, Mr Howarth met some of the 1,200-strong workforce involved in the project - including some of the 72 apprentices. He said:


"Aircraft carriers represent a national asset for the UK. Power and versatility make them a formidable warfighting tool and able to fulfil a wide range of requirements in an increasingly diverse and changing global defence landscape.


Laying of the first of the steel plates for the giant flight deck of the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier
[Picture: Andrew Linnett, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]


"The workers I have met here today are rightly proud to be a part of it and it's particularly exciting to see so many young apprentices learning their trade on such a prestigious project."

Six shipyards across the UK are involved in the massive construction project - Govan and Rosyth in Scotland, Portsmouth and Devonport in the south, and Newcastle and now Liverpool in the north - providing around 10,000 jobs, with thousands more suppliers contributing with smaller contracts through the supply chain.

The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Philip Jones, said:


"Carriers offer invaluable freedom of action with four acres [16,000 square metres] from which to project power anywhere in the world.

"But they are much more than an air base capable of providing support to land operations and humanitarian assistance in disaster zones.

"They also play an important role in conflict prevention; their scale, range and capability making them a powerful statement of intent."

[McDethWivFries]

How does the QE compare size wise to the LHDs were buying?

[Deks]

Significantly larger, displacement is between 2-3 times greater, I'm sure the flight deck has considerably more space on it also (sure looks it, though I don't have figures)

[Gubler, A.]

Significantly larger, displacement is between 2-3 times greater, I'm sure the flight deck has considerably more space on it also (sure looks it, though I don't have figures)

That's just how much they weigh. The JCI LHD will have a lot more empty space inside them and will look a fair bit bigger than its displacement indicates. Of course the QEII CVF will be bigger. But the LHD is higher and the CVF's spoonsons are what make the flight deck bigger. Side by side and the LHD will tower over the CVF.

[McDethWivFries]

Cheers all

[SteveJH]

CVF will look better though, being without those ugly slab sides.

[Raven22]

Speeking of the size of the LHDs, I saw a couple of pictures the other day that really demonstrates their increase over the LHAs.





Not a bad increase there.

[Gubler, A.]

Speeking of the size of the LHDs, I saw a couple of pictures the other day that really demonstrates their increase over the LHAs.

I can't wait till they park one beside that uber rich persons apartment wharf thing and it blocks out their sun and they start to complain... Kidmann vs LHD. Should be priceless.

[JimWH]

Looks good. And contrary to the views of others I actually quite like the clean slab-sided aesthetic (though I can also see the beauty in big sponsors).
There'd better be room on there for me to have a real coffee machine. I'll call it a High Pressure Steam generator if needs be... Yes, all MOs really are this petty

[SteveJH]

I can't wait till they park one beside that uber rich persons apartment wharf thing and it blocks out their sun and they start to complain... Kidmann vs LHD. Should be priceless.

They should sell tickets and supply popcorn.

[Chunder]

I've always wanted to know, and never been able to find out, The markings on the flight deck of the LHD's, why are they marked that way?

[Gubler, A.]

They help helicopter pilots to land.

[JimWH]

Am I the only one who wants to see the LHDs marked in the old-school RN way (black strip with red border and a green deck park)? .... nope, just me, thought so.

[Gubler, A.]

Am I the only one who wants to see the LHDs marked in the old-school RN way (black strip with red border and a green deck park)? .... nope, just me, thought so.

You want to maintain the paintwork?

[JimWH]

I'm an Lt Abe, I never think of anyone except myself.

[SteveJH]

I'm an Lt Abe, I never think of anyone except myself.

:roflcat

:southpark

[Weasel]

Converteam develops catapult launch system for UK carriers

By Tim Fish

26 July 2010

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is investing in the development of an electromagnetic catapult system for the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers in case procurement of the F-35B short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) version of the Joint Strike Fighter is abandoned.

Power conversion specialist Converteam UK announced on 20 July that in 2009 it was awarded a GBP650,000 (USD1 million) follow-on contract to continue the design, development and demonstration of high-power electrical systems for its EMCAT (electro-magnetic catapult) system and that work on the contract was nearing completion.

The naval director at Converteam UK, Mark Dannatt, told Jane's on 22 July that a small-scale EMCAT system had been completed in 2007 to prove the operation of modern linear motor, energy stores and control systems. Since then, extensive testing of the system has been successfully undertaken, as well as further work at the request of the MoD to enable Converteam UK to scale the system up to a full-size catapult suitable for the RN's new aircraft carriers.

"The EMCAT is designed to fit in the space envelope that has been allowed within the aircraft carrier for a catapult. The intention of building and designing a small electromagnetic catapult and then developing the technology so that it could be scaled up was always a de-risking exercise in case the MoD did not choose the STOVL aircraft or it was considered necessary to launch other types of aircraft from these ships. The option would then exist to fit a catapult and operate conventional carrier-borne aircraft," Dannatt said.

255 of 525 words
Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2010
Have to be using a mechanical capacitor like a flywheel for the contract to be so cheap and yet require substantial scaling up.

cheers

w

[SteveJH]

Have to be using a mechanical capacitor like a flywheel for the contract to be so cheap and yet require substantial scaling up.

cheers

w

Nothing would surprise me, from memory it has been mentioned that the automatic weapons handling equipment aboard is based upon the luggage handling system at heathrow.

[Riđđu]

Nothing would surprise me, from memory it has been mentioned that the automatic weapons handling equipment aboard is based upon the luggage handling system at heathrow.

Funding research doesn´t have to mean that they actually seriously plan to build something.

[Gubler, A.]

Nothing would surprise me, from memory it has been mentioned that the automatic weapons handling equipment aboard is based upon the luggage handling system at heathrow.

So it won't work?

[Deks]

So it won't work?

I wonder if weapons will get lost with the same frequency as baggage does at heathrow.

[SteveJH]

So it won't work?

No idea

I guess we'll find out if they start reporting in the papers that they've lost a 2000lb bomb somewhere in the middle of the ship....

[buglerbilly]

I wonder if weapons will get lost with the same frequency as baggage does at heathrow.

Baggage doesn't get lost at Heathrow, it gets taken, looked over and then the best items nicked, thats why so many baggage Handlers are now doing time compliments of HMG............

[SteveJH]

Baggage doesn't get lost at Heathrow, it gets taken, looked over and then the best items nicked, thats why so many baggage Handlers are now doing time compliments of HMG............

Probably no different to any large international airport. And more likely to happen there then at most as it is the busiest of them all.

[buglerbilly]

Royal Navy's Sea Viper missile system hits its target

An Equipment and Logistics news article

17 Aug 10

The Royal Navy's newest air defence missile, designed to arm the Navy's new fleet of Type 45 destroyers, has successfully completed its toughest test yet during trials in the Mediterranean. Report by Sally May.


Sea Viper missile is fired during recent trials
[Picture: MBDA]
Sea Viper, the groundbreaking missile system previously called PAAMS until it was renamed by the Royal Navy, will set new standards in air defence.

And, during recent trials in the Mediterranean, the system achieved a direct hit in a salvo (multiple missiles) firing against a manoeuvrable sea-skimming target travelling at hundreds of miles an hour.

Sea Viper is capable of defending the Type 45 and ships in its company against multiple attacks from the most sophisticated enemy aircraft or missiles approaching from any direction and at supersonic speeds. It can even engage more than ten targets simultaneously - a huge leap in capability for the Royal Navy.

Speaking about the recent trials, Richard Smart, Head of Complex Weapons at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), said:

"The DE&S weapons and destroyers teams and MBDA, alongside our international partners, have worked closely together to achieve a very successful trials outcome. We have overcome a number of significant hurdles and everyone involved is rightly proud of reaching this milestone.


Realistic warfare scenarios were put in front of HMS Daring and crew as they took part in basic operational sea training in the English Channel
[Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) James Crawford, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

"While there is more work to do, we are well on our way towards the first firing later this year from a Type 45 platform, Dauntless, in support of demonstrating Sea Viper's world class capability on board the Type 45 destroyers."

A key element of Sea Viper's capability is the sophisticated, phased-array Sampson radar, which has a range of 400 kilometres. Its onboard position about 30 metres above the water widens its horizon at sea level to enable the system to react to high-speed, very low-level, anti-ship missiles.

Sampson, which was designed to the Royal Navy's specific requirements in the UK by BAE Systems, sends a target location update to the missile during its flight which then uses thrusters powerful enough to shift the missile sideways several metres to bring the warhead into range of even manoeuvring targets.

It is the latest in a string of recent milestones for the Type 45 project which saw the second ship in the class, HMS Dauntless, commissioned into the Royal Navy in June, and the fourth ship, Diamond, complete its latest set of sea trials. The landmark launch of the final ship of the class, Duncan, is due before the end of the year.


Sea Viper missile
[Picture: MBDA]

Meanwhile the first of the class, HMS Daring, has passed basic operational sea training (BOST) that saw the ship put through her paces over several weeks off the coast of Devon and Cornwall to test the crew.

Training culminates in a realistic war at sea with other ships, submarines and aircraft, where every possible scenario is simulated, from attack from above and below water to fires and floods.

Commodore Steve Brunton, DE&S Head of Destroyers, said:

"The successful completion of BOST has proved that HMS Daring will provide the Royal Navy with a world class platform and a step change in capability.

"Daring's commanding officer and his company deserve immense credit for achieving so much during BOST, as do the Destroyers Team in DE&S, Navy Command, and industry for their critical contribution.

"We have all learned a huge amount about Daring and the Type 45 Class and my team in DE&S, in partnership with the ship's company, Navy Command and industry, are determined to take forward all we have learned through BOST to deliver an even greater level of performance in future."


HMS Daring conducts basic operational sea training in the English Channel
[Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Martin Carney, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

In a further demonstration of progress on the Type 45, Transfer of Asset for HMS Dauntless has taken place.

The second of three key acceptance events within the Type 45's progressive acceptance programme, Transfer of Asset is declared when six of the nine Type 45 key user requirements are agreed.

The final agreement that all key user requirements are met will be at the in-service date (ISD).

The first milestone in this acceptance programme - Acceptance off Contract - was achieved on 3 December 2009, and the final milestone will be the declaration of ISD.

HMS Dauntless is currently undergoing Stage 2 sea trials which are progressing well.

This report by Sally May was first published in the August 2010 issue of desider - the magazine for Defence Equipment and Support.

[buglerbilly]

Speculation mounting over carrier fighter jet

20 August 2010

By Sion Donovan
Defence correspondent, Portsmouth News

Royal Navy pilots have been sent to America to train on catapult-launched fighter jets - prompting speculation the cheaper aircraft will be bought for the new Portsmouth-based carriers.

Two Queen Elizabeth class carriers are due to have 150 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets onboard.

The Lockheed Martin-built fighter planes will have a short take off and vertical landing - the same technique used by the Harriers.

But the estimated cost has risen dramatically over the past nine years to £262bn.

The MoD has confirmed a group of 12 Royal Navy pilots will undergo training with the US Marine Corps over the next eight years - including training on the catapult-launched F-18 fighter jets.

It's thought that as part of the government's defence spending review, the MoD is looking at other options and could buy the cheaper, catapult-launched version of the F-35 instead.

The MoD has denied it was looking to axe the jets.

But recently power conversion specialist, Converteam, said it had been awarded a £650,000 contract from the MoD to develop an electromagnetic catapult system suitable for the new aircraft carriers.

Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock, who sits on the Commons defence committee, said: 'It's been a long time since British ships had catapult launched fighters so pilots would need training if that's the direction we're heading. There are a lot of unanswered questions.

'It's not certain whether the Joint Strike Fighters will be up for the job and they're incredibly expensive at a time when the MoD are looking to reduce costs.

'We might even have the situation where we have aircraft carriers built but no aircraft to put on them.'

The contractual decision on what type of F-35 to buy does not have to be made until early in 2011.

Carrier builders BAE said the ships wouldn't require a significant redesign as they've been designed to have flexible platforms.

But an MoD spokesman said 'it would be wrong to assume' that it had a preference for a catapult-launched version of the F-35.

The carriers are due to come into service from 2016 and 2018

[Deks]

8 years is a fairly lengthy period of time, though I suppose hedging their bets at this point in the JSF's development cycle is a smart thing to do. FWIW I've never understoon the RN/RAF's desire for the F-35B, though I'd figured it was an institutional thing.

[Chunder]

8 years is a fairly lengthy period of time, though I suppose hedging their bets at this point in the JSF's development cycle is a smart thing to do. FWIW I've never understoon the RN/RAF's desire for the F-35B, though I'd figured it was an institutional thing.

I was actually wondering, what they were told about the recovery ability of the carrier for STOVL aircraft. It just hasn't been done on anywhere near the scale proposed by the RN.

[buglerbilly]

Who'll Fund U.K.'s Next Nuke Subs? Industry Wants to Know

By ANDREW CHUTER

Published: 26 Aug 2010 19:00

LONDON - Britain's largest defense industry organization wants Prime Minister David Cameron to clarify the government's position on funding the replacements for Britain's Trident nuclear missile submarines.


Britain’s largest defense industry organization wants the government to clarify its position on funding the replacements for the Trident nuclear missile submarine fleet. Above, a Trident in port at Faslane naval base, Scotland. (FILE PHOTO / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)

In an Aug. 25 letter sent to Cameron and released to the media, ADS Chairman Ian Godden said recent official statements appear to call into question the government's commitment to the nuclear deterrent, and to suggest that the cost of the program, dubbed Successor, will fall on the Ministry of Defence and require cuts elsewhere.

It is "vital this confusion is cleared up as soon as possible," Godden wrote. "Uncertainty caused by the statements will be as unsettling for investors as it must surely be for our allies. A decision to move Trident renewals to the defense budget without a commensurate transfer of funding calls into question the integrity of the Strategic Defence and Security Review process and complicates the future funding of our conventional capabilities and our nation's ability to support its allies."

Godden said the issue was of such national significance that the aerospace, defense and security trade body was making the letter public.

Chancellor George Osborne and Defence Secretary Liam Fox are rowing over who should pick up the cost of building a new fleet of nuclear submarines for the Royal Navy. Osborne said the cash would have to be found in the Ministry of Defence budget. Fox argues the government should pick up the tab, as was pledged by the previous Labour Administration who lost power to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in May.

A government White Paper put the cost of Successor at 15 billion to 20 billion pounds, at 2006 prices. At its height, Trident spending would likely top 2 billion pounds a year.

The MoD's entire annual budget currently stands at 36.7 billion pounds.

The MoD recently completed a review of the Successor program to see where it could reduce costs. One of the options looked at was reducing the planned four-boat fleet to three.

The British government is scheduled to publish its defense review at the end of October along with the defense budget figures for the next four years. The MoD is bracing for a 20 percent cut over those four years, even as it faces an unfunded liability of around 37 billion pounds ($57.1 billion) over a decade, Fox revealed in a recent speech. Having to find the billions of pounds needed to replace the Trident subs would exacerbate the expected wide-scale cuts required by the military over the next few years.

[buglerbilly]

UK's most powerful submarine joins the Navy

An Equipment and Logistics news article

27 Aug 10

The UK's most powerful attack submarine, HMS Astute, has been welcomed into the Royal Navy today in a commissioning ceremony overseen by the boat's patron, the Duchess of Cornwall.


The commissioning pennant is raised on HMS Astute
[Picture: LA(Phot) A J MacLeod, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

HMS Astute, which officially becomes 'Her Majesty's Ship' today, is quieter than any of her predecessors, meaning she has the ability to operate covertly and remain undetected in almost all circumstances despite being fifty per cent bigger than any attack submarine in the Royal Navy's current fleet.

The latest nuclear-powered technology means she will never need to be refuelled and can circumnavigate the world submerged, manufacturing the crew's oxygen from seawater as she goes.

The submarine has the capacity to carry a mix of up to 38 Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes and Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, and can target enemy submarines, surface ships and land targets with pinpoint accuracy, while her world-beating sonar system has a range of 3,000 nautical miles (5,500km).

The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, said:

"The Astute Class is truly next generation - a highly versatile platform, she is capable of contributing across a broad spectrum of maritime operations around the globe, and will play an important role in delivering the fighting power of the Royal Navy for decades to come.


Astute arriving at her home base on the Clyde in November 2009
[Picture: LA(Phot) J J Massey, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]

"A highly complex feat of naval engineering, she is at the very cutting-edge of technology, with a suite of sensors and weapons required to pack a powerful punch.

"Today is an important milestone along the road to full operational capability which will follow after a further series of demanding seagoing trials testing the full range of the submarine's capabilities."

Following the successful completion of her first rigorous set of sea trials, which began at the end of 2009, HMS Astute has also now achieved her in-service date, signalling that she has proven her ability to dive, surface and operate across the full range of depth and speed independently of other assets, thereby providing an initial level of capability.

Rear Admiral Simon Lister, Director of Submarines, who oversees the build programme of the class for the MOD, said:

"To my mind Astute is a 7,000-tonne Swiss watch. There is an extraordinary amount of expertise that goes into putting one of these submarines together. There are stages when it's like blacksmithing and there are stages when it's like brain surgery.

"So to see Astute commissioned is momentous not only for the Royal Navy, who have been eagerly anticipating this quantum leap forward in capability, but for the thousands of people around the country who have been involved in the most challenging of engineering projects."


Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall is escorted by Commander Andy Coles, the Commanding Officer of HMS Astute, at the commissioning ceremony for HMS Astute
[Picture: LA(Phot) Stuart Hill, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

Following the commissioning, HMS Astute will return to sea for further trials before she is declared as operational.

As the base port of all the Royal Navy's submarines from 2016, Faslane will be home to the whole Astute Class, including Ambush, Artful and Audacious which are already under construction.

Astute was built by BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness, with hundreds of suppliers around the country contributing component parts, including Rolls-Royce, Derby (nuclear plant); Thales UK, Bristol (visual system and Sonar 2076); and Babcock, Strachan & Henshaw, Bristol (weapon handling and discharge system). Astute is affiliated to the Wirral in the North West.

About HMS Astute

She is 97 metres from bow to stern.
She has a beam of 11.2 metres.
She displaces 7,400 tonnes of seawater.
Her cabling and pipework would stretch from Glasgow to Dundee.
She is the first Royal Navy submarine not to have a traditional periscope, instead using electro-optics to capture a 360-degree image of the surface for subsequent analysis by the commanding officer.
Astute is the first submarine to have an individual bunk for each crew member.
She manufactures her own oxygen from seawater as well as her own drinking water.
She could theoretically remain submerged for her 25-year life, if it were not for the need to restock the crew's food supplies.
She is faster under the water than she is on the surface - capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots (37km/h), although her top speed is classified.
Astute's crew of 98 are fed by five chefs who, on an average patrol, will serve up 18,000 sausages and 4,200 weetabix for breakfast.

[buglerbilly]

Russian subs stalk Trident in echo of Cold War

Russian submarines are hunting down British Vanguard boats in a return to Cold War tactics not seen for 25 years, Navy chiefs have warned.

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent, UK Daily Telegraph

Published: 10:37PM BST 27 Aug 2010


A British Vanguard submarine Photo: GETTY

A specially upgraded Russian Akula class submarine has been caught trying to record the acoustic signature made by the Vanguard submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles, according to senior Navy officers.

British submariners have also reported that they are experiencing the highest number of "contacts" with Russian submarines since 1987.

If the Russians are able to obtain a recording of the unique noise of the boat's propellers it would have serious implications for Britain's nuclear deterrent. Using its sophisticated sonar, the Akula would be able to track Vanguards and potentially sink them before they could launch their Trident D4 missiles.

The Daily Telegraph has learnt that, within the past six months, a Russian Akula entered the North Atlantic and attempted to track a Vanguard. The incident has remained secret until now.

It is understood that the Russians stood off Faslane, where the British nuclear force is based, and waited for a Trident-carrying boat to come out for its three-month patrol to provide the Continuous At Sea Deterrent.

While patrolling in the North Atlantic, there are a limited number of places the Vanguard is permitted to go and it is thought that the Akula attempted to track it on several occasions.

Navy commanders are understood to have ordered a Trafalgar-class hunter-killer submarine to protect the Vanguard. A recording of the Akula was made by the Trafalgar submarine's sonar operators and has been played to The Daily Telegraph.

"The Russians have been playing games with us, the Americans and French in the North Atlantic," a senior Navy commander said.

"We have put a lot of resources into protecting Trident because we cannot afford by any stretch to let the Russians learn the acoustic profile of one of our bombers as that would compromise the deterrent."

[Riđđu]

At least the British know the acoustic profile of Le Triomphant pretty intimately.

[Zen9]

At least the British know the acoustic profile of Le Triomphant pretty intimately.

And nice closeup pictures of every prop on the USNs CVs too ;)

So the Russikies are back on the old game eh. All that willly waving its going to make them go blind.

Still good news to put out to No.11 I imagine, along with RAF QRA 'interceptions' of supposedly nuke toting Bears, Blackjacks and Backfires.

[Gubler, A.]

And nice closeup pictures of every prop on the USNs CVs too ;)

That old chestnut. I'd like to see those same submariners try stalking a USN CBG on full weapons release... Might find it a little bit harder...

[Tim]

And nice closeup pictures of every prop on the USNs CVs too ;)

So the Russikies are back on the old game eh. All that willly waving its going to make them go blind.

Still good news to put out to No.11 I imagine, along with RAF QRA 'interceptions' of supposedly nuke toting Bears, Blackjacks and Backfires.

I'd rather assumed this wasn't a particularly unusual incident, and the RN are just dropping it into the news to add some public noise to their case for procuring the full number of Astutes/actually spending money on a Vanguard replacement. Or am I totally off-base?

[Unicorn]

I too have heard that there has been an uptick on Russian sub operations, they seem to have dusted off some of the cold war tactics for a new generation of Captains.

The issue is that the current batch are a lot less experienced than their predecessors, and are making mistakes while learning the trade.

That said, they are getting better, and their equipment is better now than it used to be, not least because the explosion of processing capability available to even commercial PCs dwarfs that available a decade ago.

Meaning better acoustic signal processing capability at far reduced price and as anyone who has had their computer infected with a nasty virus can attest, Russian programmers are not incompetent.

While we can make all the jokes we like about the Kuznetsov always deploying with a fleet tug when out of area, the increase in Russian optempo at sea will be a recurring theme over the next few years.

I might also point out that Russia's deployments to the area off Somalia for anti-piracy patrols is giving them a wonderful sigint and opint opportunity not only against the US, UK and other western navies, they are getting a good look at the Chinese in a deployment mode as well.

Unicorn