Royal Navy carriers may get STOVL F-35B JSF's after all.....

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/0 ... ke-fighter

UK aircraft carrier plans in confusion as ministers revisit square one

Decision expected by Easter on which US joint strike fighter Britain will buy: ministers now want to revert to original choice

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 March 2012 19.21 GMT

A US joint strike fighter. The UK is deciding whether to buy the cheaper 'cats and flaps' version or revert to the vertical-landing model. Photograph: Joely Santiago/AP

Britain's troubled and increasingly expensive plan to equip the navy with new aircraft carriers has been plunged into fresh turmoil as ministers consider reversing their earlier decision to change the type of plane that should fly from them, it has emerged.

The government announced in last autumn's strategic defence review that it had decided to buy the "cats and flaps" (catapults and arrester gear) version of the US joint strike fighter. This would have a "longer range and greater payload ... the critical requirement for precision-strike operations in the future", the government stated.

Moreover, the government added, it will be cheaper. It would also enable French planes to land on British carriers, and vice versa, inkeeping with the new UK-French defence spirit of co-operation.

Now, in an extraordinary volte-face, the Ministry of Defence says the "cats and flaps" planes may well be cheaper but it would be too expensive to redesign a carrier – more than £1bn – to accommodate them.

The ministry is thus faced with the prospect of renegotiating a deal with the US, reverting to its original plan – namely buying the short take-off and vertical landing version of the aircraft,
even though it is acknowledged to be less effective and more expensive.

For those with a subscription to Jane's:
http://www4.janes.com/subscribe/jdw/doc ... QueryText=

Carrier conversion costs prompt UK to re-examine JSF STOVL option
Just 15 months after dropping the F-35B short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) version of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) in favour of the ...
01-Mar-2012

[RAMPAGE]

It keeps getting better and better,....

[frank kramer]

We said it before, we'll say it again: it's even cheaper to buy back the Harriers... even if you spend 1 million pound on a consulting firm that negotiates their return from the US (which would be the same the UK government did when they sold them to the Marines...)

[aviodromefriend]

Give it another year and the whole project including carriers wil be scrapped...

Too expensive. The reason why this hasn't been done in the last strategic defense review is because cancelling would mean massive fines, which makes going on with the project the cheaper option.

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-0 ... ys-1-.html

U.K. Reviewing Lockheed’s F-35B Model, U.S. Official Says

Mar 9, 2012 5:17 PM GMT+0100

The U.K. is reconsidering its 2010 decision not to buy Lockheed (LMT) Martin Corp.’s F-35B jet, said U.S. Navy Vice Admiral David Venlet, program manager for the Joint Strike Fighter.

Asked in an interview if the U.K. is again interested in the F-35’s short-takeoff and vertical landing model, Venlet replied: “That is under consideration.”

If the U.K. decides to buy the F-35B, it would be a boost to Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, as well as the U.S. Marine Corps, which is the major customer for the airplane.

In January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted a yearlong probation on the B model, which is the most complex of the three F-35 variants.

At an estimated $382 billion to produce different models for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, the F-35 is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program.

In October 2010, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who is scheduled to visit the U.S. and meet with President Barack Obama March 13-14, announced that Britain wouldn’t buy the F-35B model.

Instead, the U.K. expressed interest in the Navy’s aircraft carrier version, which is projected to be cheaper than the short-takeoff and vertical landing model.

The U.K.’s reconsideration of the F-35B model is a “relatively new development” driven by “national U.K. financial constraints and what it costs” to modify its two future Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers so they could carry the U.S. Navy’s F-35C, Venlet said after a presentation to a Credit Suisse conference on defense programs yesterday in Arlington, Virginia.

U.K. Review

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said it is currently completing its budget for 2012 to 2013.

“As part of this process we are reviewing all programs, including elements of the carrier strike program, to validate costs and ensure risks are properly managed,” the ministry said today in an e-mailed statement.

“The defense secretary expects to announce the outcome of this process to Parliament before Easter.”

Those modifications to the carriers may include adding catapults, arresting gear and other equipment needed to operate the F-35C, he said.

“There is a cost” to making those changes “and I think they are re-analyzing” if they should buy the short-takeoff model instead, Venlet said.

“I have told them at various levels of the government, we are with you whatever you need,” Venlet said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-0 ... ys-1-.html

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... ebles.html

Cost of refitting Royal Navy aircraft carrier trebles

The costs of refitting a Royal Navy aircraft carrier so it can be used by a new generation of fighter jets have more than trebled, defence sources have told The Daily Telegraph.

8:05PM GMT 12 Mar 2012

Estimates for adapting HMS Prince of Wales so that it can be used by the Joint Strike Fighter are understood have risen from £500 million to £1.8 billion.

Millions have already been spent on studies to look at how to convert the ship after ministers decided to scrap the jump-jet variant of the plane in favour of a conventional take-off and landing model.
But so great is the rise in total costs, ministers are considering abandoning the plan and reverting to the Ministry of Defence’s original proposals.

Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, believes there is not enough money in the budget to afford the £300 million a year to carry out the work over six years.

“We are certainly looking at what’s affordable and what can be done in terms of risk and cost,” said an MoD official. “If you have an unaffordable programme you cannot ignore it.”

The move is likely to be embarrassing for the Government as the changes were at the heart of the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010. It will also heighten criticism of the Government for disbanding the fleet of Harrier jets and selling them to US Marine Corps for “peanuts”.

Under the new plans, the Government is expected to choose the jump-jet version of the JSF, even though the take-off and landing model can fly further and carry more bombs.

The decision will also mean an end to plans for joint-carrier operations with French and American ships as they are only equipped to handle conventional fighters.
To take off and land on HMS Prince of Wales, the vessel needed to be fitted with a catapult system to launch the aircraft and a “trap” to slow planes down and stop them when they land.

The MoD has earmarked up to £80 million for the conversion feasibility study and half the money has been spent.

Pressure is mounting on ministers to make a decision because of the time it will take to refit the carrier.

More than 200 Navy sailors and fliers are about to begin training on US and French carriers to ensure the British ships have qualified crews when launched.

Mr Hammond’s decision, expected at the end of this month, could be helped after manufacturers said technical problems with the jump-jet fighter were largely resolved.

The MoD has spent $2 billion on the JSF development costs and plans to buy 138 more at almost $90 million each.

[Stratofreighter]

http://defpro.com/daily/details/975/?SI ... 75b74b9d93

UK Ministers Ponder Return to F-35B “Jump Jet” Purchase Plan

09:15 GMT, March 23, 2012

The British Prime Minister told MPs Mar. 21 his Government was prepared to change defence purchases when the costs change, amid speculation of an embarrassing U-turn on fighters for Britain’s new aircraft carriers.

David Cameron said the approach marked a stark change from the last Labour government, suggesting money had been wasted previously.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour MP Tom insisted the Strategic Defence and Security Review was “unravelling”.

Ministers are said to be considering whether to revert to the original plan on carrier jets by the former Labour government to acquire the F-35B “jump jet” variant of the Joint Strike Fighter.

That proposal was dropped in the 2010 SDSR which opted instead to switch to the F-35C carrier version, which has a longer range, can carry more weapons and is interoperable with the French and US navies.

Mr Greatrex said: “You may recall that at the time of the SDSR you described it as a mistake and an error to use the short take-off, vertical landing variant of the JSF.

“As the Ministry of Defence is about to perform a U-turn on that decision to rescind that original decision, don’t you now accept and understand the real mistake and error has been in a defence review that has been inadequate and is fast unravelling.”

Mr Cameron said: “The real mistake and error was inheriting a £38 billion black hole in the defence budget.

“What the Defence Secretary wants is to be the first Defence Secretary in a generation to announce a balanced and funded budget for defence this year and for many years to come.

“That is what we are discussing. We will look at all of the evidence, all of the costings - and costings as you know will change in defence.

“But I do make this pledge. Unlike previous governments, if costs change, and if facts change, we won’t just plough on regardless and make wrong decisions for political reasons.” (BFBS)

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... sters.html

See further down below...

Aircraft carrier costs will be half what you think, US tells ministers

The US Navy has intervened over the adaptation of a British aircraft carrier for a new generation of fighter jets, to assure ministers that the cost will be less than half the Ministry of Defence’s estimate.

8:00AM GMT 24 Mar 2012

Converting HMS Prince of Wales so that it can be used by the Joint Strike Fighter will require significantly less than the £2 billion quoted by officials, the assistant secretary of the US Navy, Sean J Stackley, insisted.

In a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph, he told Peter Luff, the defence procurement minister, that the necessary equipment would cost £458 million before installation.
Defence experts estimate the installation cost at £400  million.

The letter was sent to Mr Luff before the Prime Minister met Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, at an emergency meeting about the carrier on Monday.

The carrier project has been overshadowed by cost and technical issues.
In the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2010, which scrapped Harrier jump jets, the Coalition opted for a conventional take-off and landing model of the new, American-built fighter instead of a jump-jet variant.


But ministers were on the point of changing their minds after MoD officials forecast that the cost of adapting a carrier to use the conventional planes would rise from £500 million to £1.8 billion.

Following the intervention by the US Navy, David Cameron has ordered a Treasury-led re-examination of the project.

The Major Project Review Group will submit a report on April 16 which it is understood will be considered by the National Security Council the next day.

The letter from Mr Stackley outlined studies concerning a sophisticated but untested catapult system to help aircraft reach take-off speed.

He reassured the British that the risks of the project, and of a new arrester wire system for deck landings, would be underwritten by the US, which is installing the system on one of its carriers.
Mr Stackley ended by saying: “The department of navy is committed to supporting the success of the UK CVF (conventional carrier).”

The Americans sent the letter following tense meetings with British officials on the margins of Mr Cameron’s trip to Washington last week.

“They want to ensure that the information the British Government is working from is accurate because currently that quite clearly is not the case,” said a Whitehall source.

Two British carriers are being built, but one will be mothballed following the SDSR.

Reverting to jump jets for both of them would not help American military planners, who want to be able to base a squadron of their own jets on a British carrier.

Separate accommodation is being built on board HMS Prince of Wales with communications facilities that would be for “US Eyes Only”.
There are also said to be technological concerns over the jump jet version of the fighter and the Americans might be positioning themselves to ditch it altogether.

“This letter could be a warning shot saying if you Brits go back to jump jet carriers then there might be no planes to fly off it,” said a defence source.

Richard Scott, of Jane’s Defence Weekly, said: “The trouble the Government has is in getting reliable cost data but at least the costs the Americans are giving are quite reassuring.”

An MoD spokesman said: “Work is ongoing to finalise the 2012-13 budget and balance the equipment plan. This means reviewing all programmes, including elements of the carrier strike programme.”