Posted on 03/25/2012 10:23:37 PM PDT by U-238
The Government is poised to perform an about-turn on its choice of plane to fly from two new aircraft carriers that will enter service in 2020.
Senior officers have advised the Prime Minister to axe plans to buy the Joint Strike Fighter F-35C after the cost of converting the carriers to use them rose to £2 billion – on top of the £6.2 billion cost of building the vessels.
The F-35C is propelled off the deck by a catapult, and "trapped" when it lands.
Commanders have formally recommended that the Government buy the F-35B, which operates like a Harrier jump jet, and Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has asked the Prime Minister to "sign off" the proposal.
But the disagreements between commanders and ministers were so protracted that there is no longer enough time left in the parliamentary calendar to make the announcement before Easter.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
ping
It also seems that it is a departure from the Strategic Defence and Security Review statement just over a year ago that said "We will fit a catapult to the operational carrier to enable it to fly a version of the Joint Strike Fighter with a longer range and able to carry more weapons. Crucially, that will allow our carrier to operate in tandem with the US and French navies, and for American and French aircraft to operate from our carrier and vice-versa."
Anyways, whatever version the Brits choose will still give them significantly increased capability over their current ability (which is nil since the Harriers are no more).
I agree. But I hope that they make a decision soon.
Why not a few “B’s” and some “C’s”...
Good Point!
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“Why not a few “B’s” and some “C’s”...”
Because if we’re going to spend £2bn adding catapults, we might just as well use them with navalised Typhoons rather than buying the increasingly expensive and delay ridden F35.
The naval Typhoon or ‘SeaPhoon’ concepts presented recently have involved the use of ski-jump takeoffs to minimise the (extensive) modification work needed to make the aircraft fit for catapult operations.
http://www.fleetairarmoa.org/asp/news.asp?NewsItem=1431&Archived=1
Even if a ski-jump model is used, you would still need to commit funds to produce the thrust-vectoring engines and reinforce the undercarriage. So all in all, it appears close to impractical given the way the UK spends money.
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