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The aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy will be less useful, take longer to finish, and likely cost more than claimed, a parliamentary watchdog warns. The first, HMS Queen Elizabeth, will be mothballed immediately it is launched in 2016, according to the existing plan. However, the second, HMS Prince of Wales, is not now expected to be fully operational until 2031. Moreover, it will only be able to stay at sea for up to 200 days a year, significantly fewer than envisaged, says the Commons public accounts committee. The MPs' report, out on Tuesday, makes clear the quick...

A serving Chinese military general is citing India’s capabilities in his efforts to edge the government to have more than one aircraft carrier. General Luo Yuan, a senior researcher with the Academy of Military Sciences, said China needs at least three aircraft carriers to defend its interests in the face of neighbors developing their capabilities. “If we consider our neighbors, India will have three aircraft carriers by 2014 and Japan will have three carriers by 2014,” General Luo was quoted as saying by Beijing News. “So I think the number (for China) should not be less than three so we...

The Navy made history Saturday when it launched the first aircraft from the Naval Air Systems Command, Lakehurst, N.J., test site using the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, technology. The Navy has been using steam for more than 50 years to launch aircraft from carriers. Saturday, the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) program launched an F/A-18E Super Hornet using the EMALS technology that will replace steam catapults on future aircraft carriers. “This is a tremendous achievement not just for the ALRE team, but for the entire Navy,” said Capt. James Donnelly, ALRE program manager. “Saturday’s EMALS launch demonstrates...

China has officially admitted for the first time that it has embarked on an aircraft carrier building program, part of a grand strategy to "build itself up as a maritime power." A report published by the State Oceanic Administration says the country's leaders decided last year to back plans to build China's first aircraft carrier. The Chinese government and military had kept the program under wraps until now. The annual national ocean development report says that asserting China's power at sea is "indispensible to accomplishing the great resurgence of the Chinese people." Chinese military sources said initial plans had called...

USS Nimitz to be stationed in Everett Aircraft carrier will replace USS Abraham Lincoln at naval station EVERETT — This time next year, people in Everett can expect a send-off for the USS Abraham Lincoln and a welcome party for the USS Nimitz. The Nimitz will replace the Lincoln as the aircraft carrier based at Naval Station Everett, the Navy announced Thursday. For years, rumors have been swirling about the departure of the Lincoln from Everett. City leaders worried about a major hit to the regional economy and what, if anything, would replace the Lincoln. Now they know. “I am...

Britain's aircraft carriers will be left without planes for a period because of cuts to the military budget in next week's spending review, Defence Secretary Liam Fox has confirmed. Two former heads of the Royal Navy have warned that a decision to withdraw Harrier jets before the arrival of new Joint Strike Fighter F35s in 2018 would leave Britain unable to fight another Falklands War. Dr Fox confirmed that there will be a "gap" between the phasing out of the Harriers and the US-built F35s coming into service, but insisted that this will not put the Falklands at risk. Britain...

bureaucratic dogfight between supporters of different combat jets as the UK draws up defence cuts could lead to changes in the way aircraft carriers are designed and how British forces operate, defence sources said. Options being studied by military planners include delaying the deployment of new carriers to convert them to use conventional traps and catapults instead of the unmechanised decks envisaged for Lockheed Martin F-35 jets to be ordered by Britain. The move, which sources briefed on the matter said is one of several options as the UK prepares defence cutbacks, would involve other changes to Britain's role in...

Lockheed Martin received a $13 million contract to incorporate a shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) capability with the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B, with the work to be performed on behalf of the UK. The US Navy announced details of the Joint Strike Fighter award on 6 October, just two weeks before the UK's coalition government will disclose the details of its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) process. This has assessed the nation's long-term military requirements, including major equipment acquisitions such as the F-35 and two future aircraft carriers.

Military Superiority: By the end of the year, China could deploy an anti-ship missile capable of hitting U.S. aircraft carriers at long range. The naval dominance that American foreign policy depended on may be at an end. When the naval planners of Imperial Japan were laying out the attack on Pearl Harbor, the major question on their mind was — where are the American carriers? In the end, their failure to find them doomed Imperial Japan to defeat. Since World War II, every president alerted to a crisis has asked the same question — where are the carriers? These floating...

Strategy: As the U.S. retreats from the world stage, the nation's top military officer is warning us about China's military buildup and intentions. Already, China is telling us to keep off the grass. Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen, visiting U.S. troops at Camp Red Cloud in South Korea on Wednesday, talked about his growing concerns about China. "I've moved from being curious about what they're doing to being concerned about what they're doing," the admiral said. "I see a fairly significant investment in high-end equipment — satellites, ships ... anti-ship missiles, obviously high-end aircraft and all those kinds of things....

Changes are being made to the integrated power package (IPP) on the Marine’s F-35 that should limit heat damage to carrier decks and other surfaces, Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandant for aviation, told DoD Buzz in an exclusive interview one day before the start of the Farnborough Air Show. In addition, the heat buildup from the STOVL drive shaft will be addressed in LRIP 4, although negotiations on that are still underway so costs for that are not set yet. “We have made the decision to adjust the IPP,” he said Sunday, reshaping the nozzle so that the enormous...

Radical plans by the US Navy to equip its next aircraft carrier with electromagnetic mass-drivers for launching aircraft instead of the traditional steam catapults have hit technical snags. The so-called Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, is now under development in a shore-based test facility at Lakehurst naval air station in New Jersey. However, according to reports, the test mass-driver installation suffered serious damage earlier this year in a mishap blamed on a "software malfunction". Apparently the "shuttle" - which moves along the catapult track to accelerate a plane to flying speed - went the wrong way in a test...

Russian Ka-52 Alligator helicopters may be the best choice to arm Mistral helicopter carriers, which Russia plans to purchase from France, the chief of Russian helicopter holding said on Wednesday. Russia negotiates the purchase of at least one Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, worth 400-500 million euros (around $530-$660 million) and plans to build three more vessels of the same class in partnership with a French naval shipbuilder. The director of the Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation in April told RIA Novosti the political decision on the Mistral's purchase had already been taken. "The French have said the Ka-52 could be...

Their $33 million helicopters are new. There’s an aircraft-carrier briefing room with their name on the door now. And they get extra parking spaces on the multimillion-dollar real estate of the carrier flight deck. All the attention feels a little odd, Navy helicopter pilots say. “We’re not used to being the story,” said Cmdr. Ken Strong, executive officer of HSM-77, a San Diego-based squadron of MH-60R Seahawks. It’s a good time to be flying helicopters for the Navy. Long in the shadow of the jet jockeys — no one has ever made a movie about the rotor-blade community with Tom...

Military Advantage: Our defense secretary proposes doing what no other foreign adversary has done: sink the U.S. Navy. We don't need those billion-dollar destroyers, he says. Meanwhile, the Chinese navy rushes to fill the vacuum. Once Britannia ruled the waves, later to be replaced by America and its Navy. From the Battle of Midway to President Reagan's 600-ship fleet that helped win the Cold War, naval supremacy has been critical to the protection and survival of our nation. Which is why we find the recent remarks of Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Navy League at the Sea-Air-Space expo so...

The U.S. Navy told Congress it wants to keep 11 aircraft carriers through 2045, just days after Defense Secretary Robert Gates called into question the need for that many."The Navy remains firmly committed to maintaining a force of 11 carriers for the next three decades," Sean Stackley, the service's warship buyer, told the Senate Armed Services Seapower subcommittee on Thursday. The 11-carrier force structure is based on "world-wide presence requirements, surge availability, training and exercise, and maintenance" needs, he said in an opening statement. Gates stirred the waters on Monday with a speech in which he asked whether the United...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday said new weapons threatened US dominance of the high seas and questioned the US Navy's reliance on costly aircraft carriers and submarines. ADVERTISEMENT Anti-ship missiles and stealthy submarines could undermine the US military's global reach, putting carriers and American subs at risk, Gates said in a speech to retired members of the US Navy. "We know other nations are working on asymmetric ways to thwart the reach and striking power of the US battle fleet," Gates said. He cited the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, which had used anti-ship missiles against Israel in 2006, and...

The Navy faces an operational “tipping point” where the demand for overseas presence will far exceed the number of ships, according to the influential Center for Naval Analyses. CNA’s new report, “The Navy at a Tipping Point: Maritime Dominance at Stake?”, which was provided to DOD Buzz, is being used by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to evaluate future force plans. It says that despite a 20 percent decrease in the size of the total battle fleet over the past 10 years, the number of ships deployed, around 100 at any given time, has remained constant. The...

Industry players have until early May to respond to a U.S. Navy request for information (RFI) for a carrier-based, stealthy, unmanned, strike and surveillance system capable of integrating with manned aircraft as part of a carrier air wing by 2018. The unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (Uclass) RFI calls for a notional system made up of 4-6 autonomously launched and recoverable vehicles to operate in “irregular and hybrid warfare scenarios.” The system must be able to operate from CVN-68 and -78-class carriers, and be capable of being directed from both carrier- and shore-based mission control stations. The stealthy UAV...

The STOVL version of the Joint Strike Fighter is not too hot and is not too loud, Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway told DoD Buzz during an editorial board session. The most troubling operational challenge that appeared to face the F-35B, next to weight, was reports that it would not be suitable for a carrier or other ship because its exhaust would melt the flight deck. Not so, Conway told reporters from Military​.com. The plane, at 1,500 degrees, is just 18 degrees hotter than a Harrier, he said Thursday. He also debunked persistent reports that the JSF will blow the...

In a strange twist of fate, a former province of the then USSR — Ukraine — is emerging as the likely meeting point for naval aviators from India and China as the two countries try to rapidly acquire the capabilities to build and operate aircraft carriers of the future. A small aircraft carrier training base on the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine is the most sought after training facility for both countries that are planning to induct modern aircraft carriers in the next five years. While India, which has been operating aircraft carriers for the past 50 years, wants to use...

<p>Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbour China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region. The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP.</p>

While Russian admirals have been talking about building six aircraft carriers in the next decade, the president of Russia has recently ordered them to concentrate on smaller ships for the Black and Baltic Seas. The Black Sea fleet has been continually declining since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. That decline is the result of new countries (like Ukraine and Georgia) inheriting old Soviet ships and bases. That was the dissolution deal. Whatever Soviet weapons or bases were normally were, belonged to one of the 14 new nations. Most of Russia’s high seas ships were based in northern Russia (the...

National Security: On the eve of a visit by China's No. 2 ranking military officer, the Obama administration loosens export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development. It's deja vu all over again. The Pentagon has announced that Chinese Gen. Xu Caihou will visit the United States and meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Oct. 26. Xu is vice chairman of the People's Liberation Army Central Military Commission. While here, Xu will visit American military installations around the U.S., including the U.S. Pacific Command. Perhaps Xu will bring with him a note of thanks for the administration's...

Navy Decommissions USS Kitty Hawk Story Number: NNS090512-08 Release Date: 5/12/2009 5:37:00 PM From Kitty Hawk Public Affairs BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) was decommissioned May 12 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Wash., after more than 48 years of service. Members of the final crew lowered the ship's commissioning pennant from the main mast and the U.S. Flag and First Navy Jack from their staffs after Kitty Hawk Commanding Officer Capt. Todd Zecchin closed out the ship's deck log. "It's hard to capture the feeling in words,"...

With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned. After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a "kill weapon" developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers. First posted on a Chinese blog viewed as credible by military analysts and then translated by the naval affairs blog Information Dissemination, a recent report provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that can strike carriers and other U.S....

My surface ship buddy Tim passed on these photos of the second class of littoral combat ship (LCS 2), named Independence, and built by General Dynamics/Bath iron Works in their Mobile, Alabama shipyards. The other ships built thus far for the LCS program have been by Lockheed Martin and have had their fair share of problems, having had two of their follow-on LCS programs cancelled for cost overruns. Both GD and Lockheed Martin had contracts canceled for their 2nd hulls, due primarily to an inability to agree on a fixed price contract with the Navy (edited thanks to Ken Adams...

The British are building 2 carriers. Video at link. Humor

Will Russia create the world's second largest surface navy? 15:05 | 13/ 11/ 2007 MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Kislyakov) - The year 2007 can safely be described as Russia's year of combat aviation. Both in July at Le Bourget in France and in August at Zhukovsky outside Moscow, thousands of spectators held their breath as they watched stunts performed by MiG and Su planes equipped with vectored-thrust engines. It was a sight to be proud of. The planes featured were all land-based, although it is aircraft carrier aviation that makes up the effective core of the present-day air...

US naval power wanes With more countries acquiring or building aircraft carriers, the US's power in the world's waters is rapidly waning, forcing the its military to re-examine its maritime strategy. By John C K Daly for ISN Security Watch (27/08/07) The most important maritime lesson that the US learned during World War II was the primacy of aircraft carriers. For the last 60 years the country has had a near virtual monopoly on this class of warship and today operates the largest and most expensive carriers afloat, the nuclear-powered Nimitz-class CVNs, 1,092 feet long and capable of carrying 85...

It was 40 years ago today, in the waters off Vietnam, that the crew of the USS Forrestal saw the gates of hell. A missile accidentally fired from a plane on the flight deck triggered a blazing inferno that would claim the lives of 134 men, two from New Jersey -- Francis Campeau of Bergenfield and Richard Vallone of Bridgewater. Not since World War II had a ship's crew sustained so many casualties. The Forrestal, the first of the Navy's newest class of super carriers left Norfolk, Va., in June 1967 for what was to be her first combat deployment....

This recently unclassified photo was taken as the result of manoeuvres during Exercise NOBLE MARINER in May where HMCS Corner Brook was able to approach a high value unit, in this case the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, without being detected. Anti-submarine warfare continues to be one of the most under-estimated and difficult threats for allies and potential adversaries to deal with. “The picture represents hard evidence that the submarine was well within attack parameters and would have been successful in an attack,� says Commander Luc Cassivi, commander Submarine Division in Halifax. “This situation enabled the crew to demonstrate advanced...

CVN-77 to be Christened on October 7th, 2006 From the Northrop Grumman site. On Saturday, October 7, 2006, Northrop Grumman Newport News will christen the nation’s 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, George H. W. Bush (CVN 77). The ship’s namesake and 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, is scheduled to attend the ceremony along with his wife Barbara and their daughter, Doro Bush Koch, Mrs. Koch also serves as the ship’s sponsor and will do the traditional honor of breaking a bottle of American sparkling wine across the ship’s bow during the ceremony. Employees of...

No room for mistakes in a nuclear Navy Shishir Gupta With only two years to go before the Indian Navy is to transform itself to a blue water Navy—an elite club comprising mostly of the P5 countries—a string of incidents give clue to how unprepared the force is for it.Consider the following: • Last month, the sonar dome—an anti-submarine device—of the guided missile warship Talwar, got seriously damaged after the ship’s anchor was accidentally dropped on it. • In April, missile corvette Prahar sank after colliding with merchant ship Rajiv Gandhi. • In December 2005, a speeding INS Trishul, another...

For those following the continuing development and re-outfitting of the former Russian carrier Varyag in the Chinese naval shipyards, this photo should prove very interesting: That new yellow painting on the deck is a special primer used (normally) for laying down a non-skid surface on the deck of the carrier. If this proves to be true...then that is another clear indication that the Chineze intend to commission her militarily and to operate military combat aircraft off of her decks. This development is in addition to the two new carriers the Chinese have announced they wikk be building of their own.

Note: Click on any of the pictures in this report for a larger image. Over the 2005 Labor Day weekend we drove from Idaho to Bremerton, WA to visit my daughter and son-in-law (active duty US Navy) and our two grandsons. A secondary reason was to take a look at the US Navy reserve fleet there in Bremerton and to see any current US Navy vessels in the yards. The trip over was very beautiful and pleasant. There is a lot of very beuatiful scenary between Idaho and Washington. Here are some pictures of some of that scenary. Once we...

Is China building a carrier? By Yihong Chang JDW Correspondent & Andrew Koch JDW Bureau Chief Hong Kong & Washington, DC Chinese shipyard workers have been repairing a badly damaged ex-Russian aircraft carrier and have repainted it with the country's military markings, raising the question once again of whether China is pursuing longer-term plans to field its first carrier. In the latest developments, images show that workers at the Chinese Dalian Shipyard have repainted the ex-Russian Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Varyag with the markings and colour scheme of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy (PLAN). Additional new photographs show that other...

The PLAN is readying the former Russian carrier Varyag for something. These pictures show the exterior painting now being completed in the standard PLAN surface combatant colors, with the superstructure preparing to be painted. They have been working on the project in their naval shipyards for over two year now.

In the last months there has been a lot of interest expressed on FR about aircraft carriers. I have found that there is a lot of interest all over the net. So, I created a web site about all of the World's Aircraft Carriers. It will surprise you how many countries operate at least one...and also how many are building large-deck Amphibious Assault ships. Of course, no one holds a candle at this time to America's capabilities in this regard. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think. I hope it serves as a resource for naval enthusiasts everywhere....

CHINA BRIEF Volume 5 Issue 4 (February 15, 2005) THE DEBATE OVER CHINA'S AIRCRAFT CARRIER PROGRAM By You Ji Elsewhere, Ian Storey and I have both argued that the PLA's aircraft carrier program is shelved but not canceled altogether. [1] Profound political and military factors are at work to delay construction, but the idea of China possessing carriers is not dead. In other words, the debate is continuing both within PLA leadership and among interested members of the public. That the aircraft carrier serves as an unfulfilled national ambition still inspires both the PLA and the population. However, Chinese pragmatism...

MILAN -(Dow Jones)- Italian state-owned shipbuilder Fincantieri SpA said Wednesday it has signed two contracts with the Cochin shipyard in India to help build a new aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.

For more than a decade there have been persistent reports that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) intends to acquire an aircraft carrier force as part of its ambition to achieve “blue-water” (high seas) naval capability. Some reports suggest that China plans to refit one or more aircraft carriers from the former Soviet Union or other countries. Others claim that China has investigated the possibility of buying a light aircraft carrier from a European shipbuilder. Other reports suggest China has already made the decision to build two or three indigenous carriers and has even allocated funding for the program. However,...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

To become a credible blue water force, Indian Navy has to acquire three aircraft carriers and field a flotilla of 200 warships, according to Naval Chief Admiral Madhvendera Singh. "We have finalised plans towards such acquisition," he said as the bi-annual top Naval Commanders Conference began in New Delhi on Tuesday to finalise operational and logistic plans. Without giving any time-frame for reaching such an induction, Singh told his top commanders that a move had been made towards fielding such a force. Indian Navy at present has a strength of 140 warships and each year two to three more warships...

The United States might have scored an overwhelming victory in Iraq, but some people think it still needs more aircraft carriers. Five of these massive cities on the waves were called to duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom — but that left only three others deployable elsewhere. The worry is that as the sole remaining superpower, the United States might not have enough carriers if too many of the world's simmering hotspots boiled over. Policymakers feared a conflict in North Korea could have erupted at the same time as the Iraq War, but crises surrounding Taiwan, Pakistan or Israel might have...

The UK Royal Navy may have to accept a sharp reduction in the size of its two new aircraft carriers after BAE Systems warned it could not build the designs to budget. The company, which is Britain's biggest defence contractor, has told the Ministry of Defence that it would cost up to £4bn to construct the pair, compared with the £2.8bn costing in January. BAE won the lead role on the programme to build the warships - the biggest ever to be built in Europe - after a bitter battle with Thales of France. The navy has been told there...

<p>Pittsburgh is more than 500 miles from the closest ocean, but that may not stop the region from one day being a leader in ship-building technology.</p> <p>Maglev Inc., the for-profit company best known for its efforts to promote a high-speed rail system for the region, said last week it would build and operate an advanced manufacturing facility in McKeesport for work related to a demonstration project with the U.S. Navy.</p>

Sometimes a distinctive weapon — a Venetian galley or British man-of-war — becomes emblematic of an entire culture. For three centuries, the phalanx — columns of armored hoplites in a forest of raised spear points — obliterated any Persians foolish enough to stand in its way. Plutarch said at the battle of Plataea that its very look instilled terror, comparing the Greeks' approach to some sort of enormous aroused hedgehog. "There came over the entire phalanx," he wrote, "suddenly the look of some ferocious beast as it wheels at bay and stiffens its bristles." No wonder the vast imperial...

A debate is raging within the Chinese navy over the need for aircraft carriers. Having bought some surplus Russian carriers, and carefully examined the possibility of refurbishing them and putting them into service, the issue of cost is looming larger. It would take billions of dollars and perhaps ten years to get two carriers ready for action. Since the U.S. would probably have four carriers off China in the event of a war, China would need two, operating mostly within range of land based warplanes, to possibly make a difference. But given the U.S. Navy's track record, the Chinese have...