harriers to be stood down

SNAKEDOC

i heard today that the royal navy is getting ready to stand down their two aircraft carriers ark royal and illustrious. this means that the fleet of carrier born harrier gr7's will be stood down too and the royal navy will be without a carrier born fast jet fleet until 2020 when the prince of wales is commissioned. its amazing that they are doing that i thought the navy would have faught tooth and nail for the carriers. anybody else hear about this. knowing me its probably old news

Tenger

Sorry to tell you old chap but this is old news.

The UK Defense review will be published in the next 2-3 weeks. Expect the UK fast jet fleet to be reduced to 2 types, Typhoon and Tornado is the odds on result. The Harrier was to be retired in 2-3 years (and replaced by the F-35B) seems it will be retired early to save money. As it is the Harrier GR7 (and GR9s) replaced the Sea Harrier a few years ago. The cancellation clauses on the carriers make it better to keep them,and they are generating UK jobs.

In addition the current carriers will be replaced by the 2 Queen Elizabeth Class carriers. First one is already under construction, first steel cut earlier this year. Think 2014 and 2016 are the entry into service dates.

The UK had planned on the F-35B but currently rumblings suggest they may change to the F-35C and have the carriers as CATOBAR (catapults like the US carriers) rather than VSTOL(the current Harrier method of take off). The designs allowed the choice. The F-35B is the most expensive but least capable version of the F-35. The VSTOL capability limits its range/payload/endurance. The RAF is also going F-35, the F35B didn't make great sense for them.

Another rumour is that the 1st carrier will be VSTOL using F-35B while the 2and will be CATOBAR using the F35C. Then the 1st will be refitted and the F-35B replacd by F35C. This will allow the UK to maintain current training and operation,then transition to 'normal' carrier ops when they have the 2 carriers.

There are some 'out there' ideas that the UK may delay F-35 entry until they have 2 carriers. Using a mix of harriers and F-18 to tide them over till then. This would however mean retiring the Tornado fleet earlier.....



Just had a look at airliners.net:
Heres a serious update......... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

"The RAF and Navy will lose 5,000 jobs each, the Army 7,000 and the Ministry of Defence 25,000 civilian staff.
Axing the Harrier and Ark Royal means no planes will be able to fly from British aircraft carriers until 2019."
Not sure about this date?

Wikipedia tells me that
"On 19 October 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the UK intends to purchase the F-35C variant instead of the STOVL F-35B version.The F-35C has a greater range and payload than the F-35B. The carriers will now be built to CATOBAR configuration to support the F-35C and the E-2C/D Hawkeye. The CATOBAR configuration of the carriers will also enable the UK's defense partners such as the United States to operate aircraft from the carriers in joint mission situations."

Delancey

While people losing their jobs is never a good thing I have to say I'm glad to see MOD staff levels reduced - I saw a report on them last month and it was shocking just how many civil servants were supported from the Defence budget.