US squadrons 'may use UK carrier' for operations

[webfact]

US squadrons 'may use UK carrier' for operations
By Mark Urban

(BBC) The Royal Navy may ask US squadrons to fly off its new aircraft carrier following delays to its new F35B fighters, BBC Newsnight has learned.

MoD insiders said the US Marine Corps would be offered the use of HMS Queen Elizabeth for flight operations.

The UK plans to have its first F35 squadron operational by 2018, but Newsnight has learned that there may be further delays.

The MoD said it was not aware of any further delay to the timetable.

The plan is for one squadron of British F35s to be ready for service at sea by 2021. But even if it is achieved, it will create a gap of years where the Queen Elizabeth is ready but British squadrons are not.

For the past year defence analysts had been expecting the MoD to order 14 of the new jets.

In February, Newsnight was told that it would be placed "within days". But persistent doubts about the F35's enormously complex software, and an engine fire this summer caused successive delays to the decision.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30209960


-- BBC 2014-11-27

[alant]

Another wonderfully well thought out purchase and plan. (Not just in case you were wondering)

Edited November 27, 2014 by alant

[NeverSure]

Another wonderfully well thought out purchase and plan. (Not just in case you were wondering)

What's that supposed to mean? The UK has a very good friend called the United States of America and if the UK wants something, they'll get it. Count on it.

[casualbiker]

So the UK will have NO aircraft capable of flying off the very expensive aircraft carrier .. and people laugh at Thailand's aircraft carrier, at least that one was relatively cheap!

[Jimbolai]

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Another wonderfully well thought out purchase and plan. (Not just in case you were wondering)

What's that supposed to mean? The UK has a very good friend called the United States of America and if the UK wants something, they'll get it. Count on it.

that is fine as long as the real estate is free and they include lunch for the crew and pilots.

Could get expensive for the food bill for years to come.

[Wat dee]

Another wonderfully well thought out purchase and plan. (Not just in case you were wondering)

What's that supposed to mean? The UK has a very good friend called the United States of America and if the UK wants something, they'll get it. Count on it.

Maybe Thai's should say pretty please...

[JockPieandBeans]

Another wonderfully well thought out purchase and plan. (Not just in case you were wondering)

What's that supposed to mean? The UK has a very good friend called the United States of America and if the UK wants something, they'll get it. Count on it.

NS

I am pretty sure it was nothing more than a dig at the ineptitude of Whitehall, that has a nasty habit of screwing things up.

Nothing aimed at our friends across the pond.

At ease brother.

[Living in a cartoon]

Look's like a win-win to me. Training of pilots and carrier crews and many others advantages.

Oh, and before any of you blast-off about lapdogs, the US and UK have made many similar arrangements in the past and we are close military allies. So eff off before you start.

[BadBouy]

The marine version of the F-35 has vertical take off like the Harrier. Was the the Harrier a main stay on Brit carriers?

[joebrown]

So the UK will have NO aircraft capable of flying off the very expensive aircraft carrier .. and people laugh at Thailand's aircraft carrier, at least that one was relatively cheap!

The Thai aircraft carrier may have been cheap, but that's a good thing because it only sets out to sea for 1 day a month and has no servicable aircraft.

[Baerboxer]

Another wonderfully well thought out purchase and plan. (Not just in case you were wondering)

What's that supposed to mean? The UK has a very good friend called the United States of America and if the UK wants something, they'll get it. Count on it.

A very good and loyal friendship indeed.

My son is an NCO in the British Army. In various operations from Bosnia to date the Americans help the Brits out. Our new radios didn't work, we had the wrong footwear for some climates, our instant meals were crap by comparison, etc etc. The Americans jokingly nicknamed the Brits "the borrowers" - but never refused and often offered before waiting to be asked.

There has been a history of poor defense procurement in the UK for many years. Quality, cost, project planning and on time delivery all suffer. Whiffs of corruption too.

I was involved with MOD procurement around the time of the Falklands war and it was easy to why they had some issues.

[rickirs]

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So the UK will have NO aircraft capable of flying off the very expensive aircraft carrier .. and people laugh at Thailand's aircraft carrier, at least that one was relatively cheap!

The Thai Navy has a very expensive submarine simulator but no submarines. Same-same.

[casualbiker]

So the UK will have NO aircraft capable of flying off the very expensive aircraft carrier .. and people laugh at Thailand's aircraft carrier, at least that one was relatively cheap!

The Thai aircraft carrier may have been cheap, but that's a good thing because it only sets out to sea for 1 day a month and has no servicable aircraft.

Nor do we! And it's a new ship!

[casualbiker]

So the UK will have NO aircraft capable of flying off the very expensive aircraft carrier .. and people laugh at Thailand's aircraft carrier, at least that one was relatively cheap!

The Thai Navy has a very expensive submarine simulator but no submarines. Same-same.

But WHEN they get the subs, they will be ready. So not same, same.

[rickirs]

Its ski jump may require some practice for US jet pilots and may not be worth the time for adaptation. But as the ship is designed to handle any helicopter in Britain’s military inventory and initially will carry helicopters, the US might use it for VTOL and helicopter operations in the Syrian/Iraq combat theaters. If crewed by the British, such immediate use would well serve the British as a shake out cruise in a wartime environment.

[alant]

For clarity this is not anti US it is a comment as correctly stated on Whitehall.

[bkk_mike]

The marine version of the F-35 has vertical take off like the Harrier. Was the the Harrier a main stay on Brit carriers?

Yes. It was Harriers in the Falklands war.

[slipperylobster]

Hey. they get a couple of beers a day on that thing, don't they?

[Mosha]

Hey. they get a couple of beers a day on that thing, don't they?

They'll be scrambling for that duty then.

[impulse]

Do they have to land on the wrong side of the deck?

[Chicog]

A trillion and a half dollars? This had better be one special plane.

[Johpa]

The Lockheed-Martin corruption involved in the development of the F-35 makes the Thai CIB scandal look like a minor payoff. The plane will be obsolete before it enters full service and already performs well below the criteria that was promised to the US taxpayers. Use The Google to find details.