(U.K.) Navy aircraft carriers not operational for 26 years

[unhappycamper]

An artist's impression of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales


Navy aircraft carriers not operational for 26 years
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Published: 6:49AM BST 19 Oct 2010

Navy chiefs are furious that despite winning the battle to keep the two 60,000 ton carriers they will not be fully operational until 2036 under plans announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

They have warned that the Government’s decision to axe the entire fleet of 44 Harrier jump jets within the next 12 months means that Britain will fall behind the French, Spanish and Italian navies.

While Ministry of Defence planners claim that the “capability gap” will only be a few years Navy insiders insist it will take 16 years to fully reconstitute the Fleet Air Arm from the time the first Joint Strike Fighters arrive for the new carriers in 2020.

The move will essentially mean the end of the Fleet Air Arm, the world’s oldest air force, for at least a decade although a few pilots will continue training with the US Navy to try and retain the skills of carrier landing.

It had been hoped that the Navy might lease some US F18 Super Hornets for the new £5 billon carriers but these plans have also been shelved and the carriers will be used for helicopter or humanitarian operations.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Maybe they can borrow a few ships from Blackwater ?

[JCMach1]

2. Wow, how far Britain has sunk in the last 100yrs... a good lesson for the US

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I don't know - it's a strange take on it

It's saying that, because there will be a 9 year gap between the last present fixed wing carrier (Ark Royal, being retired now), and the new one (Prince of Wales, which will have a catapult, as opposed to Harriers using a ski jump) in 2020, that it will take them until 2036 to figure out how to use the catapult system.

:shrug:

I have a bit more faith in the competency of Navy personnel than the Telegraph.

[JCMach1]

7. Good point about the Telegraph... but with the Tories in charge!?!

[NJmaverick]

4. We are seeing an end to the manned combat aircraft era

as a result if you start looking toward 2036 it would make more sense to be preparing for aircraft carriers that were designed for unmanned combat aircraft.

[leeroysphitz]

5. damn robots taking all our good jobs... n/t

[NJmaverick]

6. Actually they are not robots. Rather the pilots are now sitting in from of a terminal

instead of sitting in the aircraft.

[leeroysphitz]

8. damn outsourcing...