U.K. Cuts Aircraft Fleets in Strategic Review | AVIATION WEEK

U.K. Cuts Aircraft Fleets in Strategic Review | AVIATION WEEK

U.K. Cuts Aircraft Fleets in Strategic Review

Oct 19, 2010


 

By Robert Wall wall@aviationweek.com LONDON

As part of its 8% cut in planned defense spending, the U.K. will retire a slew of aircraft early and revamp its modernization plans. The decisions laid out today under the long-awaited Strategic Defense and Security Review include canceling the BAE Systems MRA4 Nimrod program and retiring the Raytheon R1 Sentinel ground-surveillance platform as soon as they are freed up from Afghanistan duties. That means the government will pull the plug on more than £5 billion ($7.8 billion) in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs spent during the past decade. The Nimrod move was difficult, defense officials say, and the decision to retire the R1 Sentinel was made because future fighters, such as the Lockheed Martin F-35, will have sophisticated sensors that would allow those surveillance roles to be shifted away from dedicated assets. The fighter force also is being restructured, although many decisions still loom. The Harrier force will be retired next year, having lost the battle against the Tornado GR4. The Tornados will be phased out as Eurofighter Typhoon capabilities ramp up. The government also has opted to reduce its F-35 buy. Britain will shift its carrier-based version to the F-35C, away from the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing B version. How many F-35s will be bought, as well as whether the Royal Navy and Air Force will use the same type, remains to be sorted out. A defense official says those decisions may await the next review in five years, leaving a lot of uncertainty about the program. The Defense Ministry also will retire its C-130Js a decade early, but is sticking with plans to buy 22 Airbus Military A400Ms, as well as 14 A330-based tanker/transports. On the aircraft carrier side, the HMS Prince of Wales will be modified to allow operations of the F-35C, designed specifically for carrier-based operations versus the land-based A version. The carrier will be fielded four years later than planned, around 2020, when the aircraft also are slated to arrive. The HMS Queen Elizabeth will be held in reserve and may be sold, leaving the U.K. with a single-carrier force in the future. In the short term, the HMS Ark Royal will be retired early, along with an amphibious assault ship still yet to be identified. The government has stuck with plans to buy 12 more Boeing Chinooks and field three L-3 Communications Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft. The Puma helicopter will receive a life extension, and the Lynx Wildcat program also has survived for the Army and Navy. The government also will work on a green paper for its defense industrial strategy, with a formal document to be prepared next year to ensure key capacities. To save money, the Trident replacement program has been delayed, with key decisions now not to be taken until 2016 and a new submarine with fewer missiles not expected to be fielded until 2028. But the U.K. intends to maintain its at-sea deterrence in the meantime. Prime Minister David Cameron says Britain will sustain defense spending at least at the 2% NATO planning target in the next four years. After 2015, he sees a need for real increases.