Each class of vessel in an Independent Navy For An Independent Nation shall have a level of protection commensurate with it's role and redundant systems designed with benign modes of failure,for example a propeller blade shall be designed to fail before the propeller hub,the hub shall be designed to fail before the shaft and so on,thereby reducing the probability and severity of failures,whether due to enemy action,technical failure or accident,whilst also reducing the urgency of repairs.
All vessels in An Independent Navy For An Independent Nation shall be refitted once every four years in their home port,wherever practical,and in the case of many ships this shall be the proposed new Royal Dockyard on the North Sea which shall have the capacity to berth,maintain and repair dozens of vessels as large as the Antaeus class depoting ships,which shall be amongst the largest vessels ever built due to their need to carry hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel,ordnance,parts,food,drink and other dry stores on a modest draught.
On distant stations the Assistance class icebreaking tugs (vessels designed to do things that others are not designed to do) shall allow the one of two naval repair parties which may be continuously deployed under the proposed readiness cycle to maintain and repair vessels away from the Royal Dockyards,in addition to providing rescue,recovery,replenishment,salvage,surveyand icebreaking capabilities.
The four hundred ton bollard pullRacer class rescuing tugs,all but two of which shall be routinely chartered to Her Majesty's Waterguard Service,shall provide both administrative and emergency towing to even the largest crippled vessels,but vessels which cannot be towed shall be recovered by Behemoth and Leviathan,a pair of self propelled docks based on the same fifteen knot hull form and machinery as the Antaeus class which shall usually be used for painting and bottom work.
If one of the proposed Africa class flying ships had suffered damage to a shaft,she would have been able to continue operating on the other three,then,when it was convenient to repair the damaged shaft spares would likely be available at the Royal Dockyards or aboard Antaeus class depoting vessels or Assistance class icebreakers and if not then one would soon be available from the factory as they would be in continual production to equip the large number of vessels built with identical shafts,the new shaft could be installed in a dry dock at one of the Royal Dockyards,by a repair party in any anchorage which may be accessed by Behemoth or Leviathan,or even at sea in calm weather,and in an emergency shafts could even be removed without dry docking.
Today we shall look at how Mister Shelbrooke's aircraft carrier might be afforded within the current defence budget,notwithstanding attempts to fill any financial "black holes" in the current defence review.
Our proposed Independent Navy For An Independent Nation is contingent on changes to the armed forces of great breadth and depth,notably the development of the Furious,Perseus,Centaurus and Hermes aircraft.
However,procurement of a third aircraft carrier shall require changes which are far narrower and shallower in scope,how narrow and shallow shall depend on the cost of the new aircraft carrier to be built.
The Improved Queen Elizabeth class,a proposed mitigation of the limitations of the original Queen Elizabeth class during construction,shall be both more expensive and more capable than it's progenitor.
However,the most expensive and most capable option shall be an all new type such as our proposed Africa class flying ship,a member of a proposed family of eighteen ships,each with four turbines,which shall also include the Agincourt class landing ships and Halifax class hospitalling ships.
These shall be designed to operate at full capacity for up to fifteen days while carrying a naval air wing of five dozen,fifty ton aeroplanes,a dozen twenty ton Hermes helicopters and a fifteen hundred man,reinforced,Royal Marine battalion group.
The construction of Africa class vessels shall enable transition to the next generation of naval combat aircraft in the Twenty Forties,as they shall be designed to operate aeroplanes of up to fifty long tons Maximum Take Off Weight.
Whilst the naive might obsess over procurement costs,just as important are the vessel's capabilities,which determine the savings which may be made elsewhere in the defence budget by their procurement.
A standard Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier has long term berths for about nine hundred men in addition to it's crew,more than two Albion class vessels combined and close to the combined accommodation of three Bay class ships.
At the expense of one fifth of it's hangar space,a Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier may be refitted with parking for sixty Light Protected Trucks and long term berths on a mezzanine above for about six hundred marines,with unimpeded access to the flight deck via the hangar and aircraft lifts.
Three ships,thus modified,shall have more long term berths for marines than are currently provided by both the two Albion class landing ships and the three remaining Bay class auxiliaries,in addition to accommodation for three nine hundred man naval air wings.
Our proposed larger,more heavily protected,Africa class flying ships shall each have long term berths for about three thousand men in addition to their crews.
It is also not clear if the paradoxical(vessels intended for combat where there is no enemy,as they cannot survive where there is*) Littoral Strike Ship conceptis to be a supplement to,or replacement for these vessels,nor what it's budget might be.
It is clear that whatever funds might be available to replace,some or all of these vessels might be used to pay for some or all of the cost of additional aircraft carriers.
Picture: Grand Logistics
Additional aircraft carriers could replicate many of the capabilities of the Bay,Albion and Argus classes and might replace them.
However,replacement of the Albions and Bays by aircraft carriers shall result in the loss of the dock ships' ability to land small numbers of medium and heavy weight vehicles,which cannot be lifted by helicopter.
Using their one hundred and sixty foot lighters,from five miles off shore,each of these ships shall be able to land a reinforced heavy cavalry brigade,with a month's combat supplies,in about a day.
Picture: Staff Sergeant Mark Nesbit R.L.C. (Phot.),Crown Copyright As an aside,the Agincourt class' one hundred and sixty foot lighters shall also be able to move three hundred and eighty-four,combat ready,Charger Cavalry Heavy Armoured vehicles with three thousand eight hundred and forty men,or seven hundred and sixty-eight Matilda Medium Armoured Tracked Infantry carriers with seven thousand six hundred and eighty men,or two thousand three hundred and four Light Protected Trucks with twenty-three thousand and forty men,from Marchwood to Klaipeda in Lithuania in three days,which is faster than the British Army's feeble Strike Brigades could drive there.
Assuming the Lightning IIs' training and servicing requirements are similar to legacy aircraft,if those aircraft are operated by the Royal Navy this shall be enough to continuously deploy a naval air wing of two dozen aircraft.
Between the middle of the Twenty Twenties and the mid Twenty Thirties the United Kingdom is expected the procure a further ninety F35B Lightning II aircraft at a rate of about nine aircraft per year.
Reducing this procurement rate to about six aircraft per year shall spread procurement of these aircraft over a fifteen year period,deferring expenditure of hundreds of millions of pounds per year.
At the expense of a slight delay in fielding a full thirty-six aircraft naval air wing,this shall also result in additional savings from the procurement of less expensive and more capable aircraft from later production blocks,which shall also require fewer upgrades.
Going in to production as Typhoon production ends,the first of our proposed Furious aircraft shall replace any remaining Typhoons before beginning to replace the oldest Lightning IIs in the Twenty Forties and shall replace the entire combat aircraft fleet around the Twenty Seventies.
There are three variants of this aircraft;each has different procurement and operating costs;there are many differently defined costs published;these costs are constantly changing;different organisations publish contradictory costs;costs are subject to variations in exchange rates and cost definitions used in the United Kingdom differ from those used in the United States of America.
Picture: Grand Logistics
However,some consistent themes may be divined from the many published figures.
The Twenty Twenty "Flyaway Unit Cost" of an F35C variant is approximately eight million pounds less than that of an F35B,at which rate a fleet of one hundred and thirty-eight F35Cs shall cost about a thousand million pounds less than the same number of F35Bs and the ninety aircraft to be procured after Twenty Twenty-five shall cost about seven hundred million pounds less if they are F35Cs rather than F35Bs.
The Twenty Twenty "Gross/Weapon System Unit Cost"of an F35C variant is approximately thirty-two million pounds less than that of an F35B,at which rate a fleet of one hundred and thirty-eight F35Cs shall cost about four thousand and five hundred million pounds less than the same number of F35Bs and the ninety aircraft to be procured after Twenty Twenty-five shall cost about two thousand and nine hundred million pounds less if they are F35Cs rather than F35Bs.
The Twenty Twenty "Operation And Maintenance" cost of an F35C variant is approximately three thousand pounds per hour less than that of an F35B (each aircraft having a life of eight thousand hours which shall probably be consumed at a rate of about two hundred and fifty hours per year over a period of thirty two years),at which rate a fleet of one hundred and thirty-eight F35Cs shall cost about three thousand and three hundred million pounds lessto operatethan the same number of F35Bs and the ninety aircraft to be procured after Twenty Twenty-five shall cost about two thousand and two hundred million pounds lessto operateif they are F35Cs rather than F35Bs.
It is clear that,after Twenty Twenty-five,thousands of millions of pounds may be saved by procuring and operating the F35C,rather than the F35B.
It is also clear that the cost of constructing additional,catapult equipped,aircraft carriers between Twenty Twenty-five and Twenty Thirty-five shall be far less than the savings which may be made within that time frame by procuring Lightning IIs at a slower rate and by buying and operating F35Cs rather than the more expensive F35Bs.
For example,if F35Cs were procured at a rate of six aircraft per year from Twenty Twenty-five,rather than nine F35Bs per year,then the "Flyaway Unit Cost" savings over the decade up to Twenty Thirty-five would equate to around three thousand and three hundred million pounds.
Picture: Andy Wolfe,United States' Navy courtesy of Lockheed Martin If F35Cs were procured at a rate of six aircraft per year from Twenty Twenty-five,rather than nine F35Bs per year,then the "Gross/Weapon System Unit Cost" savings over the decade up to Twenty Thirty-five would equate to around five thousand and eight hundred million pounds.
Picture: L. (Phot.) Kyle Heller,Crown Copyright If F35Cs were procured at a rate of six aircraft per year from Twenty Twenty-five,rather than nine F35Bs per year,and flown at a rate of two hundred and fifty hours per aircraft per year,then the "Operation And Maintenance" savings over the decade up to Twenty Thirty-five would equate to around seven hundred million pounds.
Picture: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Antonio Turretto Ramos,United States's Navy Therefore,depending on which procurement cost is used,potential savings in the ten years up to Twenty Thirty-five shall be between four thousand million pounds and six thousand and five hundred million pounds,more than the cost of building two catapult equipped Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
If the above savings were added to whatever budget may be set aside to replace the Argos,Albion and Bay classes,it may be possible to build a pair of more powerful Africa class vessels within that time frame.
Picture: Unknown photographer,BAE Systems photograph In addition to being far more capable than the Queen Elizabeths and being able to replace the medical facilities on Argus,these vessels shall permit the future adoption of heavier,next generation,combat aircraft and be part of a family of four flying ships,six landing ships,four replenishingshipsand four hospitalling ships.
Picture: Andrew Linnett,Crown Copyright The size of this family of vessels shall create the economies of scale and steady work load critical to achieving cost effective large warship construction,their construction facilities shall also create opportunities for commercial building of high value civilian cruise ships.
The Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft,which costs over five hunded million pounds per service year (those who read National Audit Office reports without understanding them may tell you it costs three hundred and ninety million pounds a year),comes to the end of it's contract in Twenty Thirty-five.
This contract includes significant waste due to a desire to keep the project off the Ministry of Defence balance sheet,the shrinking of the armed forces prior to service entry and ignoring the reduction in demand for aerial refuelling due the carrier strike capability.
After Twenty Thirty-five,the substantial reduction in aerial refuelling demand enabled by catapult equipped aircraft carriers shall permit the purchase of a smaller transport and aerial refuelling fleet,perhaps seven of the,by then,out of contract Voyager K.C.3s,resulting in savings in the order of hundreds of millions of pounds per year.
In addition to savings from operating the cheaper F35C,this shall help to pay for deferred Lightning II purchases and also the cost of operating any new aircraft carriers.
We conclude that within the current defence budget there are many options which shall provide Mister Shelbrooke with the funds to buy and operate an additional aircraft carrier,or two,those options shall also increase the United Kingdom's war fighting abilities and could significantly reduce costs in the long term.
Picture: L. (Phot.) Kyle Heller,Crown Copyright There shall be no difficulty finding aircraft to fly off these new ships,nor the funds to operate them,as the procurement of one hundred and thirty-eight new Lightning II aircraft shall permit the replacement of existing front line squadrons' Typhoons as they come to the end of their useful lives.
Picture: Sergeant Pete Mobbs,Crown Copyright Assuming the Typhoon's,six thousand hour,airframe lives shall be consumed at an average rate of two hundred and fifty hours a year,they shall be withdrawn from service twenty-four years after they entered service,between Twenty Twenty-seven and Twenty Forty-three (three years after their official out of service date).
Picture: S.A.C. Chris Ellis,Crown Copyright All one hundred and thirty-eight Lightning IIs shall be in service by the Twenty Forty official out of service date of the Typhoon,which is enough for seven front line squadrons of a dozen aircraft each,even if operated in the traditional manner of the Royal Air Force.
Picture: Andy Wolfe,United States' Navy courtesy of Lockheed Martin If each Lightning II undergoes servicing for nine months in every forty-eight,roughly equivalent to a one thousand flying hour depot level servicing interval,then one hundred and twelve of the one hundred and thirty-eight aircraft shall be available for the forward fleet at any time.
Picture: L. (Phot.) Kyle Heller,Crown Copyright Operated in the manner described earlier,this shall allow up to six Royal Navy squadrons,of a dozen aircraft each,to be deployed continuously,or up to nine to be surged,without upsetting the aircraft servicing cycle.
Picture: Sergeant Fenwick,Crown Copyright If four Royal Navy wings each have two Lightning II squadrons of a dozen aircraft,there shall be enough aircraft left over to maintain domestic Quick Reaction Alerts under Royal Air Force harmony guidelines,which are inefficient for squadrons deploying overseas but are perfectly adequate for squadronsoperating from their home bases.
Picture: Lieutenant Commander Lindsey Waudby Royal Navy,Crown Copyright With a one to one ratio of pilots to aircraft,in order to extend deployment lengths between aircraft services,with each pilot flying one hundred and eighty peace time budgeted hours per year,eight front line Royal Navy Lightning II squadrons,of a dozen aircraft each,and their trials,training support and operational conversion squadrons shall consume about twenty thousand peace time budgeted flying hours per year.
Picture; L. (Phot.) Kyle Heller,Crown Copyright Some published figures (there are many,and they all differ) suggest a life cycle cost of four hundred million pounds over the eight thousand hour life of a Lightning II aircraft,at which rate the average cost per flying hour,inclusive of capital costs shall be fifty thousand pounds,which is similar to the cost of other Royal Air Force combat aircraft.
At that rate,eight Royal Navy Lightning II squadrons,of a dozen aircraft each,along with trials,training support and operational and conversion squadrons,flying a total of twenty thousand hours a year,shall have an average annual peace time budgeted cost of about one thousand million pounds,which is a fraction of the current air power budget.
Picture: L. (Phot.) Dan Rosenbaum,Crown Copyright Thus additional aircraft carriers,and the squadrons to fly from them,appear to be eminently affordable. *It is not clear whether the Littoral Strike Ship concept is just an attempt by retired special forces officers to line their own pockets by hawking vessels of marginal utility to the Ministry of Defence,a practice which has long blighted the United States' Marine Corps,or yet another example of the British armed forces copying a bad idea from the Americans (see also anything with "Joint" or "Special" in it's name,and "baseball caps"),or both. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but it is also a combat indicator of an over promoted officer.
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