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http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-52236320101016
ANALYSIS - Harrier, Tornado in battle royal over UK cuts
Oct 15, 2010
A British Harrier GR7 takes off at Kandahar air base in southern Afghanistan April 26, 2006.
Credit: Reuters/Robert Birsel/Files
By Tim Hepher
PARIS | Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:21am IST
PARIS (Reuters) - A bureaucratic dogfight between supporters of different combat jets as the UK draws up defence cuts could lead to changes in the way aircraft carriers are designed and how British forces operate, defence sources said.
Options being studied by military planners include delaying the deployment of new carriers to convert them to use conventional traps and catapults instead of the unmechanised decks envisaged for Lockheed Martin F-35 jets to be ordered by Britain.
The move, which sources briefed on the matter said is one of several options as the UK prepares defence cutbacks, would involve other changes to Britain's role in the potential $382 billion multinational Joint Strike Fighter project.
Despite U.S. concerns, Britain is already reported to be considering cuts of over 50 percent in its planned order for some 138 Lockheed radar-avoiding F-35B jets for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
The plane, expected in the UK from about 2017, could be built in three models depending on take-off and landing systems.
Britain initially rejected a conventional carrier version designed for the U.S. Navy and chose instead a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) type designed for the U.S. Marines and fitted with lift fans made by Rolls-Royce.
But the question of how the carriers will be configured -- assuming, as many expect, that plans for two new carriers will be kept -- has been thrown back into the debate as military chiefs fight over the future of two older planes: the Harrier and Tornado.
This is a battle between the Royal Navy, which flies Harriers, and the RAF, whose backbone is the Tornado fighter-bomber, which is gradually being replaced by the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Most defence sources say the Navy has mounted a successful campaign to save two new carriers worth $8 billion, only to face the mounting threat of cuts in Harriers, which will provide its punch on existing platforms until the planned arrival of the F-35B.
While the RAF has pressed for the full early retirement of Harriers, the Royal Navy is pushing for the Tornado to get squeezed out in a defence review due on Tuesday.
"It is a poker game being played out in Downing Street," a person familiar with the discussions said on Friday.
Indications late on Friday were that the Harrier was losing the battle to survive as it stands but there was no final decision or word on timing, two sources briefed on talks said.
The UK defence ministry declined to comment. Currently the Harrier is due to be retired in 2018 and the Tornado in 2025.
"LAUGHING STOCK"
PARIS | Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:21am IST
Cutting the Harrier early could leave a short-term gap that raises the spectre of headlines about buying carriers with few or no planes -- something its backers are quick to point out.
"We would be the only nation with large aircraft carriers with no jets. We would be a strategic laughing stock," Commodore Steve Jermy, former head of the Fleet Air Arm, told Reuters.
Tornado supporters say it has superior targeting and that Harriers lack the full weapons range or reconnaissance required.
Harrier backers say the plane is cheaper and more effective, and they accuse the RAF of clinging to a jet built for the Cold War.
Redesigning carrier decks for conventional operations could throw naval air chiefs a lifeline and allow them to plug gaps -- but only at a cost, experts said.
Critics of the plan call it a last-ditch effort to justify carriers that Britain can ill afford.
Carrier catapults use sportsfield-length pistons under the deck to shoot planes into the air.
The energy, enough to toss a mid-sized car half a mile, allows jets to take off with more fuel or weapons than a jump jet giving more range and flexibility.
But they need to allow for more spare fuel on board as the pilot lands at flying speed rather than on pure engine hover.
Installing "cats and traps" could open up the possibility of inter-operating with France's Rafale multi-role combat aircraft, a long-held French aim. The Rafale is made by Dassault Aviation.
Other options include leasing Boeing F-18s as a stop-gap or reviving blueprints for a "navalised" Typhoon, but the Navy may be told to tighten its belt and put the carriers on minimum service for now as austerity and Afghanistan prevail.
Tornado jets do not operate off aircraft carriers.
Longer term, refitting the decks would mean switching from the STOVL version of the Joint Striker Fighter or F-35B to the conventional carrier version F-35C, likely in reduced numbers.
However, the F-35C may not be available until well into next decade and the dates for the programme have slipped overall.
Any delay or reduction in F-35 orders would be a further setback for the programme, which has already seen costs rocket.
Abandoning the STOVL version would leave the U.S. Marines as the only customer but their continued strong support for the model would limit the impact, said U.S. defence consultant Loren Thompson.
It would however have an impact on the production run at Lockheed, though industry executives say its pricing projections which tie into that are based solely on U.S. purchases.
UK defence analyst Howard Wheeldon said Britain would likely go ahead with barebones carriers and keep the STOVL version.
"I think they will take the F-35B. When they go ahead is something else. I don't think they will order any time soon."
(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa and Jim Wolf in Washington, Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Ted Kerr)
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Kinloss to be closed...
