F-35B Lightning aircraft belonging to 207 Squadron recently departed from RAF Marham to embark onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Once the F-35B Lightning aircraft arrived on board the carrier, they proceeded to engage in a series of Carrier Qualifications, which are essential training exercises for naval aviators designed to ensure that they possess the necessary skills to operate effectively in the demanding and often perilous environment of carrier-based aviation.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is now embarking on a month-long training cruise. The aircraft carrier was recently at Glenmallan in Scotland, where it restocked its ammunition supply.

During the cruise, the crew will have the opportunity to work with highly advanced F-35 fighter jets, an experience that will further enhance their skills and knowledge.

Glenmallan

This was the second time the vessel has visited the Northern Ammunition Jetty at Glen Mallan near Faslane since it was upgraded.

According to a news release on the upgrade work:

“We awarded a £67m contract to VolkerStevin in 2019. Alongside them, we worked with managing agent Jacobs, which provided engineering and professional services, as well as designer Arch Henderson. In completing this major project, £20m was spent with local suppliers and small and medium enterprises in Scotland. The jetty was last upgraded in the 1970s and had reached the end of its economic life. The upgrade work has not only extended the life of the jetty by an estimated fifty years, but has also made the site accessible for the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

In fact, HMS Queen Elizabeth visited part way through the work, back in March 2021, in preparation for her first operational deployment. This was not originally planned but became necessary when the scale of the ship’s deployment increased, presenting the team with a challenge to make the jetty operational in time for her arrival. Everyone involved, from DIO, VolkerStevin, Jacobs and the various subcontractors worked closely together to enable HMS Queen Elizabeth to berth at the unfinished jetty, which she did successfully.”

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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320 COMMENTS

      • The UK is looking for peak efficiency. Leaving our kit to rust & our people to waste away is not an option. It is perhaps worth highlighting that as training is not undertaken everywhere.

          • Sorry Graham I should have been more careful with what I said. I mean that some countries such as the UK will happily wear out their airframes & hulls on training exercises to ensure that their professional military are as prepared as they can be should war be declared. Based upon information from this site and others it would appear that countries such as Russia do not appear to put in enough flying hours & many of their ships do not leave the dockside to maintain the skills necessary. If you look at the Russian Army it would appear that whilst a small proportion was well trained the majority was conscript poorly trained & motivated which is reflected in the poor performance in the Ukraine.

          • Thanks Mark, I am not sure about the air force but in the army in BAOR Germany we went on exercise quite infrequently and when we did there was a track mileage figure set which you were not allowed to exceed – many exercises ended early as the track mileage figure had been reached before scheduled end of exercise. This track mileage restriction was to save fuel costs and excessive wear and tear on the tracked vehicles.

          • The role of BAOR was, unless I’m mistaken, just to deter by being there which it did sucessfully for decades. Giving the tracked vehicles a runout occasionally simply proved they worked and weren’t made of cardboard. Too much activity might have given out too much information. I take it though that the crews were adequately trained should the need arise?

          • The role of BAOR and RAFG was to deter the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies from attacking into central Europe – and if deterrence were to fail, then to impose delay on the enemy to buy time for politicians to either sue for peace or initiate nuclear release.
            Despite the relatively little time spent on exercise in any given time, our troops were well trained.

      • No it’s just to highlight that we actually have a carrier that works…
        I believe Admiral Kuznetsov has been under repair since 2018 😆

          • Don’t be silly we have it from a reliable source that they all sail safely under their own steam (if plenty of smoke too) back safely to harbour in Sevastopol.

          • If it’s who I’m thinking, he as reliable as… er…

            actually I can’t think of anything less reliable than him to compare him too! 😳😆

          • You have to give credit where credit is due and the poor thing won’t die will it a true zombie carrier. Well that’s until they have, through incompetence and inexperience on the part of the yard and naval architects working on her, and probably sprinkled with an excess of corruption, belatedly discovered that the hull has deteriorated so badly through the vagaries of sea water and inadequate maintenance that it may never be safe to actually return her to service. Expect it to do so within the year then, probably with an excess of aircraft to get as many people off of her whenever she finally sinks.

          • Both under repair AND underwater…
            Maybe they’re planning on making it a submersible, like the cruiser Moskva 😉

          • FFS I’m laughing my ass off at the sequence of posts from you boys in regard to the Russian flattop 😂😂😂

          • It’s been never-ending since 2016!

            Hopefully, JohninRussia or Estebaninski can translate for us but you get the picture!

            “The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov has lost a second fighter plane in just three weeks. The latest incident, involving a Su-33 Flanker air superiority fighter, is also the second to involve a failure of the ship’s arresting wires.”

          • Really?

            The story I heard was that they were trying to see if a crane could land on the flight-deck better than an Su-33. Ok the deck was dented, and the crane was a right-off, but at least it got onto the deck, which is more than can be said for a few Su-33s 😆

      • Have they considered installing heaters onboard Admiral Kuznetsov JohninRussia?

        Admiral Kuznetsov

        “The Russian Navy’s only aircraft carrier, ‘Admiral Kuznetsov‘, has caught fire once again, according to Russian state media. A small fire erupted inside the ship as it was undergoing repairs at a drydock in Murmansk.22 Dec 2022″

          • Yes, silly one off error unlike years of incompetence and corruption, but fortunately the yanks have got how many more……….ah silence from a troll is golden! Anyway about your statement about Putin, not going to type it troll farm boy! Nope, thought not, thanks for verifying your troll status once again to all on here! Good lad!

        • Has anyone studied the equally long drawn out fractious events with its sister ship they resurrected from its grave rebuilt and sold off under contract to the Indians? It would be equally amusing…well if you aren’t Indian I guess anyway.

          • If you mean INS Vikramaditya, that’s not a sister ship. It’s a modified Kiev class that predates Kuznetsov. The resurrected sister ship became the Chinese carrier Lianoning, whose trip to China is also an interesting story.

          • After watching the Lianoning start it’s engine in Hong Kong you can see it too has many of the same issues as well though. Those engines are just awful and it’s little more than a death trap for the pilots that have to fly from it.

          • The Liaoning has new propulsion fitted. No issues have been reported, it has been very active…don’t underestimate the Chinese…

            When QE starts her diesels up there is a lot of smoke…

      • At least it’s accurate and factual. Two words you’ll never understand. Speaking of aircraft carriers, how’s Kuznetsov doing? Afloat? On fire ?
        Parts of it up for sale by the crew on the classifieds of KGB Today?

          • My Navy is just fine. And it actually has a whole shitload of fully capable aircraft. And they are deployed all over the world as we speak.

          • I think your translation from English into Russian needs a bit more homework Estebaninski.

            I think you mean a whole load of shit aircraft that are incapable and they are deployed all over the world as we speak.

            I hear your SU57 sales have taken a nosedive recently, mostly into Ukrainian farmland.

          • It’s also funny as yet again you confirm your troll status as you have claimed to be a UK citizen when challenged on your posts! What a useless muppet you are, can’t even troll property, you forget the chuff you froth, hilarious!!!!!

          • I get lost as he said he was from Portugal before as well. I guess at the Troll farm they don’t keep track of the bull shit they spin.

          • In the past yes when he was being a total dipstick but recently he has become a little more reasonable…..or maybe different one?

          • Na Alex S is the idiot trying to convince me a T72 tank is better than a CH2 tank which I corrected him , and he is always sly digging the UK Armed forces when he gets a chance.

          • I think I may have read that! Sad to say the internet is full of chuff, trolls and misinformation mate!

          • AlexS is trying the tactic of sounding reasonable a lot of the time hoping that statements such as the T72 being superior to CR2 won’t sound so ridiculous, except they do 🤷🏻‍♂️

            So we have JohnInMosKva, Esteban, and AlexS… spotted any more trolls?…

        • TBF, don’t forget the POW dodgy propeller/shaft made her break down just off the IOW last year, ending her cruise to America(QE had to substitute) & is in Rosyth having it all made good.

      • Well my comment generated the normal diversionary red herring irrelevance. What has regurgitating the state of the K got to do with it apart from attempting to mask my main point?

        I suspect that every other operational carrier in the world has aircraft stationed on it, not visiting. My sad reflection is that we don’t have enough for one carrier let alone two. We don’t see the French or Italians having to ‘borrow’ other nations’ aircraft to pad the numbers.

        Many of you are either missing or ignoring the perilous financial situation that we are heading into. Haven’t you noticed the energy price rise and the CEO of BP saying its likely to stay that high until the mid 2030s? Do you somehow think that it is not going to seriously impact UK industry over the next 18 months? Forget the budget row on rate of Corporation Tax, who is going to make the profits to tax?

        The Germans are leading the way with their car manufacturers boosting production outside Europe to import back and BASF moving new production to China due to the impact of much lower energy costs there and the US. Where are the UK car companies that can do the same, ooops they are all foreign owned, MG anyone?

        Regardless of what you think about Ukraine, think about our own country, the UK. Should our Government not be putting that first and helping others second? Protecting our tax base must be one of its prime functions, we saw what happened when Truss tried to cut taxes and increase borrowing, the money med exited stage left.

        Instead, we have pissed off the most important energy supplier there is. We will not be on their list of, as they put it “friendly” countries buying oil/gas at advantageous prices, whilst many of our manufacturing competitors will. The ‘Great’ in Great Britain is heading fast into history and many of you lot here seem to be blindly cheering it on.

        • You must have missed the training part of the article. Not that your Russian comrades would know much about that. No, aircraft carriers don’t have aircraft permanently stationed on them, once again, your paucity of knowledge is displayed.

          ” ….pissed off the most important energy supplier there is..” Nope. Russia began a war it cannot win because a deluded Putin decided that a corner of the world somehow belongs to him. It doesn’t and it never will.

        • It’s actually one of the very great advantages of an Elizabeth and the F35. Every other carrier that requires an arrested landing requires a very long carrier qualification process which means they have to have the airwing on the carrier at all times. The airwing you have is it. The F35B carrier qualifications are very quick so you can have your F35Bs parked on land in a nice base, not getting murdered by salt water and carrier landings, then place them on the carrier when you need them. We will have 37 F35Bs this year which means we can put more 5th generation aircraft onto a carrier than any other nation apart from the US…infact it is the most capable fixed wing maritime force other than the U.S.

          • No not really… That has never been demonstrated before ever. In the last time they attempted it with even a tiny little air group someone f***** up and left The covers on the engine intakes. That went well. There is a very complicated system of how to do this. Despite your magic airplane that evidently does not require any work up at all Just randomly fly them on. And evidently any idiot can work on them. This is a slow motion Trainwreck. The ships are great. And I’m sure the crew are great but my God. It has sucked up so much of the budget you can’t defend them without massive help from everyone else. The air group is a joke. But yeah whatever

          • Ooooooh 👜 your getting a bit frantic and excited their fanboy! Anyway remember when you were claiming to be from the UK when tying to defend your garbage posts….ha ha ha haaaa most amusing, do keep it up as you are good for morale as we laugh at you and your sad life. Good lad keep it up!

          • “Good lad keep it up!”

            This may be easier said than done, I hear supplies of Viagra are running low in Moscow following the sanctions… 😂

          • They are also running low on oligarchs, ex generals and CEOs as they all seem to be very very careless and seem to fall from great heights, accidentally hang/stab/shoot/drown themselves (delete/insert as required)! But to be fair to Putin he doesn’t need viagra as everything he has done over the last 12 months he has fucked!!!! 👍

          • Shit I thought I seen one of our carriers in the South China Sea with four escorts all form the Royal Navy including two of the worlds best ASW frigates and two of the best AAW destroyers. Pretty well defended. In fact it was so well defended it found three Type 93 SSN which is basically the entire Chinese SSN force at sea.

            Or did I imagine this?

          • Barring the US anyone else got 2 modern 70,000 ton carriers and 30+ aircraft to fly off them in 2023…No, get a grip man you compare yourself to your likely opponents. Plus’s that fact the RN has just parked its OCU on the carrier and not a front line squadron sort of proves my point. As for the loss of the F35 on the last deployment , everyone losses airframes in carrier ops, infact everyone loss military airframes all the time ( 237 harriers were written off in its lifetime). It’s simply documented in evidence that:

            1) France has a nightmare keeping a CATOBAR carrier qualified air wing because it’s very very hard and demanding.
            2) career qualification on an Elizabeth is a shorter and more simple process and you can generate an airwing quickly.

        • Oh my talk about diversion and red herrings, paragraph 3,4,5 and 6! I will refer you to my previous answer to you my civvy troll! It’s CQs for aircrew and deck handlers, you don’t need to put 15 aircraft on it for 6 months for training! Sigh! Leave the military stuff to the military eh my little troll and you stick with making shit up and supporting a Nazi regime! And, as you are currently in MK as a 76 year old? Just having had surgery on your prostrate, that makes you a free man and able to type “Putin is a bell-end Nazi” and condemn the illegal invasion…………that’s a no then! What a troll!

        • JIMK wrote:

          “”We don’t see the French or Italians having to ‘borrow’ other nations’ aircraft to pad the numbers. “”

          1) The RAF covered the french shortfall in Transport (C17s) Refueling (Voyagers) and Troop/Cargo (Chinooks) in Mali
          2) The RAF loaned 24 Tornado F3 aircraft to Italy for a period of 10 years from around 1996 i think.

          • Oh and the Italians have welcomed US aircraft onto their carriers this past year I believe to help their own experience and preparations. They say ignorance is bliss for MK it’s a necessity it seems.

          • I’m not sure I understand your point. The Italians have F-35s operating on Cavour, although they are some years behind us in building their numbers. (And they aren’t stationed on there permanently, John.) I don’t know what’s happening with delays to the Trieste; I suppose Garibaldi and the Harriers will soldier on until it’s commissioned.

          • At least the Italians retained a capability are are in the process of moving over to the gold standard platform?

            There are a lot of F35B on order by our allies.

            So in an alliance war situation filling the carriers won’t be an issue. Even thought the UK’s ability to surge to 24 F35B would be real in an emergency. And that is quite an airforce in itself.

            In ‘82 anything flyable was sent.

        • The winter in western Europe is nearly over. Norway and Holland have stepped in to replace Russian gas. Next winter the entire economic situation will be very much more robust. Putin has shot himself in the foot again. Despite Erdogan Finland and Sweden will join N.A.T.O. Even Switzerland – yes! Switzerland – is making noises of support for the campaign against Putin’s feral armies. Covid knocked us back much more than Putin truth e told. The resourcefulness and resilience of the west is its best secret weapon, one Putin does not possess. I am old. I have seen Great Britain written off every decade since Mr Attlee and Churchill when my city was scarred with huge bomb sites. We were foolish to place our trust in a peaceful world after 1990. We have learned our mistake and together with allies from the world’s greatest centres of innovation and science we will get there. Now, what was your point?

          • Looks promising!

            13 Dec 2022

            “The $100 million has been approved by the Swiss parliament and will be used for civilian infrastructure and aid for the Ukrainian population.“

            “Switzerland is currently looking into a potential modification of its War Material Law, which could allow third countries to re-export Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine. But with neutrality at stake, the road might be longer than proponents wish.

            The motion that would allow for the re-export of weapons to conflict zones under certain conditions was adopted with 14 to 11 votes on Tuesday (24 January) in the committee for security policy of the National Council – one of the chambers of the Swiss parliament.

            The text adopted in the committee on Tuesday now wants to make it possible for the Swiss government to revoke non-re-export clauses in agreements with third countries if the weapons in question are to be shipped to a conflict which has been condemned as violating international law by a two-thirds majority of the UN General Assembly.

            In the case of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the UN General Assembly has already decided accordingly.”

          • Thank you for the details, Nigel. Rub your eyes time is it not?

            Putin has isolated Russia in just under a year flat.

        • Fact is it’s done us a massive favour one that will have far greater effect than my arguing for it this past 40 years. Relying on Russia for your energy needs was always the most stupid of policies though ironically we have never had much reliance upon it in reality however we are hit by the World price that’s increased due to those who had stupidly allowed their power generation to be predominantly supplied from that source. Sadly it’s decision making here that decades predated the Ukraine war that is coming back to bite now like privatising and selling off our generators to foreign Companies or more widely tying electricity prices from whatever source they originated ridiculously tied to the world gas price and the fact our own gas from the North sea is sold back to us at these prices. It’s these and other anomalies that have hit us and must now be changed not put ourselves at far greater cost back into the carnivorous hands of a Fascist Dictator who’s only interest is a greater Imperial Russia and total control over a submissive impotent Europe so that he can have some semblance of Billy Big Bollocks in future transactions with China. It was never going to stop at Ukraine that was just early Jockeying for position for the real moves planned to come as Mikhail Khodorkovsky so succinctly illustrated in his speech yesterday.

          Going down the route you suggest would have far worse ramifications putting us under the total control direct or indirect to Russian economic demands and the military or mafia directed by Moscow. We would be little better than slaves. Instead we are now belatedly going to become increasingly energy free from that ow bungled Russian plan for us, while in the meantime energy prices are now actually back down to near pre war prices, it’s the middle men exploiting them that need to be looked at and again various factors were driving up energy prices in recent years, mostly the increasing demands of China and India though the enhanced power of Middle East producers too who have become far less susceptible to influence and pressure which again was well in motion pre war. In the end this is a wake up call for the West to develop the means to no longer be blackmailed in this way which we should have set in motion decades before we have. Russia indeed could see that it had only a limited window of opportunity to use this threat but like Hitler before him Putin foolishly dived in a few years too early to hit the peak of potential power in that regard probably due to other factors forcing his hand.

          As for building goods abroad that is ansi argument at best if you truly live in Britain you know that this has been in motion for decades the idea it is happening in any response to the Ukraine war to any significant degree is laughable. Ironically I suspect China has had its high point in this regard, many companies are looking to move production out of China though this will be a slow drawn out process sadly. Europe will adapt and survive and be better for it sadly for you even if we have to take a hit in the short term. The real danger sadly is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan which if Russia wins in Ukraine will be inevitable and/or sooner and will make this War and its effects just a mosquito bite compared to the disaster that will bring to the economies of the World as 90% of our base semi conductors are produced in or by companies headquartered there.

          That’s the real danger and indeed the real plan of these two Allies without limits. Only a fool wouldn’t understand the implications of letting them get away with setting it in motion.

          Oh and as I said above to your first post the QE is on a training mission not an active duty role presently which clearly influences the number of aircraft aboard. Oh and Squadrons don’t simply sit on carriers full time or indelibly linked to carriers as you seem to imply even US carriers have different squadrons and units applied to their carriers for set tours of duty and they all have their home bases on dry land they fly out of. I can quote you some if you like and even show their tour badges and dates they were attached.

          • Unfortunately, we are losing global perspective, and it is all very well that a modern ship can do twice as much as the earlier one, ergo, we don’t need 12, 6 will do but:

            https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64380572.amp

            Presence has a force of its own.

            And with Sri Lankan under a debt that China will not write off or be allowed to be restructured we need to focus globally, IMHO.

        • Great is a geographical term and not a reference to ‘greatness’, so even if we have no pots to piss in, we are still Great Britain.

      • Those 5 F35s would kick the absolute crap out of Kuznetsov and her entire air wing – even if the Russian carrier was fully functional.

          • Why not?

            Moskva was sunk by a couple of old Neptune missiles. Or a cigarette.

            I doubt they’d see an F35 approaching.

          • Yes, definitely. Paveway 4 is excellent at targeting moving targets, at standoff ranges, in all weather’s,night or day, with extreme accuracy. You could pick which window on the bridge you would like the weapon to enter. Multiple fusing options, and can be re-targeted even when in flight. And with the F35’s stealth and sensors, any warship would have a very hard time tracking one, let alone targeting one. And 6 weapons could be dropped in one pass, to 6 different targets if that is what is required.

          • Indeed.

            Whist another F35B was doing a distraction attack by firing a missile in from another direction. Wether the missile is AShM is irrelevant as the ship wouldn’t know that.

            Given how dreadful Russian ships radar actually is I doubt they’d pick up the F35B even with the bomb bay doors open.

          • And even with weapons under the wings, it still has a very low radar cross section. The airframe radar return is just one part of stealth . Running electronically silent hides the aircraft even more effectively. That’s when the secure networks and situational awareness comes in.

      • Not at all my little troll, your lack of military experience becomes so obvious with such a comment! These are CQs both for aircrew and deck handlers etc! You don’t need 15 jets bouncing around, to qualify people in their core trade! Typical troll attempts at negativity and dis-information. Best leave the military stuff to the military, you stick to trolling eh, good lad!

        • It is, but the military is constrained by what is happening around it and can’t be viewed as independent of it.

          As a simple example, the energy bill on every MoD site in the country is probably, like our bills, trebling or worse, the RAF sites that I have been on not being notable for good insulation standards. This is way above any allowance that would have been made for normal inflation. That money will have to come out of another budget somewhere else in the MoD.

          Same with the input costs in building frigates, submarines, etc.

          The MoD and its contractors must be struggling now holding spending down to Treasury diktats, not sure how any new purchases are going to get approved.

          • The money is there if needed, and thanks to your bestie Puketin, it’s available in larger amounts for much of the NATO members who were previously slacking, and has brought defence to the public domain so much more in this country. Tell him thanks for that!

          • MOD already got an inflation settlement.

            Energy bills are a tiny fraction of base operating costs.

          • We need to be off fossil fuels anyhow, this war just hastens the process and will lead to a much more independent energy policy. Painful at first but all big changes are. National grid is already running on 70% cleaner energy see real time dashboard. https://grid.iamkate.com/
            Anyhow not really relevant on a military site, so you are grasping at poor examples.

        • Well, to be fair you could have crept up on me in a tank until this afternoon. My new hearing aids mean I could be general in Putin’s army – I know its steep leaning curve: From one bottle of vodka a month to a crate every day before breakfast – but I can do this!

          • You can’t because Russians neck a vodka followed by a beer and repeat!

            Even I’m not that bad and even Airborne might have trouble keeping up.

          • Borners!? Two pink gins and he would take on the entire mess. Remember the trouble over the Lady Mayoress’s courtesy visit? The hushing up was epic. I still shudder (but that’s my problem).

          • Send again in cĺear. Over.

            Obviously, a great dit, but, you’ll have to expand.

            I was SAS, aka Saturdays and Sundays with the odd M, T, W, Th, F when the IRA were smacking 5 bells out of London, so come on, cough up the dit while I grab a sandbag!

          • Borners sadly is me……😂……..Barry is currently on methadone as the off licence is closed 🤪👍

          • Never heard that b4, I thought you were all Los Lobos

            As in

            Lobotomies. Cruel giving your TA unit, 10, as

            X

            Marks the spot…

            Stay well, Sir.

          • X marks the spot lol some good lads in there, was the SPSI for a short period! Anyway on here it’s pretty much a decent free for all of good banter, excellent SMEs on various subjects and the odd troll to grip! I’ve learnt more on here from a varied number of lads, to include deep32, Daniele and his absolute in depth ORBAT knowledge to Farouk and his research and dits, to GB and his ongoing crazy navy stuff, to Davey, Barry etc etc! All make good and effective/interesting contributions and it’s a great site to visit for a chilled out read! 👍

          • Tell me about it… my office was in St Mary’s Axe, and the next-year we moved onto Bishopsgate 🤦🏻‍♂️

      • It’s newsworthy on a U.K. defence website. I haven’t watched the 10pm
        News but doubt it was a main headline there.
        More news about Russia awful tactics in Ukraine and how the west can support Ukraine better.

        • Depends on how many of these month long training cruises they plan to hold per year. (I assume they only want to take pilots already qualified on one of these before taking them on a deployment??)

      • As far as I’m aware, carrier certification isn’t just for new pilots; its process that everyone has to go through on pretty regular basis, as operating from a deck is a highly perishable skill

        • Yes it has to be renewed.
          For USN with cat and traps, I believe it’s every 6 months as it’s so demanding. But VSTOL is supposed to easier – well for F35, Harrier was apparently a skilled art.

        • Not for the F35B, it’s one of the most important capabilities, you can carrier qualify your air wing as you need to deploy. You can go from no carrier qualified pilots to a full deck in very little time…it takes an age to carrier qualify a CATOBAR air wing…it’s one of Frances big problems.

          • Yep and another downside to only having one carrier rather than at least two. Whenever CDG comes out of refit the airgroup training has to start almost from scratch. The French might want to consider asking the USN if they can operate Rafale from their carriers when CDG is unavailable.

          • the French do actually do that when the CDG went in for a 2 year refit just before it came back out the French had to send its squadrons to the US for carrier trading and qualifications, that included deck launching and landing Rafales of the H Truman. The French have a nightmare keeping up a carrier qualified air wing with only a couple of squadron’s and one carrier….it’s one of the reason turning one of the Queen Elizabeth’s was an utterly stupid idea, if you are talking about maintaining an independent always available UK carrier force and not just adding one carrier to the NATO pot 50% of the time.

          • 👍 Thanks I must have missed that. Your spot on about the daft idea from Admiral Cameron who else ! to convert QE to CATOBAR and PoW to an LPH. STOVL carriers are cheaper to build,man and operate.

          • 6-7 pilots can be deck qualified for day and night deck operations in under 4 days. Probably less. Simulator work before going to sea will also speed up the process 👍

      • Mmmmm but five F35B up against the zero 5th gen aircraft that Russia have?

        I think we will have 36 F35B by the end of the year anyway.

        I’d be reasonably confident that the RAF alone could take out a high % of Russian forces using ATA missiles and Storm Shadow.

        Again it looks like we have stockpiles of the right kind of things.

          • I’m unconvinced about the Su-57 being 5th gen.

            I was discussing this with DaveyB and we were both pointing out the nice resonant cavity between the tail pipes…..

          • Yes like that Chinese 5th gen plane with canards the use of “stealthy” could be more of a marketing ploy than reality 😏

          • The SU57 Fallon got defeated by a F14 Tomcat, least it did if you have watched Top Gun 2. Ergo the F35B has zero to worry about.

          • With a 0.5 sqm RCS the SU57 is very much a 4.5 gen aircraft. It looks really nice but I don’t think it would do well against an F35 especially with meteor.

          • Oh I’m sure the F35 would spank it 9 times out of 10… and the SU-57 is Russia’s premier aircraft… 😆

          • Listening and reading only, I think the impression I have is the key is situational awareness and tactical responses. Neither of these have been apparent in Russian operations either in Syria or Ukraine. People – all of us – should look at this from the Russian perspective: N.A.T.O. air power from North Cape to the Black Sea. Time to change trousers, Vlad?

      • I think 5 F35Bs are still going to be able to shoot down 20+ sukhoi/ MIGs with relative ease. They won’t even know the F35Bs got them until the missile warning alarm goes off. By then too late.

        • Chances are they won’t be equipped with a missile approach warning reciver. First thing they will know about an engagement is when the AMRAAM slams home.

    • The number doesn’t mean a lot really. She is out for a month so the chances of the same pilots starting and finishing the trip is pretty remote! Well within helicopter range to change pilots.

    • ‘HMS Queen Elizabeth is now embarking on a month-long training cruise.’
      I am not sure that you need an excess of aircraft to achieve this indeed if you are finalising giving pilots their ‘sign off’ to operate from carriers it’s probably best not to do so with a carrier too full of active operational aerial elements as they gain this experience you surely build up in stages. If it were 5 when she is off on an actual active tour it might be different.

      As for F-35 numbers be great if we had 50 odd to play with but as I read this week early F-34s are already pretty much becoming obsolete so like it or not it’s a feature of this particular program over many years that sadly makes the procurement relatively slow and cautious even if the nuance around that can be debated.

      • It is only the first few we had that are not readily upgradable. Those are the orange wired ones that might well go to Boscombe.

        Other than that they are all readily upgradable.

    • The 5 are the next batch in the Lightning force Pilots, we are now all aware of the total failure of the Pilot training programme.

      its been hidden that the training program is behind by some 2.5 years.

      Numbers is not great for Pilots. but they wont admit it

    • Not to mention:
      • those bewailing the lack of torpedo-bombers and urging the reinstatement of Swordfishes…
      • those wanting the installation of giant kettles to facilitate the addition of catapults, allowing the use of Phantoms…

          • Buccaneers used to surface skim, pop up and fire Sea Eagle (much as the Argie Etendards) did with AM39. As Sea Eagle had a range of 80 nm+ the Buccaneers were able to attack from outside of the engagement envelope of shipborne area defence SAM’s.

          • Genuine question: which Russian/Chinese area defence SAM’s have an 80nm+ range and can be uses against a sea skimming target which the Buccaneers and Sea Eagle were? I understood that the large, long range SAM’s aren’t much use against targets close to the ground.

          • And the radar crew aren’t being distracted by the Bayraktar formation drone team performing on the other side of the ship.

        • The Fairey factory in Stockport is where they manufacture Boxer base units, so I think they’ll have their hands too full to resume Swordfish production.

          However, the Blackburn factory in Brough recently ceased whole aircraft production and is now producing Hawk components. I’m sure they’d love to build a few more Buccaneers for old time’s sake.

        • Probably could as she is bigger and they didn’t need cats.

          Which makes you wonder if prop driven drones might be a better option going forward, ie not requiring their own EMALS…

          • A lower risk option? But even the new STOL Mojave drone needs a 1600 ft runway when fully armed. In pure surveillance mode, it needs around 1000 ft. I don’t know whether it can take advantage of a ramp to reduce these distances.
            To avoid compromising existing flight deck arrangements, a tilt rotor might give us a better option for a more capable successor to Crowsnest.
            I just don’t believe an EMAL and heavy UCAV system will be affordable, even if it proves technically feasible.

          • That’s because Mojave is big, it all comes down to the size (and power) of the drone. You could easily design a smaller drone that could take off from a deck the size of the QE.

            Personally I wouldn’t go for an EMAL system purely for a drone and instead for for something like the Bell Valour or Vigilant. The former exists and they’ve been adding autonomous operation to it, the latter is still only a concept.

          • How about something like an updated remote controlled B-25, with a folding wings upgrade that should tick the boxes. The QE class is longer than the USS Hornet.

          • That would work except in the west we prefer to use smart weapons these days rather than flattening large areas with dumb bombs in the hope of hitting something.
            Perhaps more appropriate for the Admiral Kuznetsov if she ever gets out of repair…

            (BTW anyone visiting SF, it’s worth crossing the bay to Alameda to visit the USS Hornet. Not the Doolittle Raid one, but her successor.)

          • JIMK wrote:

            “”How about something like an updated remote controlled B-25, with a folding wings upgrade that should tick the boxes. The QE class is longer than the USS Hornet.””

            Actually RAF Luton reported on such the other day:
            

          • I was surprised to read that a Bell Valor is likely to cost about the same as an Apache @$25m. With speed and range double those of a Merlin, and not far short of a Hawkeye, it could be an affordable solution to the AEW problem.
            The AW609 is smaller and lighter but could also work.
            I still can’t find any news on the RFI of March 2021 for an EMAL system capable of early(2023) installation. I wonder if it’s been quietly dropped?

          • I think the Valor would be perfect for AEW, greater altitude, speed and endurance than a helicopter. That they’re working to make it optionally manned is a big bonus.
            I suspect the low price might be in part due the large volume they’re expecting to sell – more hulls to spread development costs over.

            AW609 might work, though it was developed from the outset as a commercial, rather than military aircraft. So it might cost to ‘militarise it’ and it’s possible that’s there something in the agreement between Bell and Agusta that prohibits the sale of the AW609 for military purposes. The cost of AW609 could be as much or even more than the Valor, again simply due to the number likely to be produced.

            It’s possible they didn’t get any submissions. The only known ‘working’ EMALS are the General Atomics one used on the Ford class, and one that China has been working on.

          • It’s a shame we didn’t persevere with EMCAT/KIT if only for Vixen, but I think we made the right choice to stick with STOVL for the time being.

            There’s definitely something in the Bell/Agusta agreement preventing the militarisation of the AW609. However, there’s nothing to stop Leonardo building us V-280 under licence in Yeovil if we want enough of them.

            I think AEW&C role/specifications will change over the next decade to exclude the command function. I expect the Crowsnest replacement drone to be pure AEW and relay. It might mean multiple linked drones with less capable radars substituting for an uber-expensive E2. It looks like F-35, Typhoon and Tempest will all have very capable radars next decade and the fusion picture once they are in the air will be excellent. The role of AEW for the carriers while they aren’t flying CAP might not need quite the same make up as currently.

          • Weird how urgent the RFI was 2 years ago. Since then, Lanca cancelled by RAF so no development of a common platform.
            I agree that Valor currently looks the best option. I suspect nothing will happen and Crowsnest will be life extended.

          • I think troll JohninMK has a new troll at the helm, he is getting stuff so randomly wrong, he’s answering your posts and getting sarcy and grumpier quicker! Methinks new troll, same avatar 😂😂😂

        • Easy, even a hurricane with no modifications could land on Queen Elizabeth. They managed this on glorious and furious which were much shorter.

          • That doesn’t surprise me in the least given they’ve been using WW1 tactics of leaving their trenches and walking wave after wave towards fortified Ukrainian positions…

          • None reported used that I have seen, . You are probably thinking of Azerbaijan using them as RC drones against mainly the S-300 AD systems of Armenia.

          • Ah you have not seen so never user eh? Wow for a civvy age 76, in good old MK, you have a high opinion of your OSINT ability! Anyway, how about typing “this war in Ukraine is illegal, due to Putins invasion” all you have to do is type it, your safe, your in MK surely?

          • Given the amount of time I spent on it I think I probably have a good chance of spotting an event like that. Ukraine’s PR team would certainly have shouted about it. Maybe someone else here saw it?

            It is legal under the terms of Article 51 of the UN Charter.

          • Not interested in your excuses pal, just want to see you condemn this illegal invasion of Ukraine by Putin? So………

    • As the number of F35Bs around the world increase I would not be surprised to see either the QE or POW pushing their capacity limits before too long.

    • Agree with you. Excellent picture as far as I’m concerned.. UK 5th generation aircraft on a British built carrier. Excellent !!!

    • I thought you might enjoy the latest news on Ajax Daniele!

      General Dynamics expects Ajax payments to resume soon17 FEBRUARY 2023

      “General Dynamics believes it has resolved noise and vibration problems with its Ajax armoured fighting vehicle and that the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) will resume making payments for the programme by the end of March, according to officials at the US-based defence contractor.

      “We anticipate, given the maturity of the vehicle and where it is in its test programme, that payments will begin to flow again,” General Dynamics chairman and CEO Phebe Novakovic told the Cowen 44th Annual Aerospace/Defense & Industrials Conference on 15 February near Washington, DC. “But we’re not going to be real specific about that other than we anticipate this largely this quarter.”

      Since the MoD stopped making payments in 2021, the unpaid balance has grown to USD1.7 billion, General Dynamics wrote in a 7 February filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.”

      LINK

      • 50% availablility isn’t too bad. Russia 0%. US 30% maybe. France – God knows. China – We will find out but made in China doesn’t seem like a mark of quality.😂.

          • JIMK wrote:

            “”My iPhone and iPad are at the peak of quality. So is my LG TV, etc etc.””

            China does indeed make some quality stuff, to a far high standard than a lot of Western stuff. But to be fair China usually builds those goods to western specifications . The problem with China is its only attraction is cost, and this is does very well, and as long as it sticks to western specs it will continue to supply the West with high quality goods. What is rarely mentioned by Chinese champions is their penchant for finding ways to cut costs (Aka Cha Bu Duo) so in the past we saw:
            You don’t have a proper cold-storage chain to send vaccines? Well, stick some ice in the parcels and put them in the post. Chabuduo, and children cough to death.
            Why take the sludge to a disposal site? Just pile it up here, where everyone else has been putting it. Chabuduo, and 91 people are crushed by a landslide in Guangdong.
            Separate out the dangerous materials? What does it matter, just stick that nitrate over there. Chabuduo, and a fireball goes up in Tianjin, north China’s chief port, incinerating 173 people.
             
            The same Cha Bu Duo is also seen at work in the manufacturing industry, where during production runs, managers will try and find ways to cut costs) so they replace quality parts for cheaper ones.
            That is why so much tat that is labelled “Made in China” whilst looking good, is shite. Its why a Iphone (which is made to Western standards) will not only work better than a Huawei ,OnePlus, Xiaomi, Realme, ZTE, Vivo, Oppo, Meizu one, but will be supported longer and thus won’t depreciate as quickly, but as I mentioned above, if the above is sold a lot cheaper, then people will buy them.
            Moving onto military equipment:
            Thailand purchased 58 Type 69 tanks in 1987, they had that many issues with them they dumped them in all the sea in 2010
            Jordan purchased 6 CH-4B (Predator drone clones) and within 2 years put them up for sale. Iraq which also purchased 10 of the same UAVs only had 1 airworthy within one year of operating them. Nigeria suffered the same issues.
            Pakistan last year reported it was suffering issues with its newly purchase VT 4 tanks as it has with the 4 F-22P frigates it purchased from 2009 onwards such as
            1)    Onboard imaging device of the FM90 (N) missile system was reportedly found to be defective and unable to lock on to the target.
            2)    Search and track radars exhibited faults during high-power transmissions, substantially degrading their operational utility.
            3)    four diesel engines are used to power the frigates. A critical defect in them has been low engine speed due to high exhaust temperatures, especially in engines three and four of all the frigates.
            4)    A high degree of degradation was noticed in the engine crankcase and liner, which undermined the coolant chemistry in the ship
            I’m not saying the Chinese make crap stuff, far from it, But the very culture of the Chinese supports Cha Bu Duo where corners are cut, which results in quality products been degraded simply in which to save money.

          • For electronics like I phone China only assembles the complicated parts sent from other countries in to a finished product.

            It’s around $30 of value out of a $1000 phone.

          • Indeed, you are spot on in your analysis. The Chinese are masters at making product to a specification in a contract. Define that correctly and they can match anyone’s quality as we all often see in our purchases, but get it wrong and the situations that you describe happen. But they are learning fast particularly in competitive situations like cars, but some parts of the military has a way to go.

          • There is likely to be a steady decline in the business being placed with China based upon their agressive stance in the pacific & worldwide. Worsening relations between China & the US does not bode well for anyone.

          • Agree with your comment re the 40 or so countries in the ‘West’ but China’s business with the Rest of the World is not suffering.

          • The full impact will not hit China for a little while. New business to China is slowing as companies find alternative sources and companies will seek to recover existing business which is going to china as china is now seen as a far greater risk. If China decides to risk supporting Russia in it’s war against Ukraine then it could well end up sanctioned by much of the world. This could cause pain for everyone.

          • Pakistan turned to Ukraine for engines for there Al-Khalid tanks and also for an ECM suite. For a tank developed jointly with China.

          • I see you lost another oligarch/head shed/general (delete/insert as appropriate) to suicide again! Damn things must be bad for them! Does everyone in Nazi Russia involved with Putin live very very high up or have the availability of knives/weapons etc conveniently placed about their house when feeling a little down!!!! Ah makes me smile when the bent Nazi crew all start killing each other off! How about Prigohzin and his Wagner mincemeat squad, he isn’t popular at the moment is he, maybe get Putin and him to fight each other in pants, socks and jelly……..winner wins top Nazi! You’d love that, tissue and wrist ache all evening eh!

          • Must say, I’m rather enjoying the posts on here.. While sipping a nice cold beer! 😄😉

            Have a good weekend All !!! cheers

          • One down but one up. The Russian General who was killed by the Ukrainians (on social media at least) last March has just been resurrected on the instructions of Putin. As today, Lt General Mordvichev replaced General Alexander Lapin as commander of the Central Military District. He previously commanded the 8th Army army units in the battles for Mariupol.

            As an ex military man yourself, I am puzzled by why, rather than the string of insults, you are not more curious about the tactical use by the Russian Army of Prigohzin and his Wagner group, its effectiveness and the resultant effect on the main army units.

            If you get to a stage in your life when you have prostate cancer and, regardless of the insults you throw at me, I hope you don’t, you will know that what you describe is highly likely to be just a memory.

          • “Tactical use” cannon fodder you mean. Makes sense really, your professional (lmao) force has been decimated so use convicts and mercenaries while you try to rebuild. Doesn’t appear to be working though eh

          • Firstly, no answer to my tongue in cheek post about your Russian suicides, but then again you never really answer, secondly, Wagner, no tactics whatsoever. Next? Oh how about answering the oft repeated question about you condemning this illegal invasion of Ukraine by Putin…….

    • Probably the 5 news ones with 5 new pilots. Carrier training. There obviously will a few in maintenance but the majority will be on normal operational duties with the RAF I suspect defending us all Angus.

      • There are a large portion of them (in the Lighting Force) actually wear the dark blue of the Senior Service and all in Uniform are defending us 24/7 365 days a year.

        • Doesn’t matter which uniform they wear they need to operate in a variety of environments & train for those operations. RAF, RN or indeed any other NATO nation will operate off the carriers. Collective security & deterrence was the gift of the 20th Century which just keeps on giving. Whilst it is good to see the senior service building their own squadrons personally I think the shared resource strategy has worked well & should be retained.

        • Is that street lighting or cabin lighting they do? And surely with Health and Safety as it is, they should be wearing day glow!

    • The clue is in the headline to the article, “training”. There will be first time pilots for day and night qualification, plus others on a refresher. There will also be a bunch of maintainers who have never been to sea, who are about to find out that working on an aircraft on a flight deck in a Gale at 02.00 is rather different from a nice warm hangar at Marham. Particularly if said deck is moving up and down, which tends to happen.
      Add to that there will be a whole lot of new ships company, and they also need to go through their own drills, probably with FOST staff breathing down their necks at all hours of the day and night. They are going to be more than tired at the end of a month.
      To put it another way, 5 is a red herring.

  6. I haven’t been keeping up with the F-35 procurement. So, what’s the future of the production plan? Is the MOD waiting for the next block? What’s the score?

  7. I assume this was originally scheduled into the programme for either QE or POW does anyone know which? Either way it seems QE is covering both roles effectively.

    • 100% of the defence budget goes on deterrence. Training is a necessary part of that. Have the kit and train on it is the only way to ensure we can use it if necessary.

  9. Pound that deck boy’s! Deck qualifying is surprisingly quick with VTOL fighters. They have to do X number of takeoff and landings during the day and night to be deck qualified. They can then start operational flying. As 207 is the F35B OCU, these could all be new pilots getting deck qualified. Another tick in the box. 👍

    • 30 F35’s. 27 currently at Marham and 3 in the US. Another 7 will be delivered this year. And about 130 Typhoons are in service.

      • Hi Robert, I believe the RAF will be drawing down the Typhoon tranche 1’s however. No doubt we’ll see a scaling up in F35 acquisition post 2025 to compensate for this.

        • Hi Klonkie. Yeah, once the final T1’s are withdrawn the Typhoon fleet will be down to 107 T2/3’s. The AESA E-Scan Radar 2 upgrade will bring a big increase in capability. That’s were the RAF is putting its money along with F35. New build Typhoons would be great, but the RAF would rather purchase more F35’s. Whilst also planning future funding lines for the Global Combat Air Programme. 👍

          • It makes sense. I also wish there was enough money for 12 more Tranche 4 (3a?) Typhoons, or even 24, but short of Mr Sunak going before the next budget, there won’t be.

          • I think there will be an increase in defence spending at the next budget, but not a big increase. And when you look at the spending pressures across all government departments it’s easy to see why, plus the current record high inflation rates. And I think the MOD needs to do a better job with money it currently gets, especially with procurement. But we have had decades of cuts, and that trend needs to end.

          • We need people like Jonathan to step back and gives us a no bs assessment of how much money is actually spaffed up the wall.

            Example.
            I worked on the COVID line back in 2021 and this is where a chunk of change was spent out of that 37Bn.

            However, on a bank holiday Monday at 22:58, I took a 45 minute call past closing time.

            I was paid the minimum wage throughout.

            I then called the NHS line – yep, sub-contracted out. However, NCO Europe are rolling in it; are we paying over the odds for subcontractors? Layers of management?

            Should I be allowed to stand for parliament, yes on a Labour ticket, I’d be asking questions about MoD procurement, railway nationalisation and NHS spending.

            Govt spending has to come down but the NHS is a golden goose and Defence needs a huge boost, when properly budgeted!

            Thoughts?

  11. There is an assumption being made that 5 aircraft = 5 pilots qualifying. It certainly could mean more. Less would obviously be a challenge to get the aircraft on board 🙂

    But in principle, other pilots could have got on board at Portsmouth and then will ‘hotseat’ with the pilots who flew in to make best use of the number of airframes.

    ps – I accept that we might not have that many pilots needing carrier quals at the moment

    • Probably more than 5 pilots. Others would travel with the ground crews to embark. The deployment is also valuable training for the engineers and flight deck crews. Working and maintaining the jets at sea is much more challenging compared to daily life at Marham. Integrating into the daily life on-board also takes some getting used to for the inexperienced. It’s all valuable training and experience for the whole sqn, not just the pilots 👍

  12. Good to see! The RN are showing slow and steady is the way forward, preparation and planning over the last 10 years for sure, has shown the Army how it’s done! Yes we have a massive training backlog due to short sighted cuts and issues, with pilots and aircrew, but the RN (and the RAF in this case) are maximising their strengths and mitigating weakness as best they can. Top job all round 👍

    • Totally agree Mate!. I’m really over the posts bemoaning how few F35 s are in service and the lack of trained pilots. We have this positive piece of news greeted with more wining that only 5 aircraft are embarked . Geez , you can’t win. Anyhow, have a good weekend Squire!.

      • The day we send QE to sea with 24, 32, 40 etc UK F35’s on it the muppets will still moan that it could have 50 or 60 onboard and that another carrier is sat empty.

        Whatever you do a bunch of turkeys will still be unhappy.

        • Can’t please all the people all the time. 🤷🏻‍♂️
          It’s training & they’re working with what we have to generate a credible force in future.
          Should be wary of being hostile to people moaning we want more and faster though. Sure, maybe they don’t understand these things take time to regenerate and need an explanation. But equally, it’s no bad thing to point out our shortcomings. It’s how we get better.
          For a deployment, wouldn’t you rather have to discuss why 36 is plenty versus why only 8?

  13. Is there any likelihood of us acquiring the NSM Naval Strike Missile for the F35s to operate from the carriers, or are we sticking solely with Spear 3?

  14. So what do have now, 15 qualified pilots? 20? The whole program is a complete joke. Our fast jet training is in disarray but apparently we can find the time and the aircraft to train other forces.
    We are sideshow in any theatre.

    • If you work at RAF Valley and have first hand experience then fine, but if you don’t, then you don’t really know what the situation is. Hawk MK2’s are flying daily, new pilots are reaching the OCU’s.

      • Hi mate.

        I have read that is actually where the hold up is, at the OCUs. MFTS is delivering the number of pilots asked, it is in the RAF section where the build up is taking place, refresher courses not taking place within time, and so on.

        • I guess the constant drumbeat of on going operations is taking its toll. The Typhoon fleet particularly has been extremely hard worked over the last few years.

    • Well at present we only have one active squadron and the OCU + test and evaluation aircraft in the states. So how many pilots do we actually need ? As to how many we have, Im sure the RAF and FAA don’t give that information out for obvious reasons.

      what you are being critical over is really an incredibly difficult and nuanced process…managing skilled strategic workforces is really difficult…what is import for any strategic workforce planning involving highly skilled professionals is:

      Your base line needs
      1)how many you need on the front line now
      2)how many you need to support your training pipeline ( instructors, mentors whatever you call them).
      3) how many do you need for second line roles ( senior management, service development research etc)
      3)what age is your workforce, the older the workforce demographic the higher the risk of loss
      4) what is your planned growth for both front line, second line and training pipeline

      from all that you can understand your need, future need, ability to grow the workforce and losses of workforce. It’s actually really difficult to do as you generally have to model for years in advance and cannot

      1) create these individual as they take years to develop
      2) just turn on bigger training pipelines at whim ( you take staff away from front line roles)
      2) just train loads of people beyond the present roles your have ( they all loss their skills get bored, pissed off and leave.
      3) predict your losses accurately
      4) predict all catastrophic events and how they will impact ( covid )
      5) you also need a good skill mix of new and old..no point having all wise old codgers or all new young bucks with no hard found wisdom.

      so what tends to happen is your strategic workforces tend to fail in a wave…you will have a need to train a load up as it fails or the need expands…then you fill up all the roles..start a steady training pipelines that just replaces annual losses….but then they all get older and leave at the same time and your wave starts over…it’s really really hard to manage and flatten out these waves when your are talking strategic workforces that take years to train and develop.

      But what we can see here really positive is 5 OCU aircraft busy training pilots for the front line squadron sooo. Im not sure anyone anywhere would consider a squadron or F35Bs a sideshow in any theatre….just for comparison a US Nimitz class will only have 14 F35c of its own so….an Elizabeth with 617 squadron would not be a side show by any stretch.

      • Wow! I had to take a break in the middle there! As I said, it wasn’t that me that criticised the pilot and aircrew training in general it was the Headon the RAF.
        Good to see that another 7 jets to be received by the year’s end. Oh, and don’t forget that a Nimitz carrier will also have the small matter of another 35+ Super Hornets to bolster up their F35c’s.

  15. Do we know if recovery by RVL is part of the standard qualification package or is this something that is either still being worked on or has been discarded?

    • The concept has been proved to an extent on QE,but as i understand it because POW has the Bedford Array fitted ( QE doesn’t) more trials on POW are needed for data/protocols/refinement etc which have been delayed because of POW’s misfortune.

  16. What’s the size of 617 and 207? Are they going to be a dozen apiece or are we following the USN and having smaller F-35 squadrons?

    • I believe the USN have actually reversed that and their air wings are now going to have a single large squadron of 14 F35C aircraft. They were going to have two squadrons of 10 f35C aircraft but don’t the number of airframes they need. So have decreased the number of squadrons but increased their Individual size. I’m not sure how this will run over into the marine F35B squadrons.

      • The USMC originally planned to have 16 aircraft per squadron but has reduced that to 10 per squadron in its controversial Force Design 2030 “reorganization.”

        • Do you know if that’s just the F35B squadrons as the USN are having 14 jet squadrons in their air wings so if the USMC go to a 10 jet F35C that will not match the USN planned air wings:

          “By 2025, the Navy will have solved its strike fighter shortfall in part by changing how it will field the F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter. Instead of two squadrons per air wing with 10 tails, the Navy will now field a single squadron with 14 tails, Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, director of the Air Warfare Division (OPNAV/N98), told the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces on Tuesday. testified it was reducing F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fight from two to one squadron per air wing.”

    • I haven’t heard of any plans to change the official strength of UK front-line squadrons from a 12 aircraft. 617 and 809 Sqds will have 12 a/c each by 2025, but that’s a nominal strength. Despite every effort, 617 Sqd embarrassingly max’ed out at just 8 rather than 12 aircraft for CSG21, less than the 10 a/c of USMC VMFA-211. RAF multi-engine squadrons have long had several squadrons drawing from a common pool of aircraft. I suspect the same is happening with fast jets. I can imagine c.2030 the UK claiming to have 4 frontline F-35B squadrons, but these all using the same 30-40 operational standard Block IV TR3 F-35B’s.

  17. Blue sky thinking. Tow PoW, park up in the Adriatic, put an ASW screen around her, lend lease her to the Ukrainians give her 12 F35Bs and stand back and watch them kick seventy shades of shoite out of the orcs. Too extreme?

    Re-furb the 2 T23s being wasted, fit them for and with and let them operate from UK waters.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64380572.amp

    There has to be a tug, take that out and Russian maintainance will do the rest.

    Then take their Russian flagged merchies for prize money.

    That’ll stop some of the oil the barstewards are selling to India

    https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/01/29/how-russia-dodges-oil-sanctions-on-an-industrial-scale

    Or is that too extreme as well?

    Airborne? Daniele?

  19. Essential training for all the new boys and girls that have joined since CSG21. 4 (?) 207 Sqd aircraft that may be lacking the latest upgrades and Block 3i patches, 617 Sqn pilots, and a mix of 207/617 Sqd ground/deck crew and maintainers.

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