F-35B jets launched from British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth dropped live Paveway IV precision-guided bombs on Swedish weapons test ranges last week.

The Royal Navy say that the aircraft carrier, crewed by up to 900 sailors, with her F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters and Merlin helicopters, is leading a mixed group of warships from various nations in waters of northern Europe.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said:

“The UK leadership of this international strike group shows the strength of our commitment to working with Allies to promote security in Europe and demonstrate our resolve against any threat from potential adversaries.

With both HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales deployed simultaneously, the Royal Navy sends a strong message that the UK’s capability for carrier operations is among the strongest in the world.”

The first phase of the deployment will see the carrier’s F35 fighter jets taking part in Exercise Cobra Warrior, the RAF’s largest bi-annual exercise, which will see aircraft from the Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the UK taking part in joint exercises.

The 18-day exercise will involve RAF Typhoon and F35 jets, A400M and C17 transport aircraft, and Voyager air tankers, developing interoperability alongside allied aircraft and practicing integration between fourth and fifth generation fighter aircraft across air, sea, and land.

Commodore James Blackmore, Commander of the Carrier Strike Group, said:

“It is with much eagerness that the UK Carrier Strike Group is now assembling for deployed operations – the first time the UK CSG will be under my command. This autumn’s deployment showcases the UK’s capability to operate at range from the UK and demonstrates our continued commitment to North Atlantic security.

The Carrier Strike Group is an agile and highly capable force and we are excited to be heading to the North Sea and North Atlantic along with our International Partner Nations to reinforce security across the region.”

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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69 COMMENTS

  1. I see we got another 2 f35’s in July to take us up to 32. Are we still on track to get another 5 by the end of the year does anyone know?

    • Not sure on the exact delivery schedule but we should still have 48 by 2025. Will the CSG be able to deploy with 50% of these around the same time!? Hope so but it’s a proportion normally only seen in a crises (scraping together Sea Harriers in 82) so it’ll be a very tall order.

      • If we manage to deploy with 24 in 24, we are getting close to the fast jet numbers on Ark Royal in the 1970s- 14 Buccaneers and 12 Phantoms max.
        Once the planned UK weapons, Spear 3 and Meteor, are integrated, we will have a capability greater than anything previously in service.

        • I believe at some stage, probably CSG25, UK will sail with a force of 16-24 UK jets if nothing else then to test the sortie rate that was envisiged and to be able to maintain the momentum for a period. USMC jets might well also accompany us on that trip (8-12), to add some more mass.
          What is unfortunate is the delay with Blk4 update, as this is what is causing the delay with future weapons integration across the board. Sometime mid/late 2028 I believe is the current estimate.

          • 2030 would be more likely. FOC?

            Sept. 10, 2023
            F-35 Program Director: More Delays Possible for Tech Refresh-3 Update
            “The Tech Refresh-3 update of the F-35 fighter may face more delays due to insufficient manpower and test resources and suffers from an unrealistic degree of concurrency, the Joint Program Office director told Air & Space Forces Magazine in an exclusive interview.

            The TR-3 update replaces the computational core of the F-35 with a much more powerful processor, which will run the Block 4’s more powerful electronic warfare suite and accommodate a greater number of weapons and classified capabilities. The Air Force has held down the number of F-35s it’s bought in recent years, saying it prefers to wait for the more powerful Block 4 version.
             
            There was an “extremely optimistic” plan for shifting from the TR-2 to TR-3 versions, Schmidt said, with “a lot of assumptions about improvements in time that would be made that did not come to fruition.”

            LINK

          • Always welcome! 😊

            This was also very interesting.

            This is a House of Commons Committee report, with recommendations to government. The Government has two months to respond.

            Tenth Report of Session 2022–23

            Conclusions and recommendationsCombat Air
            1. With the prospect of UK involvement in a major war on the European continent closer than it has been for decades, there are serious questions as to whether the UK’s reduced combat air fleet still provides a sufficient deterrent and whether its limited numbers of admittedly highly capable aircraft could overcome a peer adversary in a warfighting context.

            These questions arise not only in the context of the UK’s sovereign capability, but also in relation to its contribution to any wider alliance. (Paragraph 21)
            2. The RAF’s combat aircraft fleet now provides a boutique high capability: it lacks numerical depth and has an inadequate attrition reserve.

            Exquisite capability has its place, but in a peer-on-peer conflict such as a shooting war with Russia, every airframe will count. Combat aircraft numbers are already low. The Defence Command Paper cuts will create a combat air capability gap which, on current plans, will persist well into the 2030s.

            This is unacceptable. The MoD and RAF must consider as a matter of urgency how they can increase combat air mass in the short term. (Paragraph 22)

            3. Increasing the UK’s F-35 fleet beyond the 74 aircraft already planned would be one way to address the combat air capability gap, and this was an approach supported by several of our witnesses.

            However, although acquisition costs for the aircraft may have reduced, sustainment costs remain unacceptably high.

            The fleet’s slow force growth rate is a continued concern: the RAF’s failure to correctly calculate the number of maintainers required to service the aircraft is simply inexcusable.

            At present, there are too many unresolved questions about the development and operational deployment of the fleet. (Paragraph 35)

            4. The MoD must be transparent and realistic about the eventual size of the F-35 fleet, recognising that the planned deferral of this decision to the middle of this decade will damage the ability of UK industry to maintain an ongoing production capacity for combat air, and should also make clear whether it is attributed to the Royal Navy or the RAF.

            When deciding whether to purchase further F-35s, the MoD should carefully consider the advantages that would be offered by a mixed fleet of F-35A and B variant aircraft. The MoD should also clarify whether its intention is that the fleet will routinely be deployed alongside US Marine Corps F-35Bs on UK carriers. (Paragraph 36)

            5. Planned sensor and weapons upgrades to the Typhoon fleet must be delivered at pace. In light of the RAF’s lack of any operational reserve, the MoD should seriously consider mothballing the Tranche 1 Typhoons which are due to be retired in 2025 rather than disposing of them. (Paragraph 41)

            6. Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) offer a cost-effective means of increasing combat mass. As we identified in our 2021 report “We’re Going to Need a Bigger Navy”, the role of UAS within the force mix on the UK’s aircraft carriers remains unresolved.

            This may have implications for decisions around the eventual size of the F-35 fleet. The MoD must rapidly progress its work to develop and deploy UAS alongside the UK’s existing combat air fleet.

            Publication of the Autonomous Collaborative Platform strategy should be accompanied by clear (and ambitious) timescales and an adequate funding commitment for a UAS capability programme. 

          • I wonder where we sit in the queue for weapons integration?
            May 31, 2023 at 12:22 PMA new report from the Government Accountability Office points to undocumented cost growth for new capabilities for the fighter.

            “WASHINGTON — Costs for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s Block 4 modernization effort have grown 55 percent above the $10.6 billion baseline set five years ago, the Government Accountability Office reported this week — and the congressional watchdog says they lack information to determine exactly why.

            A major driver of that cost growth, according to program officials interviewed by GAO, is the software suite’s burgeoning list of capabilities. A 2016 assessment estimated 66 capabilities for the fighter would be delivered by fiscal 2026, a number that has now risen to 80 to be delivered through FY29.

            Yet according to GAO, current records make it difficult to assess how much of that rising price tag stems from the addition of these capabilities compared to developmental woes for ones previously on the books.

            “Program officials told us they attribute much of the Block 4 cost increases to its addition of new capabilities beyond the original Block 4 capabilities.

            We are unable to validate that view because the program’s cost reporting does not provide information on cost increases that occur during capability development for those original Block 4 capabilities or new capabilities added since 2018,” according to the report.

            And even though the program has for years been required to submit reports to Congress on Block 4’s cost and schedule, that information is also lacking for full oversight, GAO found. If the Block 4 effort was managed as a separate program — a recommendation the GAO noted it had previously made, but was ignored on — its 55 percent cost growth would have been enough to trigger a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach, where the defense secretary would have to submit a certification to stave off a termination by Congress.

            LINK

          • Hi Nigel,

            Yes, it’s a total mess which never seems to look as though things are going improve. The only thing that does seem to be increasing are the costs!!

            I tend to agree with you wrt roll out of BLK 4. Probably late 20s might even be early 30’s, it’s really difficult to tell, as I don’t think LM are into transparency.

            Not sure how weapons integration would work, but imagine that the US will get first picks on what weapons are going on(it’s their baby), although being a T1 partner should count for something I would assume. Can’t see S3/Meteor being fitted much before 2030 personally!

            Whilst both TR3/BLK 4 continue to eat lots of $, the actual critical delay is with an updated/improved engine, as TR3 requires more power and cooling than currently available. Both LM & P&W need to get all their ducks in a row and start delivering, can’t see Uncle Sam being HP with this state of affairs for to much longer.

          • “Whilst both TR3/BLK 4 continue to eat lots of $, the actual critical delay is with an updated/improved engine, as TR3 requires more power and cooling than currently available.”

            Indeed. Fortunately, Typhoon has both so we will be able to field Spear 3 ect when they become available. 👍

          • We will have to live with the Block 4 issue. The carriers will get a maximum 24 with the RAF keeping the remainder. The USMC are likely to bulk out our numbers at sea with the USAF bulking our numbers in Europe without going overboard. I would also expect more of the US carrier groups to be more active around the world. Heightened tensions require a heightened response.

          • Block 4 is a now a moving feast, when the changes will come via a spiral development rather a finishing tape.
            But the TR-3 which a hardware feature has to be working all good first

          • Apparently it’s supposed to be 24 UK F35Bs in CSG25. If we can actually manage that plus provide escorts for the carrier and get Fort Victoria back online it will be a great achievement, made better by the Type 45s & 23s kitted out with NSM……

        • Yeah, we’ll be able to match what was flying off the conventional carriers in the late 60’s and 70’s numbers wise, and of course the F35 is on another planet in terms of capabilities.

          I’d say the bigger concern will be around sustainment and the other pieces of the CSG. Nothing wrong working with allied partners but end of the day for UK carrier power projection to be credible it needs to be able to deploy with enough escorts, auxiliaries, helicopters etc as well as jets at short notice, not only on a planned package of exercises and visits every 2-3 years.

          • I recall that the Secretary of Defence has consistently said that routine deployment would be with 12 x F35 (supplemented or not by allies) but we should have the ability to surge to x 36 in times of conflict.

            we would need to prove that requirement so I am guessing 24 xUk plus 12 x USMC will be exercised at some stage.

          • The current planning assumption is that a CVF will deploy with one UK squadron of 12 F-35B’s embarked. Every two years a surge exercise will be held where a second squadron is briefly embarked, so 24 aircraft for a few days, maybe a few weeks. Only in an emergency will 36 F-35B’s be embarked – which involve scrapping the barrel for every available aircraft and pilot, and probably begging from the USA. Don’t forget that the QEC will increasingly embark and operate medium/large UAV’s, which will eat in to the F-35 capacity.

      • Thanks for the replies everyone. I was only asking because I read somewhere that LM could only produce 120 odd airframes this year as opposed to 150 odd. Wondered whether that would impact our delivery schedule. As a junior partner I would hope not but the world has gone a bit wonky recently. Wondered where we was in the pecking order.

    • Depends in LM making sure they are TR3 block IV, lots of F35 sitting in storage at the moment as US DOD won’t accept them. They tried to pawn some off to Belgium

      • I thought the issue was they were TR3 but not block 4. Not sure if they thought the latest block 3 software was certain to work with the new harware or something. With them now having to test it both with TR2 and with TR3, the lack of proper test resources will be even more impactful, and the TR3 roll out will be delayed even more.

    • Believe another 4 are currently at Ft Worth testing, then Lots 16(5), Lot 17(7), will take our count up to 48 by 2025. Something like that anyway.

  2. Great stuff. Live bombs will get the blood pumping for all involved.
    As much as people knock the U.K. forces they do like to keep busy.
    Prepare for the worst, hope for the best

    • Makes a big difference to your impact on the world when you live on small island in a safe neighbourhood and 100% of your force is globally deployable from your own sovereign Territory’s spread across 4 oceans and 5 continents.

  3. I know we are s**t and all according to all the haters and trolls but we currently have 4.5 and 5th generation aircraft bombing Sweden, guarding Cyprus, Poland the UK and the Falkland Islands and participating in operations in Malaysia.

    How many countries can do that out if 200 the world? Only 1 other in my estimation.

    • Never been happy about low numbers we have threes days but do agree with you .Wouldn’t think other nations could do this with what we have available .🇬🇧

      • Agree on the Low numbers and we need more aircraft in operational reserve but when internet trolls constantly berate us compared to some smaller country that may have more jets but most are unusable and the ones that they do have are not true multi role, it winds me up a bit. All our aircraft can now perform strike, air to air, electronic attack and recon in the same mission. If we keep the tranche 1 aircraft in an air national guard style reserve then we can get back above 200 airframes, if you supplement that with a few hundred UCAV and loyal wingman that’s quite a force.

  4. Does anyone know if any stealth packs/racks are being developed so F35s can carry more AAM’s or other/ordinance under their wings? I think Robert mentioned a while back that the F35B could end up carrying maybe 3 if not 2 AAM’s in each bay.

    • The only development i can see is the ‘Sidekick’ Rack which will increase the AMRAAM load from 4 to 6 – not applicable for the ‘B’ model though.

    • something to keep in mind is the AIM-9x Block II Plus. That variant uses a unique shape and materials making it stealthy to mount on the wings. I imagine other A/A missiles could have similar upgrades in the future. JSM and JASSM are already stealth cruise missiles (not sure if they fit inside the B or can only be wingtip mounted) so perhaps having these on the wings don’t make too big of a different to the RCS- of course aerodynamically internal carriage is another huge advantage aside from just maintaining as stealthy of a profile as possible.

      • The B’s bomb bay is the same length and width as the A and C versions, it just isn’t as deep! Which means it can’t carry the big ordinance internally. Thus as per Wiki, the A and C versions can carry 2500lbs (1100kgs) in each bay on the inboard stations. Whilst the B can only carry 1500lbs (680kgs) in the same positions. This means that both the A and C version can carry a JSM in each bay, whilst the B can’t. What may be coming in the near future for our F35Bs is the JSM. Both Australia, Japan and Norway have funded the integration on to the F35. Once the missile is integrated, then any F35 user can use it. However, just like the NSM is an interim solution for the surface Navy. JSM would be an interim solution for our F35, due to the forthcoming FC/ASW. It would mean though that our F35’s could carry four JSMs under the wings.

        There’s a problem with changing the materials of air to air missile fins/control surfaces. This is due to to the speeds that they travel at. They are usually made from a corrosion resistant metal like stainless steel. Which also has a high melting point. When cruising around under the wing of a fighter all day, it would be relatively easy to replace these surfaces with carbon fibre. As it will happily cope with speeds up to Mach 2.2 all day long.

        But missiles such as ASRAAM and in particular Meteor accelerate to past Mach 4. These speeds place huge thermodynamic loads on the control surfaces. Hence why most of these types of missile are using a metal. It would also be feasible to replace them with a ceramic material. Which has very good thermal properties and can be easily tailored for conductivity. However, they are quite brittle and are easily damaged by small particles suspended in the air. What you may see in the future are missiles with ceramic metal matrix control surfaces, but with an sacrificial ablative coating on the leading edges. This coating can be “repaired/replaced” when the missile is being serviced. It’s a similar process that was done on Tornado F3s.

    • Hi mate. 4 x AMRAAM can be carried internally or 2 x Paveways and 2 x AMRAAM. Another 4 Paveways and 2 ASRAAM can be carried under the wings. 8 SPEAR3’s will be carried internally when that weapon enters service 👍

      • Morning Robert, thanks and to everyone. We will always hope for a little bit more to be squeezed in or hung on! Good to see the numbers getting bigger.

        • I don’t know if this will happen, but SPEAR3 could potentially be carried under the wings with 3 weapons on each launcher. 👍

    • Oh, There’s a question. If 2 nato members get into a spat with each other and one then requests assistance, closely followed by the other country what would happen?
      On that I do wonder if there needs to be an ejection mechanism to remove members if required.
      That alone may help get members not meeting their commitments to try harder.

      • I think Article 6 answers that. The one being attacked can invoke Article 5.

        It’s a self “mutual” defence clause.

        Poland can’t attack Belarus and invoke Article 5 – they are on their own.

        Belarus attacks Poland – Article 5 invoked and Belarus fights NATO.

        Germany attacks France – Article 5 invoked and Germany fights NATO.

    • Vikings , known as Norse at the time were generally thought of from Norway and Denmark, while those from Sweden were known as Rus- who went the other direction deeper into Baltic and what is now Russia

  8. First flight of the UK’s 34th F-35B (ZM168) was at L-M Fort Worth on 18 September 2023. It won’t be in the UK yet. We have three more on order but unlikely to be delivered this year due to production problems. So 13 more plus 1 replacement remain to be formally ordered from the manufacturer, presumably these will be in Lots 16 (Dec 2023?) and 17 (Dec 2024?). The well leaked plan is that another 24 will be ordered over the following 5 years, for a final UK buy of at least 75. Note that the first 8 can’t be brought up to an operational standard, they will almost certainly be quietly retired in a few years when no longer useful even for trials and training duties. 809NAS will form in December, with the likelihood of a third and final frontline squadron forming c.2027. RN or RAF squadron designation still to be decided!

  9. After the unfortunate damp squid of CSG22 late last year – QNZL basically making a visit to Norway after filling for in for PWLS as a conference centre states side – defence correspondents were given broad hints that CSG23 would be a much larger and more impressive Autumn deployment to the Eastern Med. There were even suggestions (“but you didn’t hear it from me…”) that if all went, the CSG might even briefly venture in to the Indian Ocean. Sadly those plans gradually faded away and we have ended up with another deployment to “northern waters”, more useful than 2022 but still underwhelming and certainly not newsworthy. Even more frustratingly, a strong CSG23 in the Eastern Med is exactly what the UK government, MOD and RN would love to have at the moment. It would be getting wall-to-wall news coverage as reporters tagged their reports “Dan Dare, reporting from the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, off the coast of Gaza”.

  10. Apparently CSG23 exercise has been cut short, potential deployment to the Med. Whether due to events in Israel uncertain.

      • I bloody well hope not, it’s not our affair.
        Assume to augment the USN CBGs incase others decide to kick off.

        As a precaution, pretty sensible to my mind.

        • Isnt there a multi nation support group with the QE ? getting everyone to agree on a change in plans seems hard.
          Maybe its just media talk …because the US is doing it !

          Britain had the Mandate for Palestine 1920 – 1947 and the jewish militias were just as nasty as hamas. The military losses forced Britain out and gave the mandate back to UN – who didnt provide any peacekeeping forces. Yet divided the country even though it was 70% arab ( both muslim and christian and druze)

          • The history is just that, history.

            I support the right of both sides to exist and have their own nation.

            Both sides need to get over history and agree to a 2 state solution, otherwise this never ends. Palestine as an independent state in the West Bank. Put the UN between them through Jerusalem if needed.

            Israel also has a right to exist, Jews have been there for thousands of years, so Iran needs to butt out, and take Hamas with them.

            Gaza I suspect will be wiped from the map after what Hamas, terrorists did inside Israel, allegedly including decapitating babies.
            If that had happened to another country, I’d hope the response would be no different.

          • I think Israel will be a lot more cautious than to wipe out Gaza. The Hamas attack is not the fault of 2m Gazans, any more that I take responsibility for Boris Johnson’s partygate.

            Although there’s a lot of talk of blood and I’m sorry to say there will be numerous collateral civilian casualties in rooting out Hamas, I don’t think 2m Gazans will be thrown out and the place flattened, as has been suggested.

        • Would make sense especially if the US wish to be more involved in the situation, saves them sending another flat top when they can fly F35B’s from a QE carrier.

          Any US or possible UK carriers would be very well covered by supporting aircraft from Cyprus aswell.

    • I think theyve only been put on notice to possibly sail to the Med if the conflict expands to neighbouring countries.

  11. Off topic but remaining in Scandinavia, the gas pipe line between Finland and Estonia was bombed on last Saturday but it was overshadowed by events in Israel.
    if you have a spare 16 mins have a butchers at Joe Bloggs on You Tube
    for his short video in the subject.
    ”RUSSIA Accused of destroying Finland Gas Pipeline …

    Note he’s not a military blogger but rather a markets one. But well worth a butchers.

    • Apparently, not bombed, mechanically ruptured.

      And NATO set to take a robust response.

      Russian sub in UK waters – sink it. That’s the kind of robust Russia understands.

      Russian survey ship in UK waters – board it, evidence of sabotage intent? Sink it.

      Russians ships caught in foul weather, requesting safe harbour in NATO seas, deny them. The regime might not get the message, their Navy will.

        • Oh, how I wish I had all your expertise, wisdom and insight.

          Doesn’t take an admiral, it takes a Labour Government with backbone.

          • “Doesn’t take an admiral, it takes a Labour Government with backbone.”

            Best change your Shadow DS then. As a future Defence Secretary whose job includes getting his staff to kill people in the states defence, he is also a member of Amnesty International.
            ( Or was? )

            Like Corbyn, I assume that meant he’d rather give terrorists a pat on the back and a nice cup of tea rather than shooting them dead on sight with direct head shots, as Op Kratos outlined regards suicide bombers.
            Corbyn was on record as being against that method, preferring arrest.

            The new PM, Starmer, was busy in a previous role prosecuting British Soldiers over alleged Iraq abuses, akin to a witch hunt with little evidence.

            So I’d love to see it, I really would David. But for those reasons…hmmm.

  12. The first phase of the deployment will see the carrier’s F35 fighter jets taking part in Exercise Cobra Warrior, the RAF’s largest bi-annual exercise, which will see aircraft from Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the UK taking part in joint exercises.

    Did I read that right? Australia is participating in a Northern Europe exercise?

  14. So what weapons are cleared for British F-35Bs as of 2023? And what is coming to the plane that we know about publicly?

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