HMS Defender operated closely with the USS George H.W. Bush as the Type 45 destroyer’s deployment “gathered pace” in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Royal Navy say here that the Type 45 is deployed with the Royal Navy’s Littoral Response Group (North), an amphibious task force led by HMS Albion with more than 1,000 Royal Marines and sailors.
The task group includes support ships RFA Argus and RFA Mounts Bay, as well as Wildcat and Merlin helicopters.
Deployed on Op ACHILLEAN, the group is designed to react to emerging crises in European waters, and work closely with NATO allies and partners, “in an area vital to UK security and prosperity”.
According to a Royal Navy news release:
“The Royal Navy’s fifth Type 45 hosted local children’s charities and cadets from the nearby naval academy, and welcomed Greek dignitaries on board for demonstrations of the advanced destroyer’s capabilities.
Defender followed up the port visit by working with Greek frigate HS Elli, training in surface and electronic warfare, as well as air defence, an area the Type 45 is specially designed and equipped for.”
Lieutenant David Bowen, Fighter Controller on Defender directed American jets from the US Navy’s tenth and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush during the exercises, he was quoted on the Royal Navy website as saying:
“Working with the USS George HW Bush was a brilliant opportunity to prove our interoperability as partner nations and allowed us to develop relationships during the planning process.
During the execution of the sortie I was nervous until the aircraft checked in, at this point I had to deliver the best service that I could to them, Fighter Controller training in RNAS Yeovilton and MWS Collingwood provided me with all the skills to do the job I have trained to do over the last eight months. It was a privilege to have been able to control US F/A-18s from the USS George HW Bush and I look forward to further opportunities in the near future.”
You can read more on this here.
So where is the fighter controller normally for a carrier?
The roles that the type 45 are doing with the carrier are they normally done from an escorting destroyer or the carrier?
Fascinating stuff. The new Gerald Ford carrier will be visiting the uk soon. I wonder if it is going to replace bush in the med? A carrier has been around there since before the conflict began.
I think the AAW Lead Ship in a USCBG is usually a Ticonderoga Cruiser.
Yes, but for how much longer? Only 6 Tico’s left in the Atlantic fleet and 2 those are scheduled for withdrawal next year.
Not much longer. The Ticonderoga class are really old and should been retired already. When ever you think your country has problems designing and building ships just look at the Americans.
Fingers crossed the new Burke’s fill the roll and the FFX and DDX programs work out ok.
USN is well aware that Arleigh Burke class design is dated, although it has been updated periodically, per ‘Batch.’
DDG(X) will be a dedicated effort to reclaim design leadership. It would be convenient, and probably beneficial for all parties, if a common modular destroyer design could be developed under the rubric of AUKUS, but that may be “a bridge too far.”
Hopefully the new Burke’s fill the required roles. Did they fit the flag facilities on the new batch?
How shareable the ddx maybe will depend a lot on price and how much of it could be shared development. If it’s a case of buying a US design filled with US parts I doubt the uk would want it.
Exactly, would depend upon partners approaching effort in cooperative manner. Unable to predict feasibility.
Yes they are old and very very tired. I have worked onboard a few doing maintenance tasks and they have a lot of common machinery and structural issues. AB Flight 3 should take over the job but they are still being built and the new radar will need trialling first. Ticos will be around for a bit longer.
The Burke destroyers have been one of the most successful designs in history. Just how do they represent a “failure”?
Where did I say the Burke destroyer is a failure?
Burkes are a very successful class ship, but even successful ships become obsolescent in certain parts.
Burke propulsion system with 4GT have very high gas consumption and the ship effective range is small for a global navy like USN. To have range margins a Burke needs to be refuelled probably around 3000nm mark.
The problem for the US is they have not managed to successfully design a complete new class of surface combatant in a very long time. The AB’s are good ships but flight III is a reiteration of flight II which is itself a reiteration of flight I. Even their new frigate is to be a redesigned Italian/ French effort with an emphasis on the Italian’s in this case. Use it or loose it. If you rinse & repeat too often, you loose the ability to start from scratch. You then loose ability to actually understand why those before you went… Read more »
Pity that DFDR is 3rd in Class! How short the RN Corporate memory!!
DRNG
DNTL
DFDR
DRGN
DMND
DNCN
There has been a US 6 Fleet Carrier in the Med ‘forever’. I recall JFK squeezing into Valletta, Malta abt 1974
Why are we suddenly describing certain Nimitz Class carriers as Supercarriers?
Haven’t the Nimitz class always been considered supercarriers?
Yes
Bearing in mind it was a term first used in 1921 meaning large carrier I’m assuming it is currently just a term used to annoy the French or the US Marines when the US Navy want to make a point. 😀
The Ford class will be known as the super duper carriers.
😂
FFBNW Knobs on.
Probably because the number of aircraft it has is way more than any other carrier is service.
Everyone knows what a Nimitz class carrier is Dan and it carries 50 years worth of respect. No other description is necessary – indeed it detracts from the reputation that class of carrier has earned and deserves. In theory a description might be desirable for the Ford Class as nobody has seen it do much yet. I wouldn’t recommend ‘Super’ though as it sounds naf to say the least.
Oh well one of our “carriers” is busted ( again ) so might as well play with the US Navy 😅
Having 50% carrier activity is pretty good going. Not sure many nations could boast that.😂
What do the French do for 6 months of the year when CDG is laid up?
Eat cheese.
😂😂😂😂
Plus add some🍷… Lol 😁
Enjoy a wine and/or whine as well? 😉
Sorry, Quentin, did not see your post.
No Carrier operations.
Seamless interoperability requires practice.
I wonder if not having Co-operative Engagement Capability is any inhibit to integration into the battle group?
No. Link of various sorts gives you the Air/Sea/Sub picture. Sea Viper (and Ceptor for that matter) unlike SM 2 don’t need an illuminating radar to go for a target. SM6 doesnt need target illumination as it has active homing but its expensive at around 4 mil a pop.
Imagine how much the SM6 would cost a foreign operator to purchase! They need to work on a cheaper version. I wonder what makes it so expensive
Its 6m long isn’t it? and capable of reaching out to almost exo-atmospheric levels. Those kinds of BMD capabilities are expensive.
I’m sure as the USN orders more of the SM6 that the cost will come down. Would be helpful potentially if a foreign power like Japan, Australia or South Korea were to simply ask for the SM6 based on say 1-2 million a shot rather than the quoted 4 million and see what comes back.
Interestingly the latest SM-2 Block IIIC will be an active homing missile and won’t require illumination, it reaches IOC in 2023. It will be functionally similar to Aster 30, the SM-6 has much greater range.
O/T I’ve seen a few sources saying that Poland is helping Ukraine integrate storm shadow onto the SU24 aircraft. I wonder how long that will take? It’s a big heavy missile.
The uk did have a stack of them that must be getting near update,refurbishment time.
Putin would regard that as a major escalation. Ukraine could disable the Russian fleet at anchor in Sevastopol and take out the Kerch bridge. It would be a turning point in the war. Be interested to know what Washington thinks about it.
Russia could withdraw and stop attacking. That would sort the issues out. When they do that a plan for peace would be much easier.
In my opinion the faster Ukraine can get what it needs to stop Russia the better.
We all want an end to the conflict and if the only way to do that is destroying Russian forces in Ukraine we need to help them with everything they need.
Not saying Ukraine shouldn’t do it by the way. The drone attack on Sevastopol resulted in Putin quickly backing down over his grain ship embargo…confirmation that Putin is on the back and now stuck in a Donbas rut. Kherson will fall to Ukrainian forces soon and Ukraine will retake Crimea. When this happens if Zelensky if prepared to relinquish some territory in the East in a face saving deal, the war can end. Mariupol will be the sticking point, I think.
With the pull out of the grain deal putin realised very quickly he had nothing to gain from withdrawing. Turkey and the UN said they would continue the shipments.
The grain deal is up for review in November. I can’t see Russia wanting to continue it as it brings them very little benefit. When the deal was originally started Russia would of thought it would be in control of all Black Sea ports within weeks.
It wasn’t in any position to take Odessa and other ports in that region by that point, it was a pure play on trying to keep Africa and the Middle East shifting from neutrality and to save some face while shipping out grain from those areas it controls and allowing it to get some of its own otherwise blocked products out.
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Putin is targeting food distribution and power infrastructure to starve and freeze civilians into submission. The mass graves keep growing. A conventional escalation inside Ukraine is exactly what’s needed, and everyone outside of Russia thinks the Kerch bridge and Crimean targets are fair game.
No matter what else Putin thinks, a major escalation by Ukraine would only be targets inside Russia, and I’m amazed by the restraint showed so far in this regard by Zelenskyy. Any Russian targets inside Ukraine should be hit as hard as possible.
Yes, the infrastructure strategy is Putin’s last throw of the dice. Ukraine has called his bluff over nukes and the grain embargo. The important thing now is to stop Putin’s pointless sacrifice of thousands of Russian young men.
That’s not the important thing. The important thing is that Russia can’t profit from its adventurism so it doesn’t do it again. The lives sacrificed the next time and the time after are every bit as important as those dying now. You talk about a face-saving deal following the Russian loss of Kherson. How can Zelenskyy give away the Donbas, the southern coastline and Crimea? That isn’t face saving; it’s a Putin win. I think Zelenskyy will knuckle down and try to grind out gains over the winter in the hope that Putin will be ousted. There are two ways… Read more »
The Russian Ambassador to the UN was arguing exactly what you suggest; that Ukraine implement what was agreed in the Minsk accord.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_agreements
The issue is the interpretation of ‘regional autonomy’.
That agreement was made pre invasion. Ergo before Russia invaded a democratic sovereign country. Russia is also in breach of the “security guarantees” it made at the end of the cold war to guarantee Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine handing over and destroying the hundreds of nuclear weapons it had stored within its territory from the end of the cold war. Soviet nuclear weaponry. If only they hadn’t destroyed them and had retained them they probably wouldn’t have been invaded. So Mad Vlad and his ambassador crony can just bugger off. Ukraine should continue to prosecute the war… Read more »
Total Ukrainian victory and the return of the territorial status quo pre Crimea is Zelensky’s current position. And it probably could be achieved if the US continued its current level of support. I note however that the US are already hinting to Zelensky that he should be prepared enter into negotiations i.e. be prepared to compromise. I believe this is the wisest course of action; that is to say the approach which will end the war soonest, minimise the loss of life and encourage liberal political change within Russia. Principles are fine but you have to know when to exercise… Read more »
If Putin wins there will be no “liberal political change” within Russia.
If we leave him without something he can retire on the risk is that the Wagner Group will end up calling the shots in Russia.
https://dnyuz.com/2022/11/05/wagner-group-goes-mainstream-as-infamous-russian-mercenaries-gain-corporate-logo-and-skyscraper-hq/
“The role of Wagner Group has evolved significantly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” added the British ministry of defence”.
Yes it won’t happen anyway but that is the most ensuring way to prevent even the merest hope of change for the better. It’s a conundrum for sure and don’t see a real answer. The best of a bad lot would perhaps be a clear and complete victory for Ukraine with thereafter serious military support making them a fortress Russia dare not take on but how long does that last esp with Trump or clone returning. Putin’s successor is more likely to get an invite to the Whitehouse than Kretinsky.
There won’t be any liberal change in Russia it will likely become even harder core. Last twenty years should have led the public to be more European jeez we bowed down and bent over backwards to accommodate them, yet it came to this appalling step with gullible public support and barely disguised hatred of the West enabling him. How do you turn that around? Whatever the eventual compromise Ukraine needs unbreakable security guarantees which of course ut thought it had previously till 2014. How does it get that outside of NATO. This is going to be a very tough call… Read more »
There is one person who could stop this war tomorrow; Patriarch Kirill. Russia has no democracy but it is still strongly Orthodox an Kirill speaks for and leads the people. He and the Russian Orthodox church need to remove their support for Putin.
If it didn’t involve Vlad’s head on a stake, it would happen again. Send him to some nice dacha in the Kuril Islands, or better yet, Pitcairn. They could do with the cash injection.
Elba?
Well said. Spot on.
Disagree- I think those 300,000 conscripts called up could become very useful as a “wake up call” to mother Russia. When hundreds of thousands of troops are killed, wounded or captured then there might be a significant pressure within Russia to oust Mad Vlad and all his cronies.
I agree that is the only longer term chink of light to hold back Putin or a hardline successor, the public need to be turned off these wars to the point it will be impossible to do it again. Probably need a good bit longer yet to achieve that if it’s possible esp with the manipulation still being applied on them.
It seems that the supply of their ‘sophisticated’ missiles is running low with no ability to replace them at anything like the rate they have been used. No ships in the Black Sea armed with Kalibrs presently Putin claiming he is open to talks with no pre conditions two powerful ‘friends’ criticising his performance by stealth and those he appointed openly and plying for power as they do so, bloggers letting rip revealing uncomfortable truths despite attempted suppression and the conscripts being slaughtered in droves in recent days in the east, he really is in serious perhaps terminal trouble especially… Read more »
Morning Sky, good summary of where we are. Blinken has done well.
I would go further and say any Russian military target that Ukraine can attack both inside and outside of Ukraine and inside RUssia itself are fair military targets. Russia reaps what it has sown. They cannot expect to lob hundreds of missiles at a country and expect it to not respond. Therefore blow up the damn Crimea bridge. Hit targets inside Russia itself including and especially military airfields ammo dumps and logistic hubs. Smalls arms and artillery shell production sites would also be good targets. If Ukrainians special forces can get into Russia I think there would probably be a… Read more »
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Many wonder why the Nato has not already supplied modern cruise and long range HIMARs to retaliate for civilian infrastructure damage to Keiv and other city’s already.
Moscow can hardly complain about Cruise missiles coming in the opposite direction after the hundreds they’ve already thrown at Ukraine. Ukraine should definitely break a few precious, expensive things in Mother Russia.
Indeed. My understanding is that most of the kalibr missiles are ship launched. Ukraine needs to disable the Sevastopol base.
Agree either via missile strikes or special forces operative wrecking havoc inside mother Russia either/or would be fine.
A few key bridges inside Russia coming down is always a good demonstration of intent and shows the Russian populace that Mad Vlad has not got control of the country. Key east-west rail routes should be number 1 targets as most of Russia’s goods are transported internally by rail.
There have been a remarkable number of smoking related accidents at fuel storage, railway lines,
Ammo storage and other locations inside Russia. I think yesterday a fuel dump in belgarod had a smoking related accident.
How these things inside Russia keep happening is anyone’s guess. Maybe things always were happening and it was not published. Or it’s a resistance, special forces etc.
Then lets do it- the sooner Mad Vlad’s bridge is blown to pieces the better-ditto his shoddy fleet in anchorage in Sevastopol- sink the lot.
Does anyone actually care what Mad Vlad thinks? He started the damn war- he will just have to lump it if Ukraine finishes it.
Need to take Kherson do that and a strong defence on the West Bank is achieved and opens up the opportunity to launch a new front to retake Mariupol only 97km from the nearest point with the main road east west already within their artillery range. Make headway there and Crimea will be seriously threatened and a peace on Ukrainian terms far more possible and Putin likely a goner too.
That’s an intriguing one, since as far as I know Poland do not have Storm Shadow themselves.
The version I heard also had the (enhanced?) French version of the missile, SCALP, also being integrated.
Presumably it would need a lot of help from UK/Fr, and is a joint project to stop one individual country being targeted by Putin.
I don’t see this having been done without USA agreement.
The UK already has a Defence and Security Cooperation agreement with Poland, of course.
Any chance of Storm Shadow (naval version of) going on the Arrowhead 140 frigate for Poland?
That’s interesting as that missile cooperation agreement we signed with Poland was a little obscure in detail. Who knows what projects it might entail that won’t have been advertised.
The size of the missile is no indication of what it takes to integrate it.
Hmmm. The first 10 or so posts have disappeared