Editorial

RN Year in Review - 2001
26 January 2002

In general Year 2001 proved to be a quite good year for the Royal Navy.  It certainly started well with the announcement in January that the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) had been selected to meet the Future Carrier Borne Aircraft requirement (later renamed to improve RAF acceptance the Future Joint Combat Aircraft), and that the UK would commit another $2 billion to its development.  Unfortunately at that point in time there seemed a real possibility that the new Bush administration in the USA might cancel the JSF programme (or at least its STOVL variant), but considerable lobbying combined with a more pro-defence mood after the horrific events of 11 September 2001 saved the programme.  

In October it was announced that the Lockheed Martin variant of the JSF, now known as the F-35, had been selected for development and production over its Boeing rival.  This was good news for British industry, and also has greatly increased the chance that the UK would go for STOVL over CTOL for its new carriers.  The UK had deferred a decision over whether it would buy the STOVL or CTOL JSF variant, this was apparently linked to concerns about the low "bring back" payload of the Boeing offering.  The innovative Rolls Royce developed lift fan used by the Lockheed Martin  F-35 means that there is plenty of lift and this concern is very satisfactorily resolved.  However the MOD continues to study the relative merits of the STOVL and CTOL variants of the F-35, and a final decision won't be made until about September 2002.

BAE goes for broke
2001 was marked by a determined attempt by BAE Systems to establish a complete monopoly of MOD ship orders, squeezing out it remaining rivals, most notably Vosper Thornycroft and Swan Hunters, against whom it waged continuous propaganda campaigns.  BAE sought guarantees that it would get all MOD orders for the next decade - most notably all the 12 Type 45 destroyers and both CVF's - and at a price that offered it good profits.  Without these guarantees, the threat was that BAE would close its shipyards and withdraw from shipbuilding.  The USA based consultancy, Rand Corporation, was called in by the Ministry of Defence to help advise it what to do against BAE's attempted blackmail.  The result gave BAE some, but not all, of what it wanted.

It was decided to increase the initial Type 45 order from 3 to 6 ships (although delivery dates would be unchanged - running out to 2010),  Some hull modules would still be constructed by Vosper Thornycroft but all assembly and final fitting-out will now be at BAE yards.  The Type 45 project remains a critical programme to the RN and the programme delays that the BAE shenanigans caused are extremely unfortunate, although the entry in to service of the first Type 45 destroyer, HMS Daring, is supposedly still late 2007.  Her arrival can not come soon enough as there is no longer any attempt even in official statements to hide the obsolescence of the ancient Type 42 destroyers and their inadequacy against some threats, particularly the latest generation of supersonic anti-ship missiles being marketed and sold by the Russians.   

Aircraft Carriers
Vast amounts of money have been spent over the last few years on major refits intended to maximise the airgroup and power projection capabilities of the small Invincible Class aircraft carriers.  For exercise Saif Sareea II in September/October 2001, HMS Illustrious demonstrated her upgraded capabilities, operating in her "power projection" role, with 8 Sea Harrier FA.2 and 7 RAF Harrier GR.7's embarked. However events in late 2001 events (i.e. the "War against Terrorism" operations) clearly demonstrated that despite all the investment, fundamental limitations had not been overcome.  After Exercise Saif Sareea, HMS Illustrious was assigned to aiding US-led "War on Terrorism" activities against the Taleban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.  However, while scores of USN F/A-18 Hornet's and F-14 Tomcat's from American carriers positioned in the Arabian Sea continuously pounded targets in Afghanistan, it was immediately and brutally clear that HMS Illustrious with her few short-legged Harrier's could offer them no assistance and she was instead reduced to use as an LPH, with a company of Royal Marines and some troop carrying helicopters embarked.  The case for the two planned new large aircraft carriers (CVF) has thus been re-emphasised, with renewed government enthusiasm for the project from the Prime Minister down.  This has stopped, temporarily at least, the type of press speculation (often quoting RAF or Army sources!) that CVF was about to be cancelled that was so prominent in the early part of 2001.

Unfortunately the CVF programme was also badly affected by the arguments between the MOD and BAE that continued through most of 2001.  It had been planned that the CVF Assessment Phase Stage Phase 2 contracts would be placed in May 2001, but BAE wouldn't accept the terms and conditions on offer by the MOD - considering that the CVF competition was far too long and involved them spending too much of their own money with no guarantee of winning the final prime contact.  After much debate the MOD finally agreed to increase Assessment Phase payments, reduce the scope of Stage 2 work, and advance the down-selection to a preferred contractor to early 2003.  Twelve month CVF Assessment Phase Stage 2 contracts were finally awarded to BAE Systems and Thales Naval in November.

Over-stretch
2001 was another year of operational over-stretch for the RN, not helped by the pre-mature pay-off during the years of relatively youthful warships such as the 15 year old frigate HMS Coventry and the 11 year old mine hunter HMS Cromer.  Also recruitment, while improving still not come close to meeting requirements, the net outflow from the RN was over 1000 personnel during the year to 1st April 2001, a 2.5% cut in the strength of a navy now numbering only 42,400 (including Royal Marines).  Inadequate recruitment, poor retention and gapped billets on warships remain a source of great concern.

A real highlight of the year was the very impressive Argonaut 2001 deployment, primarily in support of Exercise Saif Sareea II which was held in Oman in September/October 2001.  Argonaut was advertised as the largest deployment of RN warships since the Falklands War, and certainly made for some impressive photo opportunities.  Argonaut 2001 gave the UK Amphibious Ready Group a good work out, although this only highlighted the deficiencies of the elderly Sea King Mk.4 commando helicopters and the ancient HMS Fearless

After Saif Sareea it was decided to maintain for a prolonged period an ARG in the Arabian Sea for participation in "War on Terrorism" activities. However the RN only has one LPH, HMS Ocean, and one operational LPD, HMS Fearless.  Ocean was in need of repairs so it was decided to send her back to Devonport for Christmas while HMS Illustrious disembarked her Harriers (which lacked the range to be any use) and took on her secondary LPH role.  HMS Ocean is to relieve HMS Illustrious and HMS Fearless in early 2002.  It was also decided to expedite the construction of the new LPD, HMS Albion, and she could probably be available for service by the end of 2002 if the crisis continues.

Submarine Flotilla
On the submarine side, 2001 saw the gradual return to service of the bulk of the RN's nuclear powered attack submarine fleet (SSN) fleet after the discovery in 2000 of severe technical problems which required lengthy and expensive repairs.  The utility of the Tomahawk land attack cruise missile (TLAM) fitted boats was again demonstrated when HMS Triumph struck at Taleban targets in Afghanistan - the only UK asset able to until the SAS deployed!  Plans to fit all RN SSN's with TLAM are being pressed ahead with, as is a tube launched variant of the latest version of Tomahawk - Tactical  Tomahawk (TacTom) - that will be suitable for firing from RN submarines.  2001 saw the demise of the the much delayed Future Attack Submarine (FASM) project, this would have been the RN's first all-new nuclear attack submarine design since the 1970's.  If the first boat was to meet the already much delayed in-service date of 2015, the programme needed to finally pass through the Initial Gate milestone in 2001 so that work (and expenditure!) could begun to be ramped up.  But instead the FASM project was reduced to a series of studies examining the future of underwater warfare, which may or may not result in to some hardware entering service in perhaps 20 years time.

Currently the RN's SSN fleet consists of 5 Swiftsure Class and 7 Trafalgar Class submarines, long-term plans had involved the replacement of these 12 submarines with a mix of 5 new Astute Class and 5 FASM's.  However the RN will now concentrate its construction efforts on just the Astute Class, which is an updated "Trafalgar" design fitted with the PWR-2 reactor developed for the Vanguard Class SSBN.  Three Astute's were ordered back in 1997, three (or perhaps just two) more are expected to be ordered  in 2002, and a final batch of three in about 2007, worryingly this total of 9 is one less than  than the force of 10 SSN's that the government committed to maintaining after 2004 in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review.

Amphibious Forces
2002 was a pretty good year for the RN's amphibious forces.  After initial delays, construction of the two new LPD's HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion is proceeding well and both were launched in 2001, indeed construction of HMS Albion is being expedited and she now expected to be completed in mid 2002 and enter service in early 2003.  

Work has also begun on four new and impressive looking Bay Class landing ships for the RFA at Swan Hunter (Tyneside), and BAE Systems Marine's Govan shipyard using a designed proposed by the former (much to BAE's annoyance!).  And construction has started at both the Flensburger yard in Germany, and at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Northern Ireland, on six new Ro-Ro's that will provide the Army with a purpose-built strategic sealift capability.  

Combined with the LPH HMS Ocean, the RN's amphibious forces are being transformed and even revolutionised, the next few years will be a story of "out with the old and in with the new", and late 2002 will see the faithful old LPD, HMS Fearless, finally paid-off after an extraordinary 37 years service.

Construction Plans
2001 had several unwanted milestones for the Royal Navy.  Firstly the last Type 23 frigate, HMS St. Albans, was completed (although she won't actually enter service until 2002), and so for the first time in modern history there are no frigates or destroyers under construction for the Royal Navy.  Secondly, the last Sandown Class minehunter, HMS Shoreham, was completed by Vosper Thornycroft so there are also no MCMV's under construction, nor are there any plans to start work on a replacement for the now somewhat aging Hunt Class MCMV.  And thirdly, the expected completion in 2002 of the fleet tanker Wave Ruler will mean there are no RFA's [for fleet support] either on order or under construction, indeed the increasingly aged look of the RFA "fleet train" must now be a cause of concern.

However, the announced construction plans for the Royal Navy are still quite impressive - the following ships should enter service between 2002 and 2015:

Royal Navy

• 2 CVF Aircraft Carriers

• 2 Albion Class Landing Platform Dock's (HMS Albion and Bulwark)

• 12 Daring Class Type 45 Destroyers

• 1 Type 23 Frigate (HMS St. Albans)

• 1 Future Surface Combatant Frigate

• About 5 Astute Class Nuclear Attack Submarines

• 3 River Class Offshore Patrol Vessels

• 1 Sandown Class MCMV (HMS Shoreham)

• 2 Echo Class Survey Ships

Royal Fleet Auxiliary or Other

• 1 Fleet Tanker (RFA Wave Ruler)

• 1 or 2 Primary Casualty Receiving Ships

• 4 Bay Class Landing Ships

• 6 "Point Class" Strategic Sealift Ro-Ro ships

It is just to be hoped that these plans are realised in full, and other major outstanding deficiencies not ignored or delayed.  For example the Support, Amphibious and Battlefield Rotorcraft (SABR) is now becoming an urgent requirement.

Merlin
2002 and will finally see the operational deployment, five years late, of the first Merlin HM.1 helicopter squadron on HMS Ark Royal.  While Merlin is undoubtedly the most capable anti-submarine helicopter in the world, the vast cost of the programme has been a heavy burden on the RN for the last decade, and it's now finally entering service at a time when ironically the submarine threat appears to be greatly reduced.  Also, the decision not to buy any more Merlin's beyond the initial batch of just 44 aircraft (which will cost a ludicrous £100+ million each, including development) means that despite all the expenditure there will be only 6(!) Merlin ships flights available.  Initially these will be shared only between the 16 Type 23's, but when the Type 45's and FSC are in service there will be 32 potentially Merlin capable destroyers and frigates in service!  It seems that the vast majority of RN's escorts will have to soldier on with upgraded Lynx helicopter's for at least another 10 years, and perhaps even 20.

Richard