Posted on 08/02/2011 8:43:34 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
MoD urged to buy cheaper Navy jets
COST CONCERN An artists impression of a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft soaring above the Royal Navys two new carriers
By Michael Powell
Published on Tuesday 2 August 2011 17:30
THE Ministry of Defence is facing internal pressure to pull out of buying F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets for the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers, The News can reveal.
A number of MoD officials are understood to be calling for Britain to withdraw from the under-fire Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, which has faced criticism in America and Australia as costs run into hundreds of billions of pounds.
A ‘Plan B’ has emerged for the UK to equip HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales with a fleet of older, less-capable F-18 jets, rather than buying 138 state-of-the-art F-35 planes.
An MoD source said: ‘F-35s will cost millions more than we thought and may not even be ready when we need them in 2020. F-18s already exist and will cost us peanuts, so why should we take the risk?’
Britain has already sunk £1.4bn into the US-led JSF programme since it began in 2002 and an MoD spokesman said the ministry was ‘100 per cent committed’ to the F-35s.
But insiders say F-18s, which have been around since 1978, are a reliable, cheaper option as Britain attempts to plug a £38bn black hole in the defence budget.
‘The argument is like saying: “I haven’t got enough money to buy a Porsche 911 right now so I’ll buy an Audi TT instead,’” said a source.
Since last year’s defence cuts left the Royal Navy without its Harrier jump jets, three navy pilots have been out in America training with F-18s and are understood to be singing the aircraft’s praises.
More navy pilots are set to go to the US ahead of the new carriers coming into service in Portsmouth in 2020.
At an estimated total cost exceeding £300bn, JSF is the most expensive military-industrial programme ever.
The F-35 jets built by global defence firm Lockheed Martin promise to do everything from stealth missions to aerial combat, with variants tailored to ground or sea-based operations. But costs have soared by more than 40 per cent from US estimates of $80m per plane in 2002 to $113m per jet today.
A ‘risk management’ programme is ongoing between the US Defense Department and Lockheed Martin to drive costs down amid criticism of the project, which was blasted as a ‘train wreck’ by former US presidential candidate John McCain.
Just last week, the Australian government – which is looking to buy 100 F-35 jets – said it may withdraw from JSF if it does not get on track.
However, Paul Livingston, the UK aero director of Lockheed Martin, told The News JSF has turned a corner.
He said: ‘Last year was a bit of a shambles financially and we had some issues. But testing is going really well now and I’m confident we will come out of probation soon.’
He said JSF creates thousands of British jobs and the MoD should stick with F-35 as F-18s are becoming outdated.
He said: ‘There are people within the MoD, particularly the navy, who have been out and flown on exchange programmes flying on F-18s who say they would like them instead but it is not something that stands the financial test or the test of time.
‘Whilst we understand some people wanting to be financially conservative and think about F-18, it really is the right answer for a whole bunch of reasons, politically and financially, to have F-35.’
The Brits are building two new aircraft carriers?
Hmmm. Who else makes naval aircraft, I wonder?
Maybe they’d like to go for the F/A-18? Or a navalized MiG-29s or SU-27?
The new Queen Elizabeth class carrier.
‘The argument is like saying: “I haven’t got enough money to buy a Porsche 911 right now so I’ll buy an Audi TT instead,’” said a source
Well, an Audi would probably lose a race to a Porsche.
Not a serious outcome for cars, but losing an aerial battle would be a serious one for a combat flyer.
Second best will still go down in flames,
pilot skill being equal.
Current estimated cost of these POS is 235 million each and 65,000 an hour to fly. As a tax payer, the answer for buying this crap is not no, but hell no.
Lads, always remember that all your equipment was built by the lowest bidder.
Now, if the Brits really want a cheap version of the Su-33, then they should buy the Shenyang J-15, a Chinese knockoff of the Su-33 for their “new” carrier SHI LANG (Russian ex-VARYAG). While the Brits are at it, they can get some deals on very capable Kamov Helix helicopters to replace the expensive Euro designs.
Although the F-18s are good aircraft, they were developed back in the early 80s and are thirty year old technology. There's only so much you can do to improve them. The competition is getting much better and the F-18 is no longer a dominant air to air fighter. The lack of stealth makes it vulnerable to surface to air missiles.
At best the F-18s are an expensive short term fix that would only delay the purchase of the more capable aircraft somewhere down the road.
After all, the only possible opponents we would face would be muslims, who can't fly worth a sh*t. Just ask the undefeated Israeli Air Force! HaHaHaHa! Fully half of muslim 'COMBAT' air force fatalities were caused by pilot error. Read that sentence carefully again before commenting!
Chances are that the F-35C will also be close to, if not cheaper than, off the shelf Rafale Naval Variants.
However, Britain is close to striking a joint operations deal with France, whereby both navies will fly off of each other's ships.
If they really do this, then Rafale is the most logical choice for the RN.
The naval Typhoon is likely to remain a powerpoint presentation unless the Brits decide that they do not want catapults.
Yes we are.
Has been public for some time. Finished around 2018 supposedly.
Great!
Nice to see they’re not going to be jump=jet birdfarms.
Good looking ships.
Cheers, mate!
That leaves them depending on the Russians for spares and helping the Russian economy instead of our.
That leaves them depending on the Russians for spares and helping the Russian economy instead of ours.
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