Friday, 20th January 2012
UKIP has outlined an alternative plan to the Royal Navy's troubled multi-billion pound fighter plane programme.
Britain is due to buy around 50 American F-35C Joint Strike Fighters at a total cost of £5bn pounds having already cancelled the F-35B at a cost several hundred million pounds which resulted in the acquisition of one unusable prototype.
However leaked documents reveal that the F-35C has failed to take off and land safely in simulated tests.
The design flaw means that the plane's arrestor hook, a device used to stop the fighter overshooting a carrier's landing deck once it had touched down, is too close to the plane's wheels to be effective.
A possible redesign will no doubt be costly, or possibly difficult to implement, thus adding to the growing list of difficulties that has pushed the unit cost to currently beyond $155million.
Lord Hesketh, UKIP defence spokesman, believes that an alternative cost-effective solution exists which would not only work practically, but would also protect and create British jobs.
UKIP's solution would be to 'marinize' the Eurofighter Typhoon, an aircraft which requires no catapult system - electric or steam, only a ski jump as originally envisaged.
BAE Systems, one of the three companies in the consortium that produces the Typhoon, first conducted the concept study of this in 1992.
The study saw the development of the Thrust Vectoring Control (TVC) and there is a 'marinized' Eurofighter simulator at Farnborough.
Research and development costs are estimated at £1.4billion which is roughly equivalent to the costs associated to modify the Queen Elizabeth (QE) class aircraft carriers to use the new (but not yet in service) US-built Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).
There are currently two QE-class aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy with the first expected to enter service in 2016. However the carrier will not have strike capability under the current programme until 2020 at the earliest.
This was just one of the controversial decisions to be made following the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Not only would UKIP's plan offer a realistic solution to ensuring new carrier strike capability earlier than anticipated, it would also help protect British jobs as choosing to 'marinize' the Typhoon would extend the life of the Typhoon production line in Warton, Lancashire.
There would also be the opportunity for export for a fully 'marinized' Typhoon, particularly to the Indian Air Force under their Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) programme.
The unit cost of the Typhoon will also save the Royal Navy money. The Typhoon costs roughly £80million, whilst the F-35C comes in at £100million a unit.
Furthermore the 'marinized' Typhoon will be not affected by the technology restrictions that have bedevilled the F35 programme since its inception, particularly with regard to the software source codes which the US have consistently refused to provide access to. These codes are integral to the installation of all weapons systems. In the case of the 'marinized' Typhoon, apart from the greatly increased UK content, there will be no outside restriction on the export of aircraft as the UK will have control of the intellectual property of both the aircraft systems and weapons.
Lord Hesketh, UKIP's defence spokesman, said:
"The F-35C programme should be scrapped before more taxpayers' money is wasted. It was another ludicrous decision to come out of the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
"Much of the work to make the Typhoon fit for taking off and landing on aircraft carriers has already been undertaken. There is also the added bonus that it would preserve and create British jobs, plus give our aircraft carriers an earlier strike capability than 2020."
Lord Hesketh has previously commented upon some of the decisions to arise from the Strategic Defence and Security Review. In October 1993 he joined the board of defence company Babcock International Group where he became non-executive deputy chairman in 1996. He resigned his position in November 2010 after saying that the Royal Navy's new QE-class aircraft carriers would make the country a "laughing stock".
However leaked documents reveal that the F-35C has failed to take off and land safely in simulated tests.
The design flaw means that the plane's arrestor hook, a device used to stop the fighter overshooting a carrier's landing deck once it had touched down, is too close to the plane's wheels to be effective.
A possible redesign will no doubt be costly, or possibly difficult to implement, thus adding to the growing list of difficulties that has pushed the unit cost to currently beyond $155million.
Lord Hesketh, UKIP defence spokesman, believes that an alternative cost-effective solution exists which would not only work practically, but would also protect and create British jobs.
UKIP's solution would be to 'marinize' the Eurofighter Typhoon, an aircraft which requires no catapult system - electric or steam, only a ski jump as originally envisaged.
BAE Systems, one of the three companies in the consortium that produces the Typhoon, first conducted the concept study of this in 1992.
The study saw the development of the Thrust Vectoring Control (TVC) and there is a 'marinized' Eurofighter simulator at Farnborough.
Research and development costs are estimated at £1.4billion which is roughly equivalent to the costs associated to modify the Queen Elizabeth (QE) class aircraft carriers to use the new (but not yet in service) US-built Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).
There are currently two QE-class aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy with the first expected to enter service in 2016. However the carrier will not have strike capability under the current programme until 2020 at the earliest.
This was just one of the controversial decisions to be made following the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Not only would UKIP's plan offer a realistic solution to ensuring new carrier strike capability earlier than anticipated, it would also help protect British jobs as choosing to 'marinize' the Typhoon would extend the life of the Typhoon production line in Warton, Lancashire.
There would also be the opportunity for export for a fully 'marinized' Typhoon, particularly to the Indian Air Force under their Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) programme.
The unit cost of the Typhoon will also save the Royal Navy money. The Typhoon costs roughly £80million, whilst the F-35C comes in at £100million a unit.
Furthermore the 'marinized' Typhoon will be not affected by the technology restrictions that have bedevilled the F35 programme since its inception, particularly with regard to the software source codes which the US have consistently refused to provide access to. These codes are integral to the installation of all weapons systems. In the case of the 'marinized' Typhoon, apart from the greatly increased UK content, there will be no outside restriction on the export of aircraft as the UK will have control of the intellectual property of both the aircraft systems and weapons.
Lord Hesketh, UKIP's defence spokesman, said:
"The F-35C programme should be scrapped before more taxpayers' money is wasted. It was another ludicrous decision to come out of the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
"Much of the work to make the Typhoon fit for taking off and landing on aircraft carriers has already been undertaken. There is also the added bonus that it would preserve and create British jobs, plus give our aircraft carriers an earlier strike capability than 2020."
Lord Hesketh has previously commented upon some of the decisions to arise from the Strategic Defence and Security Review. In October 1993 he joined the board of defence company Babcock International Group where he became non-executive deputy chairman in 1996. He resigned his position in November 2010 after saying that the Royal Navy's new QE-class aircraft carriers would make the country a "laughing stock".
Another point to note is the Argentinians recent sabre rattling about the Falkland Islands, they know damn well we don't have the means to defend it without a carrier. & after recent falling out with the French, I doubt very much if they'd lend us one of theirs!
