Aircraft Carriers III
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Jura The idiot
General
as if the blogger had been responding to Saturday at 1:00 PM
etc. etc.: HMS Queen Elizabeth – are aircraft carriers too expensive?
August 23, 2017
"Critics who lambast the RN for buying large carriers at the expense of smaller, supposedly more ‘relevant’ ships have missed a point about the battle for the long-term survival of the RN constantly being fought out in Whitehall. If the carriers had been cancelled it would be much more likely the RN would have been run down into a very modest force of a few frigates and OPVs. Possessing the carriers, instead, the RN is now in a “pull” position better able to draw in the resource to see the project through, properly equipped and protected and able to make a strategic impact at the government’s bidding. Without the carriers, the RN would be in a weaker “push” position, somewhat sidelined and constantly having beg for scraps. This might be viewed as cynical empire-building, but if we had politicians and a Civil Service who really understood the benefits of maritime power and supported it accordingly, such considerations would not matter."
etc. etc.: HMS Queen Elizabeth – are aircraft carriers too expensive?
August 23, 2017
F-35Bs of VFMA(211) aboard Essex...
At less 3 on 10 LHD/LHA now capable to host this new bird : Essex, Wasp, America maybe others ?
In helo carrier normal Helo Air Wing :
9 Merlin Mk2
5 Crowsnest
12 Merlin Mk4
3 CH-47 Chinook
8 Apache
6 Wildcat
43 helos
What utility in this mode have AEW helos ?
Actualy QE can host 250 troops/RM after modifications max 900, Ocean 830 with max 18 helos
In CV : up to 36 F-35B and 4 Crowsnest
AEW is a NUST HAVE for any task group, whether it's in the strike role or on amphibious tasking, perhaps even more so. In the latter role air defence of the task group is handled by the T45 DDGs, and good as their radars are, they still can't see over the horizon. AEW gives you the extra time to prepare for an attack. The 14 Merlin HM2s allocated for the QEC air group are the 'Maritime Force Protection Package', 9 to hunt subs and 5 to warn of incoming air and surface threats. The RN was forced to learn this the hard way back in 82
Actually the RN already knew how important AEW was, when the last Gannets were to be withdrawn in 78 the RN wanted an AEW Sea King for the Invincibles but it was vetoed by the RAF, who didn't want the new light carriers to be independent of Land based AEW Assets, as a way of preventing the carriers from being a return to the pre 1966 way of doing things. Everyone else who built a Harrier carrier equipped them with a sqn of 12 aircraft, yet the Invincibles only got 5 each. This was entirely political, as five was seen as too small a number to provide offensive potential, thus they would be limited to the 'Hack the Shad' AD role originally used to justify them. Exercises in the 70s proved beyond any doubt the RAF was utterly incapable of defending the RAF in the North Atlantic, even with Supersonic Phantoms (which would have been better placed aboard the Carriers as originally planned),which lead to the Sea Harrier, but the AEW role could be done from land provided the RN kept to the NATO area, so stopping the development of the AEW Sea King was a way of keeping the carriers on a leash. In 82 we all found out how stupid that idea was.
My basic point being AEW is tied to the ship, not the fighter aircraft primarily. It's an extension of the ship's sensor suite, quite literally the 'Crowsnest', the point where the ship can see the furthest. If fighters are embarked, Air Defence is layered with fighters as the first line, Area Defence SAMs as the second line and point defence missiles/CIWS as the last line. All benefit from the AEW 'picket'. If the fighter aren't there (when in LPH mode) then the Area Defence SAMs are the first line of protection for the carrier. Again AEW is vital for detecting air and surface threats 'over the horizon'.
Which is why the super sensor network capability, and mini-AEW capability of the F-35s is going to be so important.
They will allow the data from multiple E-2Ds or any other surveillance platform to be wholly intergrated to them in the battle space...and vice-versa.
SO An E-22D near the carrier, or ones out on the threat axis, or Tritons in the visinity at high altitude, or P-8 MPAs or any other such dat will be fused in with the F-35s and give the aircraft pilots and their commanders, both at the tip end of the sword where they are going in, and clear back to the carrier, the total picture and threat condition.
