Aircraft Carriers III

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
QE in the Forth waiting for the tide so she can sail under the bridges:
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Wow! sidelined by the capricious tide! I'll up the ante on the Cap'N being sacked, those sailors are PISSED! I'm going to wager the QE is going through a real POed transition, the first Captain of the QE will be immortalized, his replacement will be a "sack of krap" for a while?? maybe Obi-Wan you can comment on my theory or BDPopeye, but my guess is those sailor's are demoralized and ticked-off??

She is a beauty though, and what a setting to show her off, hell, I'm a little pissed about this "train wreck" myself, hard to enjoy this beauty under these circumstances...

Knowing what an honor it is to the be first Cap'N of such a beauty, it is a tremendous "slap in the face" to the "Boss Man" and a dishonor on the Royal Navy, such shenanigans are best done in private. The Gig will stop somewhere, and knowing how such things work, the small minded "weanie" who sacked the Cap'N will pay somewhere down the road.....
 
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bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
I'm going to wager the QE is going through a real POed transition, the first Captain of the QE will be immortalized, his replacement will be a "sack of krap" for a while?? maybe Obi-Wan you can comment on my theory or BDPopeye, but my guess is those sailor's are demoralized and ticked-off??

If he was a fair and strong CO that stood up for his crew ad allowed no nonsense but still was kind..it can be done. He will be missed. And the new CO will have big boots to fill and may have a tough go at first. If not..no one will care and the routine will remain the same.
 

Obi Wan Russell

Jedi Master
VIP Professional
Capt. Cook-Priest is apparently still in command at least for the journey south to Pompey. Capt. Moorhouse has the right experience for the job though, having been the last CO of HMS Ocean before she was sold to Brazil, then spent the last couple of years as HMS Prince of Wales CO readying her and the crew for sea trials. He'll know his way around the ship at least!

There is certainly more to the story than meets the eye, but it's unlikely we lowly mortals will find out any more details barring a major leak.61127920_10157631566954095_437871426200928256_n.jpg 60725438_10218038615653392_7729865604269604864_n.jpg 60942118_10218038614493363_6425974667768496128_n.jpg
 
to me it sounded as no 'concurrency' baloney on this occasion
Navy Has No Plans Develop Lethal Carrier UAV Before MQ-25A Hits Flight Decks
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The Navy won’t pursue the development of a lethal carrier-based unmanned aircraft before it fields its unmanned MQ-25A Stingray tanker sometime in the 2020s, the service’s requirements chief said last week.

The service is taking a deliberate approach to adding unmanned aviation assets to carrier decks, ensuring it successfully integrates the MQ-25A into the airwing before it studies adding new, armed UAVs into the mix, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfare Systems (OPNAV N9) Vice Adm. Bill Merz said at an event co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The MQ-25, we think, is just a fantastic program. Integrating an unmanned aircraft into the carrier airwing will be a significant step forward for the Navy, no question about it,” he said.
“We are just compelled to be somewhat pragmatic in how well they work before we over-commit. We have a limited budget; we also have real lives at stake. Unmanned isn’t really unmanned, you just don’t have a body sitting in the platform. There’s a lot of support. You have deck handling, a lot of things you have to come through to bring these things aboard a maritime environment.”

In August, Boeing was awarded an $805-million contract to develop four MQ-25As. The company based the design on a prototype the company quietly built for the canceled Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) competition.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson has made fielding the MQ-25A a priority for the service, but it’s still unclear how quickly the service can get the capability to the fleet, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons Rear Adm. Brian Corey
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.

“When we awarded our contract [in August], we believed we could go to 2024, [but] CNO said ASAP,” Corey said. “I’m not going to give you a date. It’s as soon as we can.”

The Navy wants to introduce the aircraft quickly to reduce the refueling burden on the service’s F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter that are now responsible for the tanking mission. Based on the success of the first set of missions – tanking and limited intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions – the Navy could look to other capabilities.

“It’s a big aircraft, it’s robust, it’s built as a tanker, but it’s probably a stepping-stone to other capabilities,” Merz said.
“[Future aircraft] are conceptual right now until we get this thing into the fleet and see how it survives in a sea environment and how it integrates with the airwing.”

However, at least one analyst sees the Navy’s progress in unmanned vehicles as a missed opportunity for the service.

“Yes, the MQ-25 is a stepping-stone. However, the Navy had an opportunity to develop and field a more robust unmanned capability for surveillance and strike and chose not to do so, at least not in the mid-term,” said Mark Gunzinger with Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “A carrier-based low observable [Naval Unmanned Combat Air System] for surveillance, strike and possibly other missions was identified as a need at least as far back as the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review. Over time, this has been scaled back to the MQ-25. I’m not saying the MQ-25 is not needed, but I do believe the Navy has missed an opportunity.”

Based on the 2006 QDR, the Navy developed a low observable,
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. The service tested a UCAS-D aircraft, two X-47Bs – Salty Dog 501 and 502 – built by Northrop Grumman to prove unmanned aircraft could safely launch and be recovered from an aircraft carrier. The tail-less aircraft were built with the ability to be refueled mid-flight and had an internal payload capability equivalent to an F-35C Lightning II Joint Fighter.

In 2013, Salty Dog 502 successfully landed on USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), after aerial refueling tests in 2015, Naval Air Systems Command shut down the testing program
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– to some congressional protest.

“Our nation has made a sizable investment in this demonstration program to date, and both air vehicles have consumed only a small fraction of their approved flying hours,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) wrote in 2015.
“There will be no unmanned air vehicles operating from carrier decks for several years. I think this would be a lost learning opportunity in what promises to be a critical area for sustaining the long-term operational and strategic relevance of the aircraft carrier.”

At the time, the Navy said additional testing with the X-47Bs would be cost-prohibitive given the shift in the service’s focus to an unmanned aircraft that would not need to operate in heavily contested airspace.

“The Navy chose to pursue the MQ-25 and not fund a capability that would, frankly, be of greater utility in a great power conflict,” Gunzinger said.

However, the Navy is rethinking the future of its airwing as the U.S. positions itself into a new era of great power competition.

A CSBA study
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called for a new carrier-based unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) to allow a standoff distance of 1,000 nautical miles from threats.

That standoff distance is far beyond the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet’s effective combat range of 450 nautical miles and the emerging F-35C’s range of 600 nautical miles.

“You have an airwing of aircraft that are relatively short range but relatively high payload, but that’s not necessarily well suited to these [long distance] operations,” CSBA report author Bryan Clark said earlier this year.

Clark’s conclusions for a new UCAV for the service echo internal Navy conversations about the future of the airwing, USNI News understands.

Navy officials have backed away from a clear time horizon for the follow-on to MQ-25A.

“We’re very excited about it, and we’re leaning into it as hard as practical,” Merz said.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
to me it sounded as no 'concurrency' baloney on this occasion
Navy Has No Plans Develop Lethal Carrier UAV Before MQ-25A Hits Flight Decks
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Heh!, Heh!, Heh!, here we have the Navy moving forward with something practical, necessary, and very, very smart! and the talking air-heads can't help themselves, they must flap their yaps and remove any doubt about their lack of intelligence?? The MQ-25A is the answer to the Navy's lack of real tanking from the flat deck, it is practical, powerful, and extends the F-35C's range exponentially, just exactly what the Dr. ordered, at just the right time!

Well done Navy! that friends, is how you "move the ball down the field!"
 
Monday at 9:08 PM
Yesterday at 7:53 PM
still
Lincoln Strike Group and Kearsarge ARG Exercise Together Outside Persian Gulf
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kinda update (in short, the Lincoln hasn't entered yet)
U.S. Sends Three Warships Back Into Persian Gulf After Clearing Them Out Earlier This Month
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A destroyer in the the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group entered the Persian Gulf this week without incidents, after the U.S. Navy cleared its ships out of the Gulf earlier this month amid rising tensions.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87) passed through the Strait of Hormuz a week after two other U.S. warships —
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– entered the gulf by transiting the choke point that’s typically under steady surveillance by Iranian forces.

Mason did not encounter any unsafe maritime operations by any other force in the area, Navy officials told USNI News on Thursday.

The Navy typically has destroyers on independent deployments and ships from rotational carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups in the Persian Gulf at any given time. Parts of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group had been operating in the Gulf earlier this month but were sent out through the Strait of Hormuz as tensions with Iran rose.

The Lincoln CSG arrived in the region earlier than initially expected when it was ordered to depart the Mediterranean and head to U.S. Central Command waters because of what the White House and Department of Defense officials called “indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against U.S. forces and our interests.”

For nearly a week now, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and its escorts have operated in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, outside the Persian Gulf, according to the
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. It appears the Navy is now sending ships back in to resume their previous operations.

Iranian officials had previously shrugged off the recent movement of U.S. Navy forces into the region. When the Lincoln CSG abruptly left the Mediterranean Sea, the
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reported Behrouz Nemati, spokesman for the Iranian parliament, as saying, “the commutes of the U.S. forces are nothing new.”

However, on Thursday, after Mason steamed into the Persian Gulf, Major-General Mohammad Baqeri, the Iranian military chief of staff, offered more pointed comments about the recent U.S. Navy moves.

“The enemies should know that the Iranian military will not lose any single moment monitoring the enemies’ conspiracies and adventurism, especially those of the U.S. abominate administration,” Baqeri said in an
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report.
“The new conditions of countering the U.S. arrogant and pharaonic threat invite all the Iranians to enter the fields of jihad, full alert, and mobilize more power.”
 
Mar 26, 2019
and
New Italian aircraft carrier launched 15 months after construction start
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The Italian Navy’s new landing helicopter dock (LHD) Trieste was launched in a ceremony at Fincantieri’s Castellammare di Stabia shipyard on May 25.

The multirole and multipurpose amphibious vessel was launched in the presence of Italian president Sergio Mattarella and the Italian Navy chief Adm. Valter Girardelli, among other high-ranking officials.

The LHD is also referred to as an aircraft carrier by as it is expected to be capable of carrying and operating F-35B short-takeoff and vertical landing aircraft. This is yet to receive an official confirmation.

Trieste will be delivered in 2022, according to Fincantieri, and will be capable of deploying aircraft and amphibious vehicles and equipment, relying on a flight deck and a floodable basin located on the stern of the ship.

With over 1,000 sleeping accommodations, the new LHD will feature a 230-meter long helicopter flight deck, allowing the operation of a battalion consisting of 600 personnel, and a dock-garage for 1,200 linear meters of wheeled and tracked vehicles, both civilian and military.

The floodable dock – 50 meters long and 15 meters wide – will enable the ship to deploy amphibious equipment and vehicles of EU and NATO navies. It will also carry
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that will be capable of transporting troops at speeds of 40 knots.

Trieste’s cargo areas are accessible through cranes, stern and side ramps, and handling will be managed by internal ramps and elevators.

In addition to enabling the projection of the landing force of the Italian Navy, Trieste will provide assistance to countries and populations in case of natural disasters, thanks to her capability to provide drinking water, power supply, healthcare and medical support. The unit has also been conceived to carry out command and control functions in case of emergencies at sea, evacuation of nationals and humanitarian assistance operations.

A fully equipped hospital will also be available onboard, complete with operating rooms, radiology and analysis rooms, a dentist’s office, and patient rooms capable of hosting 27 seriously injured patients.

Fincantieri is also building a 193-meter
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. The ship’s delivery is likely to be delayed as it was heavily damaged in
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, just a month after it was launched.
 
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