U.K. future aircraft carrier program, The

Sea Power, Jun 2001 by Kilvert-Jones, Timothy D

Successive operations in the Gulf and Bosnia have demonstrated that aircraft carriers continue to play a key role in power-projection operations, contributing to the support of peace-- keeping forces, and, when necessary, initiating offensive military action. They can be used either: (a) as an early coercive presence that can promote conflict prevention through deterrence; or (b) as a flexible and rapidly deployable offshore base during expeditionary operations when airfields may be unavailable or denied, or when facilities ashore are still being established.

Britain's three current in-service Invincible-class aircraft carriers were designed for Cold War antisubmarine warfare operations in the North Atlantic. However, the limited size of their air groups means that they are now less able to fulfill the increasingly challenging security demands facing Britain and her alliance partners around the world.

The New Labour Government's Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was started in 1997; conclusions were released in 1998 that outline plans to replace the Invincibles, starting in 2012, with two larger vessels each of which would be capable of carrying and operating a powerful carrier air group (CAG) of up to 50 aircraft in time of crisis. The CAG would include fixed-- wing multirole fighter aircraft, early warning/antisubmarine warfare aircraft, and helicopters, and would be able to support up to 150 sorties per day. The future aircraft carriers (CVFs), as they are now called, will be twice the size of the Invincible-class carriers and will be able to accommodate twice as many aircraft. However, the crew will be only about 700 personnel, only 15 more than the complement of the Invincibles, indicating the aspiration to integrate a high level of automation into the new ship's smarter systems.

It is clear that the CVF is not only a vital acquisition program for the United Kingdom but also is central to the Labour Government's commitment -- espoused in the SDR - to sustain modern, expeditionary-capable, and highly flexible joint forces. The SDR confirmed the ongoing - and projected -- requirement for carriers able to meet not only current but also a spectrum of new and/or emerging challenges to British interests likely to develop in this volatile and often chaotic "new world order."

An important aspect of the Labour Government's defense commitment is the recognition, spelled out in the U.K. Naval Strategic Plan, that the nation requires "a world-class Navy, ready to fight and win," and that that Navy must be capable of contributing to a military effort that will be inherently joint and most likely multinational as well. Another factor to be considered is that, in the period since the SDR was instituted in 1997-98, more refined concepts of defense diplomacy, early intervention, and the need for future rapid employment systems to facilitate and execute national policy have evolved. Today, the CVF program is becoming the flagship for the Smart Procurement Initiative (SPI). It also is establishing the benchmark for how the U.K. Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) sets about meeting the policy and equipment requirements generated by the U.K.'s national defense strategy through the offices of the Defence Equipment Capability Managers in the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

CVF Competitive Assessment

The U.K. Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive, or MOD (PE), awarded contracts in 1999 for the one-- year initial-assessment phase of the Royal Navy's Future Aircraft Carrier program to two teams. One team, which is led by BAE Systems, includes Northrop Grumman, Harland & Wolff, and Rolls Royce; the other team is led by Thales (formerly Thomson-CSF) and includes Raytheon, BMT, and Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems. Each of the assessment-phase contracts was worth up to $45 million.

The two consortiums are developing alternative configurations for the carrier and are examining the key enabling technologies required for a successful program. In parallel, a study of the options for a future carrier-borne aircraft (FCBA) also was initiated and resulted earlier this year in the selection of the U.S.-built Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The prime contractor selection process for the CVF itself will be completed by 2003, allowing the first steel to be cut in 2005, launch of the first of class in 2010, and entry into service of the lead ship in 2015.

The current assessment phase has been broken down into two stages. The first involves work to examine carrier design options; the second will focus on risk reduction on a specific carrier design. Industry progress to the second stage is linked to a number of factors including their performance and an assessment of the timeliness and quality of their deliverables. Bids for the demonstration and manufacture of the vessels are expected in 2003, by which time the dimensions of the CVF -- which will be based on the carrier design that is selected-will be decided. Initial indications suggest that the CVF will be among the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy.