Carrier strike role brought back into focus

[Batgirl]

Flexibility is the watchword in the modern Royal Navy – versatile ships, multi-skilled people, strategies which can be adapted to a range of situations.

But there will always be the need for the precision tool, designed and prepared for a specific scenario.

And while the three Invincible-class sisters have repeatedly fulfilled a range of roles, from the original anti-submarine cruiser concept to assault helicopter platform, Admiralty eyes are once again focused on the classic Royal Navy ‘punch’ – the strike carrier.

The coming decade will see the demise of the Sea Harrier and the retirement of HM ships Invincible, Illustrious and Ark Royal, as well as the building of two ‘future carriers’ or CVFs, HM ships Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales.

It will also see a series of radical changes in fixed-wing flying at sea, and the linkage between carrier operations of 2005 and 2015 may not seem at all clear.

But the Marstrike 05 task group, due to return home in the middle of next month, has reinvigorated the concept of the carrier strike group – and sown the seeds for the future.

Determining the exact nature of the CVFs is like working through a complicated mathematical equation, into which are inserted such variables as mission requirements, type of aircraft, and cost, most of which have to be traded off and counterbalanced.

The current calculations have come up with an impressive answer, capable of delivering an air strike of a potency never before available to the Senior Service.

Sortie generation – the ability to get groups of Joint Combat Aircraft (JCAs) into the air – is the key driver, and the latest figure set is 108 launches in the first 24 hours, reducing to 72 per day for ten days and 36 for a further 20 days.

This requires a flight deck of four acres – the equivalent of two Invincibles plus nine tennis courts – which would result in a carrier of 65,000 tons when fully loaded, stretching 280 metres in length.

With a full air wing deployed, there would be 1,400 souls on board.

In order to get the STOVL (short take-off vertical landing) JCAs airborne, a ship speed of 25 knots would be required to generate sufficient wind speed over the 69-metre wide flight deck, which would be controlled from a separate ‘island’ abaft the bridge, giving clear views of the approach and take-off zone as well as most of the flight deck.

The hangar would be able to house up to 20 jets, or 45 Sea Kings.

A standard strike tailored air group could include 30 JCAs (with up to 36 for short periods) on board, with up to six anti-submarine Merlins and four maritime air surveillance and control (ASaC) aircraft.

In addition to the JCAs – which are expected to be available for front-line service by 2014 – the new carriers would be expected to cope with a wide range of secondary aircraft, including the fixed-wing GR9 Harrier, and helicopters including the NH90, Chinook and Sea King.

It is still envisaged that the carriers will be based at Portsmouth, home of the current Invincible-class ships.

There is an option to incorporate lighting systems for both ‘ski-ramp’ and catapult-assisted launches into the flight deck during build, saving time and money at a later stage if the decision is made to take up the catapult option, for which the ships will also be fitted.

The hangar will be 163 metres long and 29 metres wide with a roof height of 7 metres, rising to 9 metres in ‘high hat’ areas for access to helicopter rotor heads.

In order to keep sortie generation rates up, two deck-edge lifts are planned, each capable of taking two JCAs or a heavy helicopter.

Two rows of compartments will surround the hangar, for ease of access and as extra protection, and modular storage space will have the capacity of 24 London buses.

The ship is likely to be powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines and a pair of diesels, with electric motors providing the propulsion through two shafts.

Mission decision support is another area of interest – an air intelligence office will be of crucial importance, able to analyse images taken from the air and feed the results back into the planning process for the next wave of sorties.

The threat provided by big carriers, first unleashed in the era of conventional international wars, is still of value in times of asymmetric warfare and maverick terrorist groups, as a carrier-led task group allows the Royal Navy to pursue policies of countering terrorism and the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

The ship can be sent wherever required, maintaining independence without the need for a ‘host’ nation or diplomatic negotiation.

The ability to deploy a big carrier with a clutch of fast jets also gives the Royal Navy a seat at the planning table for any future American-led coalition operations, rather than a passive presence.

But in order to maximise the potential of the big carriers, the Navy will have to face up to something of a conundrum.

Planners will have to think in a much wider context, as few missions would be purely maritime affairs – the emphasis would be on ‘power projection’, or taking the firepower to the opponent’s own backyard, which would invariably involve ground forces.

Yet they will have to work within a much narrower focus, specifically on the strike role.

The introduction of the new carriers also throws up a number of hurdles.

One is the shape of the strike group command. The carriers will never operate on their own – they will always be accompanied by a tailored group, including escort and supply train.

If, as is generally accepted, a commodore is needed to head the group, questions arise over his or her jurisdiction over the air group.

Naval strategists are believed to be close to a solution, which is likely to involve a ‘fixed-wing commander’ who will liaise between the strike group commander and the ‘owner’ of the air group in the role of Commander Air Group.

There is also likely to be a dedicated helicopter co-ordinator, freeing the current Commander Air (in charge of flying operations on the Invincible-class carriers) to concentrate on flight safety issues and traffic management.

Many of the new systems and procedures needed to create the carrier strike groups are already planned or being put into effect.

The Joint Force Harrier, which will produce four squadrons of GR9s (two RN and two RAF) is already in development with the move of Fleet Air Arm personnel from Yeovilton to RAF stations Cottesmore and Wittering.

Further training will be put to good use in the coming years, both in home waters and worldwide – the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa, the Far East and the United States.

The American aspect is crucial, according to Capt David James, the Fleet’s current and future carrier expert, who said: “We need to get our carriers working with American carriers and our air groups working with American air groups.”

The French are another potential training ally through work with their nuclear aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle.

Some of the principles of the future carrier groups are already being rehearsed, most recently through the Marstrike 05 task group which has been operating off Oman in the Middle East.

The presence of HMS Invincible has been very much to support the aircraft during Exercise Magic Carpet, ensuring that personnel on the Joint Force Harrier are getting useful training.

This will continue during June’s JMC, with planners eager to examine problems associated with ‘sortie generation’ (getting packages of aircraft aloft) – the main drawbacks are expected to be the supply of air weapons (the physical space required is simply not available) and the planning of combined sorties (fighter aircraft cover for bomber plane operations, for example).

The pendulum is now swinging so strongly in favour of redeveloping the maritime strike concept that the Navy is planning future training deployments around the needs of the air group – “if there is little to be gained, then there will be no point sending the air group and probably no point sending the carrier either,” said Capt James.

Similarly, if a group of maintainers from a squadron is not needed, then they will not sail with the ship.

Other tasks will be found for them back at their home base, and if the need arises, a flight can be arranged at short notice for the required personnel to join the ship at sea.

Further specific developments will be seen in the coming months, including the fitting of new precision approach radar to HM ships Ark Royal and Illustrious, and of new lighting systems compatible with night-vision goggles.

With HMS Invincible in a state of ‘extended readiness’ from this year, her two sisters will continue until the new carriers join the Fleet in 2012 and 2015 – one will always be configured as a strike carrier, while the other, converted for helicopter operations, can stand in for HMS Ocean during her next refit.

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