Osprey deck landing is a Royal Navy 'first' for HMS Illustrious

www.mod.uk...

HMS Illustrious has become the first Royal Navy ship to embark a US Marine Corps Bell/Boeing MV-22 Osprey aircraft onto its deck during a joint exercise in the United States.

The landing, which comes ahead of a US-led Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFX) on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, was the first time that an Osprey has embarked in a non-US vessel anywhere in the world.

Hmmmm, will teh RN get them as well - probably not of course- but its nice to see the capability.

Correct me if im wrong but the HMS Illustrious will be the Royal Navy's sole remaining carrier until the HMS Queen Elizabeth II in 2010ish right?

Tell me that one of the others that were recently retired can at least be refitted in an emergency. IIRC you guys had 3 carriers just a few years ago. What happened?

theres 2 - HMS Ark Royal and illustrious - invincible was retired.

Originally posted by Harlequin
theres 2 - HMS Ark Royal and illustrious - invincible was retired.

Ah ok thanks. I recall reading an article stating that the RN was down to one carrier and that budget cuts were going to slash the number of ships in half and so forth.

Maybe the article was a satire of the Blair Administration (Britain must remain a world power yet they constantly cut the military) and I took it seriously.

Also , Invincible is mothballed and in time of need could be reactivated to duty - she is mothballed till 2010 - when she will be sold (to india if the rumours are true).

Also the V-22 is a possibility for the RN so your original comment may not be too far of the mark harlequin, one role that the V-22 is being actively studied in is the AEW role as a possible replacement for the Sea King ASaC.7

the V-22 are big birds indeed on the small carrier deck. will they fit in the hanger is the question

I think they would only be operated from the new carriers, IF they are bought and IF the carriers are built, or we may just get another bout of cancelitis.

Originally posted by ChrisF231
I recall reading an article stating that the RN was down to one carrier and that budget cuts were going to slash the number of ships in half and so forth.

What the article may have been stating is that at any given time there is likely to be only one carrier available for immediate deployment. One in refit, training or in port while one is active deployment.

As for the V-22, the new 52K Ton LHA(R) ships of the USN (2013) will be able to carry about two dozen V-22 as well as other aircraft such as F-35B, Sea Hawk, Super Cobra etc... So I think the larger RN carriers will be able to handle them.

They are deadly airraft having killed 40 people already.

they are very vulnerable...and clumsy...1 bullet to bring it down...

they cost $50 billion to develop...and are beset by problems...


what a waste,...


what a crappy design...

Actually to take up on waynos's point about them being used as AEW successors to the Sea Kings, it might be neccesary to retire another carrier just to afford to buy them. And sadly given the "Incredible shrinking UK MoD budget" this might be the only way. Seriously though have you seen the price of these things even the basic model? Bloody hell ! You could by a C-130 for what they cost. An AEW variant will cost almost half as much again. Better off with an AEW UCAV like Taranis I would suggest, cheaper and still made in Britain(By the way, WHAT is still made in Britain? I bought a tire pressure gauge recently and almost fell over when I saw it was still made in Sheffield instead of China, exactly the same as my fathers forty year old one , ... yes it works!). Of course if the MoD's budget does continue south the RN wont be able to afford the QE class carriers which will be the perfectly satisfactory excuse that the civil service bean counters would need to say no to the Osprey.

You see, its all perfectly logical in a circularly obtuse Sir Humphrey Appleby kind of way!

LEE.



[edit on 13-7-2007 by thebozeian]

They were dredging the bottom of Portsmouth to allow two new carriers which are to be built to fit in the port. Since then I havent really heard any news on them, but found this recent news item relating to them:

www.telegraph.co.uk.../money/2007/07/05/cnbrown105.xml

Seems as though Brown needs to give the go-ahead otherwise it will be put off for another couple of years. This for me really shows if Brown is doing the right thing in this country, and not following on from recent tradition with letting the armed forces go down the toilet.

[edit on 13-7-2007 by tronied]

Originally posted by ChrisF231

Originally posted by Harlequin
theres 2 - HMS Ark Royal and illustrious - invincible was retired.

Ah ok thanks. I recall reading an article stating that the RN was down to one carrier and that budget cuts were going to slash the number of ships in half and so forth.

Maybe the article was a satire of the Blair Administration (Britain must remain a world power yet they constantly cut the military) and I took it seriously.

Have a read of Patrick Robinsons recent fiction book Ghost Force...talks all about the RN and how there is nowt much left of it....in that book we lose the Falklands and most of the Navy with them !

The whole book is a shout at the Blair/Labour government, but by god is Robinson spot on with his comment.

Darned good read too :-)

CodexK