The news

LB03 on its way - Since moving out of the shipbuilding hall at Govan two weeks ago, LB03 has had workers  working constantly on it to complete final preparations, including sea fastening, to ensure the block is ready for her departure from the Clyde. Today, the block left on the massive badge, and over the next five days, the block will travel around the north coast of Scotland before arriving into Rosyth on Sunday 21 August.

A week later, on Monday 29 August, the team will undertake a complex operation to sink the submersible barge, allowing the hull section to enter into the water for the first time. It will be the first part of QE entering the water, indeed. Lower Block 03 will then be manoeuvred into position in the dry dock where approximately 350 Govan-based employees will rejoin the block as they work in partnership with employees at Babcock to complete the outfitting and assembly phase on this section of the ship. At that point, assembly of the enormous ship will begin for real in Rosyth.

British Forces News gives us a video report of the barge moving down the Clyde, and also reports that: "Both vessels will be converted to accommodate Joint Strike Fighter jets."
I certainly hope so, but this is actually not yet certain. The confused sequence of announcements regarding this important factor is covered in the Carrier Vessel Future page.

Minister Gerald Howarth seems to suggest that they are effectively looking at fitting both ships, but does not go far enough to provide any assurance. Video. 


Eurofighter news - The Typhoon is active also in Saudi Arabia now, since last July.

Meanwhile, after a year of self-financing the programme, Euroradar reports that the AESA Captor-E (also known as E-scan) radar for the Typhoon has now received funding from the four partner countries, and will be ready for appearing on Tranche 3A planes from 2015. This is a welcome news, and an indispensable boost to the plane in the export arena, especially as India's tender gets closer and closer to its fatal announcement: Typhoon or Rafale?

Meanwhile, between 5 and 8 July, the heads of the industries part of Eurofighter, leaded by BAE systems and with the UK government as main intermediary, had the first meeting with the heads of Japan's Self Defence Forces, to promote the Typhoon for their fighter jet (F-X) requirement, aimed at the replacement of the remaining old F4s. The press agency Kyodo, of Japan, meanwhile reported that the F35, considered as the most dangerous rival of the Typhoon, might be cut out of the competition, since the japanese government has been deeply displeased by the delay (to 2017) of the F35 IOC. Their requirement is far more urgent, with the F4s being a good 40 years old.
The F35 is also single-engined (the requirement calls for 2 engines), but this was seen as balanced by the stealthness, (another japanese requirement), sector in which is the Typhoon the one that loses out.
The exclusion of the F35 might the prelude to an historic first triumph for european defence industry in Japan, traditionally an american feud.

Meanwhile, Eurofighter has officially presented its concepts for the "Eurofighter 2020", indicative of what will be available for export and for Mid-Life upgrades in the coming years.
Available already from 2015, the Eurofighter 2020 is built on the Tranche 3A fuselage, but has AESA Captor-E radar, thrust-vectoring nozzles option, Conformal Fuel Tanks, much greater array of available weapons, improved and updated self-protection suite (DASS), improved communications, and potentially an "F35-style" Advanced Helmet Mounted Symbology System which, as in the F35, will do the work of the HUD, allowing for its removal.
The LERX extension of the wing root trialed with success in Germany (see Eurofighter Typhoon page) is also offered, improving turning ratio by a good 5%, and of course a whole range of software and electronics updates.

Argentina is out shopping - The announcement of their plan for a SSN is still hot and recent, along with several other plans and projects. Now they also plan for a Light Attack/Scout helicopter addition: AgustaWestland has signed an agreement to refit and upgrade around 20 AB206 JetRanger helicopters (the base of the much more famous and readily-recognized Kiowa Warrior, the military scout variant used by the US forces) ex-italian army.
These AB206 are to be armed with Minigun pods and 70 mm rockets, and will be used as Light Attack and Scout helicopters, alongside a number of Kiowa Warriors ex-US also recently acquired.

Another "Global Power" attack - Six GR4 aircraft flew another long-distance sorties from RAF Marham in East Anglia, to conduct an eight-hour, 4 Air-Refueling round-trip mission over Libya last Wednesday night.

Group Captain Pete ‘Rocky’ Rochelle, Station Commander RAF Marham, said: "This mission has, once again, proved the GR4’s capability at long range.

It certainly has, but why was it done? It was expected and understandable in the first days of Ellamy, when the RAF hadn't yet been cleared to base forwards in Italy, on Gioia del Colle airbase. Now, with some 14 Tornado and 8 Typhoons forward based, it is harder to see the need for such a long and complex air sortie type, which happens to be incredibly expensive.

I enjoy such demonstrations of power and welcome it if there was a rationale for it, but then again, i'm forced to hope that this was a serious operation and not a political-encouraged (or worse Service-encouraged) demonstration of the "usefulness" of Storm Shadow and Tornado GR4.

Please, tell me that it wasn't a "hey, look, we are the RAF, we do not need no aircraft carriers!" stunt, because that would be really, really lame.

Congratulations to crews and ground personnel on a job well done, in any case.

What do we need Merlins for?

More than once, online, i've been horrified by comments like "what do we need ASW helicopters for?", "which submarines will they hunt...?" and "why are we building frigates?".
Who's got an interest for military matters can probably cringe at these stupid questions, and know that there are very good answers to all of them.
But today i want to underline a very interesting development that in my opinion configures one of those "alarming news" that should be considered in Defence Reviews, and shape up the requirements of the UK's armed forces. And supply another good reasons for frigates and Merlins.

If Iran's growing submarine fleet and its deployments in the Indian Ocean are not worrisome enough, if China's first aircraft carrier is far away enough not to be a menace, i find that the growing Argentine submarine force certainly configures a menace to keep in consideration, especially since Falklands-related tension is at an all-times high.

For most of the UK's public, the Argentine armed forces are not an issue at all. They are "rusty and weak", in their words, but this is only partially true, and it does not keep track of recent developments, coming with a quite massive uplift in military expenditure. The Argentine defence budget has recorded a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2006, reaching approximately US$2.6bn in 2010. According ICD research's 'The Argentine Defence Industry - Market Opportunities and Entry Strategies, Analyses and Forecasts to 2015' report, the country's defence budget is expected to record significant growth, to reach approximately $5.5bn by 2015. Elections this October are an element of uncertainty, but with President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, well-known hawk on Falklands and a firm supporter of military modernization, thought favorite for the victory, the Argies armed forces can be confident in money coming.

Notable programmes include the the acquisition of new "transport ships", a worrisome development in itself as a power projection capability would change the scenario radically from the current situation, in which Argentina lacks the necessary strategic lift and shipping for crossing the 300 miles of sea to get to the Falklands. At the moment, they only have the 10.000 tons ARA Bahía San Blas and the modified Type 42 destroyer ARA Hércules, which can carry and deploy 238 Marines, with two embarked Sea King helicopters, each capable of anti-ship duty with a couple of Exocets.


The Navy is also building four 1800 tons patrol vessels at the Tandanor-Alte Storni shipyard in Argentina under a multiyear $600m contract announced in 2010. In May 2010, Defense Minister Nilda Garre announced that the Navy would continue working on a system that would enable the launch of Exocet missiles from the Navy’s P3 Orion aircraft, giving the Argies a reach they have never had before. In addition, the financing of the local development and construction of a coastal Naval defense system that may also be based on the use of Exocet missiles similar to the Excalibur system was also announced.

In the submarine's realm, though, there are the most impressive and worrisome developments.
Currently Argentine has a single german-designed U209 diesel submarine and two german-built TR1700 diesel submarines. The first two submarines were delivered on schedule in 1984-85. The remaining four, planned to be built in Argentina, were suspended due to the Argentinean economic crisis of the 1980s, with work on them stopped in the 90s. Two of the four submarines were partially built, and now the Santa Fe is being completed, but not as a diesel submarine: it will be Argentina's first nuclear submarine. The shipyards have now almost completed a midlife upgrade and refit of one of the two operational subs, the San Juan, and now the effort will be to complete, by 2015, the Santa Fe as a SSN.


Argentina’s National Atomic Energy Commission and the National Institute for space and nuclear technology apparently have already finished designing the CAREM reactor so that it can be adapted to the prototype of the future submarine. An attempt had already been made in the past, but the programme was halted in 1980. In February 2008, government negotiations to jointly develop nuclear reactors with Brazil failed (Brazil plans to soon start work on its own first SSN, after work on their four new conventionally-powered Scorpene subs will be completed) and Argentina continued on its own.


The Argentine air force, which has been operating obsolete equipment for several years and has many airplanes not operational, is expected to procure new advanced fighter aircraft, helicopters and transport aircraft, and plans to upgrade the army's airlift capabilities. The country has joined the Brazilian KC-390 programme for the development of a medium lift transport aircraft, with Brazilian firm Embraer as the primary contractor.

The government will also upgrade engines on its Pucara and Pampa fighter aircraft, and is in the process of procuring five Bell 206 helicopters and five Mi17 helicopters from Russia.
Modernisation and repairs of its helicopter fleet is also under progress as the government plans to refurbish its Super Puma helicopters and upgrade its Huey-II helicopters.

Will all this have any effect on the British planning, or even the proliferation of SSNs in the area and the acquisition of amphibious assault vessels will not be enough to sound any alarm bell?

Prudence is in order, i think.