Thinking about MARS Solid Support Ship

A post by Solomon up at SNAFU has pushed me towards a return to the subject of the crucially important and very interesting MARS Solid Support Ship requirement. I want to briefly explain why, in the Royal Navy that is taking shape in these years, the MARS SSS is crucially important and why giving it RoRo and amphibious capabilities would be an excellent investment.

The discussion is inspired by some early concept images of the MARS SSS ship which have made it out of MOD circles, reaching the public. These images show large, ambitious supply ships with three Heavy RAS stations, two large cranes supporting a couple of LCVP MK5 landing crafts, a RoRo deck with ramp and, apparently, an enclosed well dock, in addition to a large two-spot flight deck and hangar arrangements for three Merlin helicopters, folded.

The objection moved is that MARS SSS looks like a ship that is trying to do too much. In part, it is a correct observation, because MARS SSS comes from the merging of two different requirements. In origin, the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) program was due to deliver six fleet tankers, two Solid Stores replenishment ships and three Joint Sea Based Logistics vessels.

Years of budget cuts have had a dramatic impact on MARS, with its separation in separate workstreams and with a tough reduction in the number of hulls. The MARS FT (Fleet Tanker) workstream, after many long delays, settled for the delivery of four 37.000 tons tankers, with hulls built in South Korea to british design.  The Joint Sea Based Logistic requirement has been killed by the insufficiency of funding, leading to a merging with the Solid Stores replenishment requirement. From an initially envisaged 5 vessels of two types, we are down to aspirations for three vessels of the same design.

With MARS, the Royal Navy had hoped to return to a clean separation of roles between Auxiliaries, taking a step away from the concept of “one stop” replenishment vessels such as Fort Victoria and Fort George, which have been built to be able to provide both fuel and solid stores during a single RAS contact with supported warships.

Following the cuts, while the neat distinction between Tanker and Solid Support vessel will be reinstated, some degree of fusion between requirements is expected to be part of the Solid Support Ship, as the alternative is abandoning every ambition of providing better afloat logistics support to ground troops ashore. The JSBL vessels was to be able to provide stores and support, including maintenance workshops for helicopters and land vehicles, for a up to a complete medium weight brigade engaged on operations even well inland. We’ve never quite gotten to explore the design of such a vessel, since the requirement has been killed before we could reach the stage of the first designs, however extensive Forward Aviation Support (FAS) capabilities, plus a RoRo cargo deck and some means for the transfer of large loads and vehicles to and from landing crafts for delivery ashore were all key points of the ship’s concept.

The MARS SSS will thus need to harmonize the requirements of a Stores replenishment ship, optimized for the support of aircraft carrier operations, with the requirements connected with the support of ground forces in action ashore.

This merging of requirements fits into a wider picture which sees the Royal Navy condemned to do a lot more with a lot less. With the effective, silent death of any program for the replacement of the LPH capability offered by HMS Ocean and by HMS Illustrious, the Royal Navy is reduced to hoping that both of the Queen Elizabeth (CVF) class carriers can make it into active service not as pure strike carriers, but as multirole Landing, Helicopter, Aviation vessels (LHA). This need has been recognized publicly and openly for the first time in the SDSR 2010, with the unveiling of the Carrier Enabled Power Projection plan. The QE-class ships will routinely only carry a single squadron of F35B, but will complement it with elements of a Royal Marines battlegroup, with support helicopters including Chinooks, Merlin and Apache gunships.

As a consequence, the Solid Support Ship will be required to support a carrier which is also an amphibious assault platform, at the centre of the Response Force Task Group of the Royal Navy, an integrated force which replaces the earlier, separated Amphibious Ready Group and CVS battlegroup.

MARS SSS should enter service “around the middle of the next decade”. In fact, during planning round 2011, the Ministry of Defence decided to extend by two years the service life of the current replenishment vessels, Fort Austin (which had been mothballed in 2009 but was brought back in service with an SDSR 2010 decision and a big refit) and Fort Rosalie, so that they are now due to retire in 2023 and 2024. I’ve not been able to find an official, up to date indication of OSD for Fort Victoria, which is younger but has the problem of being an Auxiliary Oiler Replenisher carrying fuel in an outdated single-hull structure. My guess is that she could bow out in 2025.

Fort Austin and Fort Rosalie have a full load displacement of over 23.800 tons, and can carry up to 3500 tons of solid stores in four holds with a total capacity of some 12.200 cubic meters. They have a single spot flight deck and a large hangar, the top of which can be used as an emergency landing platform. Up to four helicopters can be embarked.

Fort Austin has been fitted with two Phalanx CIWS guns, on the two wings of the bridge, prior to sailing with the Cougar 13 task force. You can see them in the photos by Cherbourg Escale. 

The concept art released for MARS SSS clearly shows a Ro-Ro ramp access (closed), a couple of LCVP MK5s with cranes, a triple hangar for Merlin helicopters and a large, two-spot flight deck. The stern view shows what seems to be a well dock, open for boat operations. Two H-RAS masts are present on the port side, while only one is provided starboard. The RAS masts on the port side are positioned to be able to link up to aircraft lifts openings in the hull of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.

Fort Victoria is newer and larger. Designed as a single-stop support vessel capable to provide both fuels and dry stores, she can carry some 70.000 barrels of fuels and oils along with 6234 cubic meters of dry stores. She displaces more than 32.000 tons. She can operate with up to five helicopters and is fitted with a couple of Phalanx CIWS guns for self defence but is no longer compliant to law as she is a single hulled oiler. 

Her sister, Fort George, was decommissioned in the SDSR 2010.

Roles for MARS SSS

The MARS SSS depicted by the concept art is a large, ambitious vessel, but far less compromised and overtasked than other proposed or realized European “Joint Support Ships”, as the JSS normally combines tanker, solid stores and RO/RO amphibious role all in one.

MARS SSS would at least be relieved of the tanker role, and the vast cargo holds needed for solid stores, including ordnance, are relatively compatible with the need for a RoRo deck, with ramp, and even with a well dock. The well dock would be the best way to ensure that the vessel can send stores and vehicles to the forces ashore, in mostly every sea condition, thanks to the controlled environment of the enclosed dock.

The well dock would also enable MARS SSS to embark some landing crafts or the future Force Protection Craft when deploying as part of the Response Force Task Group. This capability, along with the Ro-Ro cargo deck, is important because it would make up for the future loss of the four LCVP MK5s that HMS Ocean currently brings to the party. Ocean also has a (relatively small) space for vehicles and stores, which can be driven onto landing crafts thanks to a ramp leading down to a “steel beach” in the stern, which during operations is expanded with the use of a pontoon that the ship carries, folded, on her flight deck.

The new carriers don’t have a reserved space for the embarkation of vehicles, have no ramp and no steel beach. If vehicles for the amphibious force are to be carried, they have to be craned onto the flight deck and moved into the hangar with the aircraft lifts. During an amphibious assault, such stores and vehicles would only reach the shore if they were Chinook or Merlin portable, as under slung delivery would be the only realistic option. It is not clear yet if the boat bays of CVF are compatible with LCVP MK5s. The carriers have a boat boarding area in the stern, which can be reached by soldiers and sailors thanks to stairs. Marines could use this, weather permitting, to climb aboard landing crafts coming from the LPD and LSDs in the task force, but an additional well dock and more landing craft capacity would no doubt be welcome during operations.  

HMS Ocean's ramp and steel beach. The poonton in the water is carried, folded, on deck, and deployed by crane. HMS Ocean has a relatively small vehicle deck and carries four LCVP MK5. The aircraft carriers that will have to replace her due to the impossibility of funding a dedicate replacement do not match these particular capabilities. MARS SSS could step in and remedy to this.

 

Concept Art showing the hangar of the CVF carriers

The boat boarding area

MARS SSS is shown carrying two LCVP MK5s on davits, which could be replaced by Force Protection Crafts were the boats to be more adequate to the missions, but a single-bay well dock capable to take a LCU or support operations of the LCVPs and FPCs once they are lowered in the water would be a major enhancement.

The well dock would also be particularly useful in the Gulf. For what I can see now, I can only guess that the Royal Navy will be busy in Operation Kipton (the enduring presence in the Gulf of minesweepers and support assets) for many more years. And according to MOD data, the current minesweepers will not begin to be replaced by new vessels before 2028, which means that well into the 2030s they will need intimate support of a mothership whenever they go. The Hunt and Sandown are excellent ships, perfect for their job, but aren’t really deployable and only have a logistic endurance out at sea of around 14 days.

That has forced the Royal Navy to constantly support the four ships in the Gulf with a larger support vessel capable to pass on fuel and stores. With the risk of hostilities in the area always being so high, a flight deck for helicopters is also badly needed, being helicopters excellent to detect and fight back fast attack crafts that could, in theory, swarm out of Iran very quickly were things to get hot. UAVs and force protection boats are also constantly in action to keep the force secure, and all the requirements of these supporting elements have made large, capable support vessels simply indispensable.

The US Navy converted an old LPD, the USS Ponce, into a capable Afloat Forward Staging Base, and this vessel provides command, control, communications, a large flying deck for helicopters and a well dock for boat operations.

The Royal Navy cannot afford such a top class solution, and is consequently forced to constantly commit one third of its LDSs to the “Seabase” role in the Gulf: one of the Bay class LSDs is always serving in the Gulf, looking after the minesweepers, and this has a very evident knockout effect on the amphibious capabilities of the UK. The madness of withdrawing Largs Bay from service, selling it to Australia, only made things worse. 

USS Ponce and Cardigan Bay together in the Gulf, followed by the minesweepers that they support and protect. Cardigan bay shows the hangar she has finally been fitted with, and the Marinised Land Phalanx Weapon System installation on the cargo deck.

 

The Bays have been steadily increasing their capabilities in these years: from very simple, lightly-equipped LSDs, they have been evolving into capable seabases. They are being fitted with Data Link 16 and complete communications suites removed from the retired Type 22 Batch 3 frigates. They are getting remotely-controlled 30mm gun turrets as the combat vessels in the fleet, and Cardigan Bay, the ship currently in the Gulf, finally also sports a prefabricated hangar structure on deck, which finally gives adequate protection to embarked helicopters and UAVs and their ground crew as maintenance is carried out. Possibly, the other two vessels will also get hangars of their own in the next future: Mounts Bay has been used as an auxiliary aviation ship while RFA Argus was undergoing her latest refit, and she had to resort to walls formed on deck with empty containers to provide some shelter to the helos. A solution not unlikely the emergency fitting of Atlantic Conveyor for the Falklands War!

Cardigan Bay has been serving as a base for US UAV teams, and is almost certainly going to be the first Royal Navy ship to get the newly ordered, much awaited Scan Eagle drones the MOD finally funded. Cardigan Bay will, at least for the next future, only have a contractor-owned, contractor-operated Scan Eagle task-line, with a second task-line to be made available for embarkation on Type 23 frigates afterwards. Hopefully, it is only the first step towards a greater availability of UAVs for the Royal Navy.

A couple of Diving Teams and reconnaissance parties with REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles also operate from the Bay, which can provide an excellent base to all boats with her rafting system and well dock. Finally, the ship also embarks a Role 2 Medical Team: a tri-service, deployable surgical field hospital.

The Bays are also getting fitted with Phalanx CIWS Block 1B, eventually uplifted to Baseline 2 standard, the latest and most capable. initially the Bays deploying to the Gulf have been fitted with “Marinised Land-Based Phalanx Weapon System" (MLPWS), which are, put simply, the Centurion C-RAM guns that the British Army deployed to Basra during operations in Iraq. Removed from the trailers and bolted to the cargo deck of the Bays, the MLPWS have been the solution so far, but Lyme Bay now shows, first of the three sisters, properly integrated Phalanx guns installed in the intended positions on the superstructure, over the bow and overlooking the stern. It is hoped that the other two ships will be eventually fitted out to the same standard.  

This close up better shows the temporary solution represented by the MLPWS Phalanx fit

RFA Lyme Bay, deployed on Cougar 13 right now, shows, for the first time, a properly integrated fit of Phalanx CIWS guns, placed in the intended, originally Fitted For But Not With positions.

The Bays could have been fitted with Goalkeeper mounts, but the Royal Navy is standardizing on Phalanx and will withdraw from service all Goalkeeper mounts by 2015. The positions evidenced in the photos above have now been used for Phalanx, at least on Lyme Bay. It is hoped that all three ships will be similarly outfitted. A careful look at the photos will also show that Cardigan Bay and Lyme Bay show new radomes, probably part of the Data Link 16 and communications fit coming from the withdrawn Type 22 frigates.

 

The hangar fitted to Cardigan Bay is built by Rubb Buildings Ltd. Australia acquired one of these hangars and had it fitted on the ex-Largs Bay, now HMAS Choules, in the photo.

 

Improved weapons fit: this photo shows Cardigan Bay fitted with 30mm guns an M134 miniguns

The Royal Navy also maintains in the Gulf and Indian Ocean a variety of other support vessels, including a tanker, the forward repair ship RFA Diligence (working hard in support of the SSN presence constantly maintained “East of Suez”) and the Auxiliary Oiler Replenisher (AOR) Fort Victoria.

MARS SSS, if fitted with a well dock, could tick all the boxes and provide a perfect seabase for the UK to maintain in the Gulf Area. Instead of maintaining a tanker, an LSD and an AOR in the area, the Royal Navy would possibly be able to cover both the AOR and minesweeper support roles with the same ship, releasing the LSD back to its main role as amphibious vessel.

The vast hangar, the large flight deck, the unmatched capacity for stores and the well dock would make MARS SSS perfect to sustain the minesweepers and the other vessels working in the Gulf. Hopefully, the Riverine Command Boats employed by the Americans from Cardigan Bay’s well dock would in time be replaced by british Force Protection Crafts, increasing the security of the force in the area. 

Boats in the well dock 

 

American Riverine Command Boats (CB90s) operating from a british Bay vessel in the Gulf. The CB90 has been evaluated by the Royal Marines as a possible base for the Force Protection Craft.

The requirement for extensive, excellent Forward Aviation Support capability is nothing new for this kind of unit in the Royal Navy. The current Fort-class vessels themselves have very extensive capability in this field, with up to 5 or 6 Merlin helicopters able to work from the ships’s deck and facilities. The ability to support a large number of helicopters from the new vessels (the concept art suggests hangar bays for three Merlin, with a big, Chinook-capable, two-spot flight deck) would maximize their capability to operate, even alone, on complex constabulary tasks during peacetime. During high-intensity ops, the ability to embark ASW helicopters would relieve the carrier’s flight deck from some of the pressure, and this is crucially important following the cuts the Royal Navy has suffered: with the carriers now condemned to be replacements for the LPHs as well, they will be required to carry a lot of machines and stores and men. Even as big as they are, in a major operation requiring both a high number of jets and capable amphibious forces with their helicopters they will be filled to capacity quite quickly. If there’s one certainty about aircraft carriers, simply put, is that they are never quite big enough.

Three MARS SSS ships could be tasked to provide one vessel “on station” in the Gulf, and another to assign to the RN Task Group. If MARS SSS was built to the specifications suggested by the concept art, the new vessel would be able to act as a major force multiplier in both roles.

Speaking about Type 26, Cmdr. Ken Houlberg, Royal Navy who, until August 2012 , was the Capability Manager for Above Water Surface Combatants at the MOD, said:

“There will be no more destroyers or frigates. There will be combat ships.”

Similarly, it looks like the RN hopes to build more than simple replenishment ships. Seabases would be a better description.

Cutting costs and complexity with a steel beach?

The usefulness of the well dock is pretty much unquestionable. But in an age of budget difficulties, its cost and the complexity that it adds to the design of the vessel is what caused the most perplexity. It is possible that cost cutting would remove the dock and replace it with a simpler “steel beach”, with a ramp leading down to the water from the RoRo deck. It would be a serious reduction in the capability to support boat and landing craft operations in hostile weather and sea conditions, but it would take less space, less money and it would be much simpler to add in the design.

A good example of support vessel sporting a RoRo deck complete with steel beach is the new multipurpose dutch Joint Support Ship, the Karel Doorman. This 205 meters long, 28.000 tons vessel is an immensely impressive beast, even if it is the result of many compromises. It can support ships at sea thanks to two RAS masts and a 40 tons crane. It can carry 730 cubic meters of ammunition pallets for some 400 tons of ordnance and 1000 cubic meters of dry stores. She carries 8000 cubic meters of fuel for warships, 1000 cubic meters of aviation fuel and 450 cubic meters of potable water.

In addition to all this, she has 2350 lane meters of Ro-Ro deck, complete with ramp of access and steel beach in the stern for cargo transfer onto landing crafts.

She sports a two-bay operating theatre as part of her medical facilities. She carries a couple of LCVP landing crafts as well as other boats, and she is equipped with an integrated I-Mast with a sensor fit comparable to that of combat vessels. For self defence, she is fitted with two Goalkeeper CIWS, two Oto Melara MARLIN turrets with 30mm guns, four Oto Melara HITROLE remote weapon stations with 12.7 mm machine guns and four SRBOC decoy launchers.

Finally, she has a huge hangar for six NH90 medium helicopters (folded) or two Chinooks unfolded, which can make good use of the huge 80 x 30 meters flight deck. 

The dutch JSS shows the stern "steel beach", right near the opening of the RoRo access ramp

Design detail of the steel beach

An image of the hull of the JSS during her building. The large steel beach is very evident

Her max payload is 10.600 tons, of which up to 5000 tons can be made up by armored vehicles and/or Ro-Ro deck stores. Her crew numbers between 150 and 175 men, with accommodations for 300 people on board. Her max speed is 18 knots, with an endurance of 10.000 nautical miles at 15 knots cruise speed.

The vessel is incredibly impressive and can prove its worth in many different operation scenarios and roles. Its Ro-Ro deck and steel beach provide a visual example of what could be put on MARS SSS, even if, for the reasons covered earlier, a full well dock is desirable.

A capable replenishment ship 

That is not to say that MARS SSS is not primarily thought to be an excellent replenishment vessel, optimized to support the new aircraft carriers, even in high intensity operations. In this that is their primary role, the new ships will be aided by the new Rolls Royce Heavy Replenishment At Sea (H-RAS) equipment, which will increase the current transfer capability of some 2 tons to larger, bulky pallets of five tons each. 
A working H-RAS system has been built on land at the HMS Raleigh base, which is being used to validate and trial the new system. The facility will then be used to train RFA and Royal Navy sailors in RAS procedures. 

RAS operations today with Fort vessels.

 

H-RAS will shape the new vessels, since their design and internal configuration will be largely determined by the need to move around such bulky loads, sustaining the far higher pace of RAS operations that the more than doubled payload transfer capability will make possible. Receiving such large, heavy loads in one go will be challenging for the supported ships, as well. It is likely that frigates and destroyers will mostly continue to receive the smaller pallets, unless Type 26’s design is optimized for the new system.

The larger payload capability will be crucial mostly for the new aircraft carriers. Currently, the standard RAS pallet is a 1000 x 1200 mm NATO base, with a loaded weight of around 1,8 ton. Resupplying an aircraft carrier during high intensity operations is a challenging task, as right now the transfer rate would be about a couple of 1000 lbs bombs with each pallet, for example.

H-RAS is meant to allow the transfer of 25 loads, each of 5 tons, per hour, while the ships travel at around 10 knots, with a gap from hull to hull of 50 or 55 meters. The improvement is dramatic. It is fair to assume that, if MARS SSS was replenishing HMS Queen Elizabeth during a major operation, some of the weapons could be passed to the carrier already strapped to Highly Mechanized Weapon Handling System-compatible skid pallets, which would then be lowered into the carrier’s deep holds and would be readily available to be picked up by the moles of the HMWHS system.

The 5 tons payload capability will also be crucial to enable the transfer of the F35B’s spare engines, enclosed in their transport containers. The current RAS systems are unable to move the heavy, bulky containers, and this would complicate the life for the embarked air group, requiring a greater number of spare engines to be immediately available on the ship.

The increased capacity of the H-RAS system will also be of great help in moving other heavy, bulky loads, such as Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which should be part of the future arsenal of the british F35Bs: enclosed in its shipping container, a single Storm Shadow weights 2150 kg and is well over 5 meters long. 

Storm Shadow missile being pulled out of its shipping container

 

The Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers will not have big problems in dealing with the new, bulky loads coming in, since they will adopt the same technique used by the US Navy, receiving the stores directly in the hangar, via the openings of the aircraft lifts. You can see a video and some photos of this evolution, as done by the US Navy. The main difference being that they call it Underway Replenishment (UNREP). 

US Navy UNREP operations aboard supercarriers

Both MARS Fleet Tanker and MARS Solid Support Ships are obviously configured to optimally support the new carriers. MARS FT, for example, has two RAS masts on the starboard side, so that it can easily link up to the two RAS fuel receiving stations on the port side of the QE-class carriers.

The MARS SSS vessel, instead, has two H-RAS masts on the port side, spaced out to coincide with the openings of the aircraft lifts on CVF’s starboard side.

CVF also seem to have another RAS fuel receiving station, under the forward island, on starboard side. 

Model trials of MARS Fleet Tanker and QE-class carrier, showing the RAS Masts and the two receiving bays on the carrier.

This curious image shows the french PA2, once planned to be built on the same design as the british CVF, receiving fuel at the RAS station under the forward wing while also receiving pallets of dry stores through the forward aircraft lift opening. The supply ship seems to be an AEGIR AOR design. None of the depicted vessels will enter french navy service, but the image is interesting as it depicts what will happen with CVF.

Another old image, courtesy of http://navy-matters.beedall.com/, showing H-RAS at work delivering containerized stores into the hangar of a CVF carrier.

This graphic, once released by the MOD as part of the bidding call for MARS FT, has been preserved by http://navy-matters.beedall.com/. The small arrows indicate the RAS stations. On CVF we can see the two fuel-receiving stations on port side. Two arrows clearly indicate the aircraft lifts openings as well, for H-RAS, while a fifth arrow signals another fuel receiving station.

Conclusions  
MARS SSS can and should be more than just a "solid replenisher" ship. In a navy hit so savagely by cuts, each ship must be able to cover multiple requirements whenever this is possible and efficient. It would of course be better to have more ships, and a neat separation of roles. But this is financially impossible in the current climate. And anyway, the british armed forces have sustained cuts so savage that realizing the once planned combination of two large replenishment vessels and three "seabases" would be realistically excessive. There wouldn't be amphibious forces nor aircraft carrier strike wings large enough to fully justify them. It is a sad truth. 
Freeing the Bay LSDs from the duties of Operation Kipton, on the other hand, would be a major achievement that would reinstate higher capabilities for the UK's amphibious force.

MARS SSS is a key component of a navy which is shrinking in size but not in ambition. So long as the UK aims to remain a globally engaged country, it needs expeditionary forces. And MARS SSS is a fundamental component of them. In "seabase" configuration, its usefulness is maximized in all roles. 

Two projects worth thinking about

Two very interesting written answers were given in Parliament yesterday, 10 July 2012, regarding Apache and the Smart Defence initiative launched by NATO. Let’s seethem:

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what multinational projects the UK will be leading under the Smart defence umbrella following the Chicago Summit. [114421]

Mr Gerald Howarth: The UK will be leading two projects under the Smart defence umbrella. These are the Immersive Training Environments project, which seeks to enhance NATO's training and education capability through the development of synthetic systems, and the Theatre Opening Capability project which seeks to develop a multinational capability for expeditionary operations to establish a port of debarkation and conduct cargo handling and movement operations.

Mr Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when he plans that the Apache helicopter will be upgraded to utilise the Brimstone missile system; [116028]

(2) what plans he has to marinise the Apache helicopter; [116029]

(3) what the total number of Apaches in use is; and how many are earmarked for upgrade. [116030]

Peter Luff: The Army Air Corps currently operates a fleet of 67 Apache helicopters. The number of aircraft to be upgraded through the Capability Sustainment Programme will be decided at the main investment decision, which is currently planned for 2014.

While not originally designed as a maritime helicopter, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has modified and cleared the Apache to support operations from the maritime environment as demonstrated from HMS Ocean on Operation Ellamy. The modifications included wet-sealing the aircraft to resist corrosion and modifying the windscreen wipers to include a solution to disperse sea spray. We are also currently in an assessment phase to fit flotation equipment to increase safety when operating over water.

The Apache is currently armed with variants of the Hellfire missile which are due to go out of service in 2021-22. The MOD will look at various options as a replacement to this capability. The successor to Brimstone, the 50kg class Spear Capability 2 Block 3 missile, will be one of the options considered as a replacement.

The two Defence Initiatives that the UK will lead under the Smart Defence agreement are both very interesting. Synthetic training and simulators are something that the british armed forces have been adopting on a large and ever expanding scale. Simulators of various nature and ambition level have been introduced into service for training soldiers prior to deployment, to train Royal Marines how to escape from a sinking Viking vehicles, to train personnel in how to evacuate a vehicle overturned by a mine blast, to train in the use of parachutes and firearms, to prepare crews for the AS90 self-propelled howitzer and so along. The UK is particularly sensible to synthetic training systems, and it is a good choice to have it leading the multinational effort in this direction.

But people will pardon me for being particularly interested in the second Capability, that of Theatre Opening. The scope of this initiative is potentially very ample, depending on the level of ambition that will be set. We are looking, potentially, at a true re-edition, in modern key, of the Mulberry Harbour pre-fabricated port of D-Day memory, depending on the level of existing infrastructure envisaged as requisite for “establishing a port of debarkation”.

For the UK, this multinational capability investment might be a way to remedy to the pretty certain loss of the 3 Joint Sea Based Logistic ships which were once planned as part of the original, very ambitious Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) project. These three vessels were intended as deployable floating support bases carrying supplies for land forces and the means to disembark and distribute said supplies in absence of port facilities to support the operations of 3^rd Commando Brigade and/or of army forces deployed abroad. The JSBL was also meant to have rather extensive workshop and support facilities, where helicopters and vehicles could be maintained and serviced, close to the frontline, even in absence of suitable equipment and installations on land, limiting the number of vehicles and items of kit that have to be returned all the way back to the UK for being serviced.

It is now expected that the JSBL vessel will not be funded. Secured the 4 Fleet Tankers with the recent contract announced with South Korean shipyards, the Royal Navy’s new main target within MARS is the Fleet Stores Replenishment requirement: 3 vessels are envisaged, to transport and distribute solid stores to the ships of the fleet, including everything from food to gun shells to replacement F35 engines and aviation weaponry for the aircraft carrier’s wing.

The FSS vessels are meant to replace Fort Victoria, Fort Austin and Fort Rosalie in the early 2020s, and the 10-years budget contains allocation of money for initial activities connected to this requirement. The ships will almost certainly be fitted with the new Rolls Royce replenishment at sea (RAS) equipment, which can transfer pallets waiting 5 tons, against the current 2 tons, solving also an emerging problem of weight connected to the F35 (an F135 engine in its transport case is currently too heavy for the existing RAS rigs and is even creating problems to the US Navy for aerial transport, as it is incompatible with the Carrier On Board delivery plane, the Greyhound).

The Royal Navy is aware that there won’t be money for a further three ships in MARS, and they are also aware that, by the late 2020s, the new urgency will be delivering a replacement for RFA Diligence and RFA Argus, effectively killing pretty much any chance of financing the JSBL.

So they are hoping to incorporate some JSBL solutions for the delivery of stores to the shore within the FSS design. Among other capabilities that arguably FSS should try to deliver I’ll add the possibility of resupplying an SSN at sea with torpedoes and Tomahawk missiles, and the capability of replenishing at sea the missile cells of Type 45 and Type 26.

Currently, the RN has no capability to reload the missile cells at sea, and Tomahawk missiles can only be embarked on a submarine within a protected bay and with very calm sea. Expanding the capabilities in these two sectors would be a major improvement, no doubt.

The RFA Diligence’s replacement could take on some other characteristics of JSBL, if economically and technically feasible, by providing some workshop space and equipment compatible not just with the support to ships and submarine, but to land vehicles and helicopters as well. The Forward Repair Ship would be particularly useful if able to provide such comprehensive service. Of course, providing maintenance on helicopters would be relatively simple, while providing vehicle workshops and “fitter section” spaces would be more challenging, as vehicles would need suitable arrangements in the design of the ship for driving in and out, and in absence of a port, this means bringing the vehicle to be serviced to the Repair ship either via helicopter or, more feasible, via landing craft: a stern ramp allowing vehicles to board the landing crafts would be a possible solution, but this adds cost and complexity to the design, and the Royal Navy will be dealing with tight budgets and competing demands. A RFA Diligence replacement must come cheap, first of all.

Even assuming that workshops could be provided, and that the FSS vessels will have a decent capability for sending ashore supplies even in absence of a port, there would still not be that degree of independence from shore installations that is desirable.

In this optic, the outcome of the Theatre Opening Capability initiative will be very important, and potentially game-changing, if the ambition is that of enabling a large scale deployment in absence of suitable ports. The solution could be somewhat similar to the US Marines Mobile Landing Platform, but with a greater attention placed on the logistic aspect. The MLP itself is currently being built in a very basic configuration, but the design can be significantly enhanced by fitting ramps, already tested and validated, that allow vehicle transfer between ship and platform even in Sea State 4. Such Self-Deploying Ramps were tested in prototype form (produced by Cargotec this was named Test Article Vehicle Transfer System’ (TAVTS)) to the FLO-FLO ship MV Mighty Servant 3 in February 2010, and demonstrated at sea by the USMC with the successful transfer of personnel and vehicles from a Large Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off (LMSR) vessel to the Mighty Servant in high sea state 3 and low sea state 4 over multiple days of testing in the Gulf of Mexico. Vehicles transferred included HMWVVs, HMWVVs with trailers, MTVR medium trucks, LVS wreckers, amphibious assault vehicles, M88 tank recovery vehicles, and M1A1 main battle tanks.

The capability is thus at a very high readiness level. Ideally, though, the design should be further refined, so to be able to work with different and unmodified Ro-Ro ships, without having to fit the vessels with their own part of the TAVTS ramp system. 

The TAVTS being trialed in the Gulf of Mexico, with its launch tower assembly well visible on the huge open deck of the civilian FLO-FLO ship Mighty Servant 3. The Theatre Opening vessel could be a FLO-FLO vessel, or a large barge deployed from a FLO-FLO vessel, acting as a firm "port" for dembarkation. From the barge, vehicles and supplies could drive ashore on floating causeways, or be brought onto the beach via landing craft and/or mexeflote.

A container crane can also be added, making it possible to bring huge amounts of supplies forwards using civilian or military container vessels.

Cranes of various design and capacity can of course be added, and connection to the shore can be achieved via landing crafts or via floating causeways of various design, effectively creating a port of entry: Ro-Ro ships loaded with vehicles and troops can connect to the MLP and transfer vehicles and men onto it, and from the MLP the vehicles can be driven ashore down the causeways or shipped with landing crafts. Container ships can berth alongside the platform and be unloaded by the crane, which might put the container directly down on the back of a truck ready to drive towards the shore or onto a winched sled connecting the platform to the beach and specifically thought to move containers back and forth. 

Thanks to US Marines studies and trials, many of the most complex problems have alreadybeen overcome, leaving the money aspect as perhaps the worst of all issues to be tackled. A multinational, collaborative approach might be the solution to the problem. 

I put together a proposal for such a "Theatre Opening" capability already long time ago, as my personal take on the JSBL ship, and i'm gonna put it forwards again as an example of what can realistically be achieved with the right effort.  

I am wary of such multinational plans, since results could never arrive for lack of funding and committment from this or that nation, delays could be caused by countless reasons and we might not see results for years, but at the same time i welcome the news of this Smart Defense plan, and i keep some hopes alive: i've just read the Army's Agile Warrior 2012 report (i'll write about it in the coming weeks) and they are saying that they "won't be able to avoid being dragged in battle in two particular environments being the Urban Areas and the Littoral, where most of the world's population and wealth is and will be concentrated. 

When even the Army start to admit that operations in the Littoral and amphibiosity are going to be more frequently needed, it is time for your hopes to grow at least a little.

Theatre Entry from the sea: my take on the JSBL/Mobile Landing Platform at full capability, including extensive workshops for maintenance of helicopters and land vehicles.

Regarding the Apache, it is interesting to hear that an emergency flotation device is being assessed for possible fitting onto the helicopter. The Army Air Corps had evidenced a list of improvements that the Apache needed to operate effectively and safely at sea in the future, right after the somewhat pioneer operations in Libya concluded. A flotation device was among the requirements deemed more urgent, since the crew of a current Apache which was to crash at sea during operations from a ship would have very little chances to get out in time to survive. It is good to see that some proper reflection and action is going into completing the “navalization” of the mighty Apache. Personally, I’ve long been saying that the cost of the folding blades and other “naval” features included in the UK Apaches is little thing when compared to the flexibility it offers. Purchasing “naval” Apaches was as smart a decision as it was stupid to buy Merlin helicopters deprived of their naval traits for the utility role.

The unpleasant note is the unwillingness to promise that all Apaches will be upgraded and life-extended out to 2040, but we can hope that, when the Main Gate point is reached, the right decision is taken. For sure, after all, Apache is, at the moment, a "must-stay" capability, which has been ringfenced from any hypothesis of cut. This is at least promising.

It is interesting to hear that the MOD plans to retire Hellfire by 2022. Currently, the Hellfire missile is employed by the Army on the attack helicopter and by the RAF on the Reaper drones, despite the current Brimstone missile having the capability to be employed from drones and helicopters without any issue.

The Reaper, of course, was procured for an Urgent Operational Requirement, so integration and validation of new, national and sovereign weaponry was a no-no as it would have required more money and, critically, more time, delaying the fielding of the drone in theatre.

The Apache was purchased along with its typical weapon, the Hellfire, and Brimstone, anyway, was not yet mature back then, and only entered service on Tornado in 2005, meaning that Hellfire was, if not the only choice for the Apache, surely a sensible one, in the optic of achieving IOC in 2000, even if the Apache Full Operating Capability was only declared in 2007. 

Hellfire also has the advantage of having been acquired in tens of thousands of rounds by the US, and by many export customers, so that its cost is also remarkably competitive. The US backing has also meant the timely development of upgrades, alternative warheads and other improvements that have kept Hellfire up to date and made it suitable for new roles and employment methods as time and events moved onwards.

At the same time, Apache started deploying on operations with the British Army as soon as it entered service, and is still going full strength to this day, so the appetite for devoting money, time and airframes to the integration effort required by a passage to Brimstone never developed.

But with combat operations in Afghanistan to end in 2014, with a mid-life upgrade to Apache to follow and with a new MALE drone to come into service in 2020 in place of Reaper, times are more than mature for nationalization and standardization of this particular area. By the early 2020s, it make a lot of sense to envisage the gradual retirement of Hellfire and the passage to Brimstone 2, also known as SPEAR Capability 2 (block 3?). 

For some clarity, it should be noted that SPEAR is a multi-capability programme, and each capability is divided in blocks. It does not make it very easy to keep track from the outside of exactly what is going on. Anyway, the Selective Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) programme includes: 

SPEAR Capability 1 - Improvements to the Paveway IV bomb, new warhead options, potentially new seekers and guidance methods.  

Paveway IV is the british answer to the USAF’s JDAM, and it undoubtedly built on American experience with the Joint Direct Attack Munition: while the USAF first focused on a bomb guided on its targets by the GPS and then found out that a secondary laser-targeting mode was desirable, the Paveway IV was immediately conceived as a combined guidance weapon, using GPS and Laser, depending on the situation. The weapon is a guidance kit based on the existing Enhanced Paveway II Enhanced Computer Control Group (ECCG) added to a modified Mk 82 general-purpose bomb with increased penetration performance. The new ECCG contains a Height of Burst (HOB) sensor enabling air burst fusing options, and a SAASM (Selective Availability Anti Spoofing Module) compliant GPS receiver. It can be launched either IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) only, given sufficiently good Transfer Alignment, or using GPS guidance. Terminal laser guidance is available in either navigation mode. The bomb displayed amazing accuracy, and can be detonated at impact, with delay to exploit penetration against protected, buried targets, or it can detonate in the air for air-burst effect. The Paveway IV guidance kits can also be modified to fit other sized warheads, but for now it is being used only for 227 kg warheads. Its stand-off range is significantly greater than any other precision guided bomb. Paveway IV's unique manoeuvrability means that, if necessary, following launch it can turn and attack a target behind the delivery aircraft. The availability of dual-mode laser/GPS guidance within a single weapon also means that air forces do not have to incur the expense of maintaining two separate (laser and GPS) weapon stockpiles.

As part of SPEAR Capability 1, a series of enhancements to the Paveway IV are to be pursued:

-          Low Yeld Warhead for reduced collateral damage in urban environment

-          Enhanced Penetrating Warhead for engagement of deeply-buried reinforced targets

-          Extended Range with wing-kit

-          Improvements to the GPS signals security

In particular, point 4 is already being undertaken by Raytheon, while point 3 should be the easier of all to fulfill, because the Paveway IV system is already compatible with the addition of wing-kits, and many such systems are already available, with an obvious leading contender in the form of the MBDA’s Diamond Back wing-kit, which would allow the bomb to glide for tens of miles to strike targets while keeping the launcher aircraft as far away as possible for enemy air defence weaponry.

Point two, perhaps the most interesting, would fill in a gap of capability of the RAF, which is currently not well equipped for the destruction of deeply-buried targets, which can range from caves where talibans hide to modern bunkers and underground facilities which have never passed out of fashion and remain common throughout the world. Most likely aimed to an upgrade of the Paveway IV and AASM respectively, the joint UK-France development programme through MBDA of the bunker-buster Hardbut warhead is the most probable answer to this requirement.

The second test firing of the Hard and Deeply Buried Target (HARDBUT) Next Generation Multiple Warhead System (NGMWS) was carried out successfully at the Biscarrosse test range of DGA Essais de Missiles on 14th September 2010. The HARDBUT Technology Demonstration Programme (TDP) is a successful warhead research programme jointly funded by the UK MoD and French Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) with MBDA UK as the Prime Contractor. The NGMWS is designed to defeat a wide range of targets such as command and control facilities, infrastructure and underground facilities including caves, reflecting current and potential future operations.

The recent orders for new Paveway IV (one worth 60 million pounds, and another one for less than 20 millions announced even more recently) reportedly included money to continue development of incremental improvements for the bomb under SPEAR arrangements. 

Paveway IV is on Saudi Arabia's shopping list since 2010, but the UK has been unable so far to ink the deal due to US opposition under ITAR regulations. Quite a low blow of the USA, considering that they do sell everything and more to Saudi Arabia themselves.  

SPEAR Capability 2

Capability 2 is about developing improvements / new variants of weapons in the 50 Kg class, mainly Brimstone. In fact, the "Brimstone 2" was recently unveiled by MBDA, and should enter service next year with the RAF, replacing the earlier Brimstone and the Brimstone Dual Mode which was, effectively, a UOR upgrade to the original missile. Brimstone 2 includes several improvements, including Insensitive Munition compliance for improved safety of handling and storage. It will have a multi-mission warhead and multi-mode seeker and will be launched from the typical triple rail (for fast jets and UAVs), from a readily available twin rail (UAVs) and in future from the quadruple rack currently used for Hellfire. Launch of Brimstone from the ground was tested and validated already in the late 90s, and launch from boats as small as 15 meters long has been validated literally in the last few days.

SPEAR Capability 3  

Development of a new 100 kg-class weapon, specifically for use on the F35 first of all, and on other platforms later. This new weapon system has been presented in these days. It is a multi-mission stand-off missile with a range of over 100 km, network-enabled, subsonic in speed and fitted with multi-role warhead. Its multi-mode seeker makes it suitable for engagement of mobile targets, even if they are maneuvering at high speed. 

The missile is effective as anti-ship weapon as well, and will be carried on a quadruple rack that will fit into the F35's weapon bays, alongside with a Meteor air-air missile. 

SPEAR 3 as shown by MBDA: the Typhoon is carrying 16 such missiles, a formidable firepower. The F35 can carry 8 internally, and could carry at least as many externally if integration went ahead.

 

SPEAR Capability 4  

MBDA-Led, joint anglo-french upgrade and sustainment programme for the Storm Shadow missile. Italy, being the third major user of the missile, could likely participate to the upgrade programme, while Saudi Arabia is unlikely to collaborate, save probably having its missiles later updated by BAE.

Not much is really known and firm about these future upgrades, but a two-way datalink is almost certainly going to figure, to allow re-targeting and increasing the control over the missile post-launch, just as with the latest Tomahawk IV. Other improvements are likely to include an increase of the range of the missile, particularly since the upgrade will build upon experience matured with the SCALP Navale with its 1000+ km range.

It is to be noted that the 250 km range figure for Storm Shadow is the range for a low-flight profile engagement from launch to hit. If the missile could do at least part of the cruise at altitude, efficiency of the propulsion would be much higher, allowing for a much longer range. 

The Lancaster House agreements signed in 2010 for collaboration between France and UK include a committment to joint Storm Shadow upgrades for the 2020s. 

Indeed, joint work is ongoing from long time in this area: an upgrade considered for Storm Shadow was the DUMAS, for which development started in 2006 in a collaborative programme with France. 

DUMAS technology combines an active infrared scanning laser and a passive infrared detector which, used in conjunction with sophisticated algorithms, detects, images and identifies targets. 

DUMAS improves existing and new missile systems by increasing target search areas and by providing powerful automated target identification capabilities. It was meant to  demonstrate a new seeker capable to guide the missile on moving, difficult targets, while also providing before-strike enhanced imagery, valid also to conduct a first mission-effect estimate.

The DUMAS is believed to have informed subsequent developments and researches tied not just to the Storm Shadow but also other elements of SPEAR.  

SPEAR Capability Block 5

Rumours about this last touted development went as far as to suggest a 600+ km supersonic cruise missile, possibly a replacement for Storm Shadow in the long term.

Blocks internal to the various Capabilities probably denote the various stages of improvement. The Capability 2 Block 3 might be a further enhancement of the Brimstone 2 entering service next year, since anyway the answer is relative to the 2020s period. 

By then, with some determination and investment, the Brimstone might finally fully mature, and meet its intended mission: become the common, multi-platform weapon of choice of the british Armed Forces, used on drones, attack helicopters, fast jets and, perhaps one day, on ships and land platforms as well. 

Already years ago, Brimstone was envisaged as Swingfire AT missile replacement in the missile Overwatch vehicle variant of the Tracer reconnaissance vehicle, which was then cancelled as we know. 

The army would still like to have an overwatch capability back in the future as part of FRES, though... who knows what might happen.