The U.K. Future Aircraft Carrier Program

Artist's concept of the Royal Navy's Future Aircraft Carrier (CVF) showing a deckload of Joint Strike Fighters and Merlin helicopters, and a single catapult. The CVF will play a key role in the U.K. strategy to build a "world-class Navy."

By TIMOTHY D. KILVERT-JONES

Timothy D. Kilvert-Jones is a director and defense consultant at Global Learning Systems, a full training and educational services provider to national and international clients; GLS is headquartered in McLean, Va.

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 peacekeeping 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.

This throws up an as-yet-unresolved issue: Where the new carriers will be base supported. One radical proposition suggests the use of existing civil port facilities such as those at Southampton, England, but adoption of that plan would raise additional questions about port security and access to Dockyard Fire Brigade assets.

The MOD has decided not to use nuclear propulsion for the aircraft carrier, primarily because of the high acquisition cost of a nuclear plant. The carrier's propulsion system will be integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) based on four gas turbines. The optimum location for the position of the main propulsion system is being examined, with the need to maximize the hangar space below decks a major consideration. The range of the carrier will be 8,000 miles.

The carriers will be constructed in the United Kingdom and their manufacture is expected to offer improved opportunities for U.K. shipyards. A ship displacement of up to 50,000 tons is projected. The cost of the ships through design, manufacture, and support for their first few years in service would be an estimated $3.5 billion (at 1999 prices). Operating and support costs across the life of the program are estimated to be about $5.25 billion (also at 1999 prices).

The CVF Program and Air Power

The SDR concluded that the Royal Navy's ability to deploy offensive air power would be key to the successful accomplishment of future force-projection operations. It is in that context that the CVF will serve as the principal platform for the joint RN/RAF FCBA, which will replace the Harriers of both services. The FCBA will be capable of operating in all weather, day and night, to provide air defense for the carrier, to launch strike missions, and to provide offensive support for ground forces ashore.

The CAG will also be supported by the future organic airborne early warning (FOAEW) system, which will replace the capability currently provided by Sea King AEW helicopters operating from the Invincible-class carriers. The FOAEW will be equipped with the powerful systems needed to provide wide sensor coverage against air and surface threats, and to provide command-and-control systems for CAG operations. It also will be used for extended air and surface surveillance, interception, and attack control, together with over-the-horizon-targeting for surface-launched weapon systems.

The FOAEW contenders under consideration include a derivative of the Anglo-Italian Merlin ASW platform, a derivative of the U.S. Marine Corps' V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, and the U.S. E2C Hawkeye. Some unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and lighter-than-air vehicles (LTAVs) also are under consideration.

Current plans call for the award, sometime later this year, of competitive contracts for concept work that would address the risks associated with integrating mission systems (i.e., radar and other sensor systems and devices) into the different FOAEW options. A 2012 in-service date is planned for the FOAEW, which ultimately will be used to provide sensor coverage against air and surface threats, and command-and-control for other air operations. CVF also will be capable of supporting the operation of helicopters in a wide variety of operations, including antisubmarine warfare and attack as well as support missions.

The Future Carrier-Borne Aircraft

The United Kingdom and the United States have for many years been evaluating the capabilities of potential replacements for their Harrier aircraft. Between 1986 and 1996 the two countries carried out a number of studies, under collaborative Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), focused on future STOVL concepts and technologies. Those studies eventually led to U.K. participation in the concept demonstration phase of the JSF program, which is intended to apply the results of ongoing technology maturation and risk-reduction efforts to develop and deploy a family of advanced strike aircraft to meet the needs of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as well as the requirements of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps.

With a projected total of more than 3,000 airframes, the first of which is scheduled to be in service with the U.S. military in 2008, the JSF program will be perhaps the most important aircraft procurement in the post-WWII era--particularly if, as expected, other U.S. allies opt to buy various versions of the JSF to meet their own aviation requirements.

The concept demonstration phase of the JSF program began in November 1996 and has lasted for more than four years. This phase has focused on accomplishing the following objectives:

1. The development of fully validated and affordable operational requirements;

2. A demonstration of the key technologies (including concept demonstration aircraft) needed to reduce life-cycle costs; and

3. The development of mature weapon system concept designs and proposals for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the program.

Following successful completion in September 2001 (extended from April 2001) of the concept demonstration phase, the program will move into the next stage later this year. This current schedule envisions delivery of the first aircraft to the U.S. military in 2008--if the program survives the budget and policy reviews of the Bush Administration and stays both on schedule and under the cost ceilings specified. In any event, the United Kingdom is a full collaborative partner in the current phase and is contributing $200 million to the approximately $2 billion cost of the program to date. U.K. staffs are fully integrated into the activities of the JSF Program Office.

Inevitably, the FCBA is and must be closely associated with the CVF program. However, if the in-service date set for the CVF is to be achieved, the down-selection on the aircraft variant must be made by September 2002. If the carrier variant of the JSF is selected it would seem mandatory that the CVF be equipped with steam catapults. But BAE has proposed a more radical and innovative approach--an all-electric ship that has lower through-life costs.

If a catapult-and-trap system is selected the technology involved would be less innovative but it would provide a number of interoperability benefits, particularly when U.K. forces are operating with allied aircraft.

When it enters service with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force the FCBA will be required to operate in all weather, on both day and night missions, to provide air defense for the fleet and for ground forces ashore, and to carry out numerous other missions including but not limited to close air support, long-range air interdiction, antisurface warfare, and tactical reconnaissance.

CVF Ship Design and the JSF Down-Selection

In 1996, Boeing and Lockheed Martin both received concept demonstration phase (CDP) contracts, valued at some $700 million, from the U.S. Department of Defense--the next phase of the JSF program is expected to result in a single prime contract. Early assessment work investigated a range of aircraft carrier options including ships capable of accommodating short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL), short takeoff but arrested recovery (STOBAR), and conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft.

It was in January 2001 that the MOD decided that the U.S. JSF represents the option with the best potential to meet the FCBA requirement. Assessment work is now concentrating on ship designs capable of supporting the two carrier-capable variants of the JSF--the STOVL variant and the CTOL variant, which is launched with a catapult and lands with the aid of an arresting wire. BAE and Thales are both developing designs of both variants and will continue until MOD makes its JSF decision--sometime between September 2001 and June 2002, according to program officials. The current CVF contracts have been extended to allow the dual-development process to continue until then.

The U.K. JSF requirement has been significantly shaped by the expectation that the U.S. program will be affordable, which it should be, through a combination of: (a) reduced development and production costs as well as overall cost of ownership; (b) effective acquisition streamlining; and (c) a continuing emphasis on jointness and technology maturation. Because these JSF goals coincided with U.K. intentions, Britain became a full collaborative partner in the JSF program in 1995. More recently, in January 2001, Baroness Symons, the minister of state for defence procurement, signed a U.S./U.K. Memorandum of Understanding that brought the U.K. into the E&MD phase of the JSF program (with a contribution of 8 percent of the projected E&MD costs) and guarantees a full participatory role for the U.K. in the down-selection process.

Contract Award in 2004

The U.K. CVF program is introducing many of the new processes that will enable the MOD to acquire and support naval/military equipment of all types more effectively in terms of time, cost, and performance. This includes, for example, a greater willingness to identify, evaluate, and implement effective tradeoffs between system performance, whole-life costs, and time; the adoption of incremental acquisition for areas like the combat system; the use of commercial-off-the-shelf equipment and commercial standards where appropriate; and a continued close and more open working relationship with industry. The CVF integrated project team leader is Ali Baghaei, formerly the production director at the Kvaerner-Govan Shipyard in Glasgow. Baghaei is the first industrialist recruited especially to head a key procurement team in the MOD. His appointment is part of Britain's commitment to introduce modern business practice into defense acquisition.

Ultimately, the selection of a JSF variant will confirm the carrier design to be taken forward. Contract award for the demonstration and manufacture phase of CVF is planned for 2004. It is also likely, given the projected high tempo of CVF operations and sortie generation in time of conflict, that the CVF project team and the Royal Navy will need to consider adapting or acquiring a further family of new logistic support ships to sustain CVF if it is to be used to its maximum potential. Whether the U.K. defense budget and government commitment to an effective expeditionary capability can be sustained to meet that additional cost remains to be seen.