British submarines went to sea with "potentially disastrous" defect

Nuclear attack submarines HMS Tireless and Turbulent are both reported to have taken to sea with a potentially disastrous defect. Safety valves to release steam in an emergency were sealed off which means of course if there was such an emergency the build up of pressure could have led to a very serious accident and a leak of radioactivity. The valves were sealed for maintenance work but were not removed before the submarines returned to sea. Both submarines were in service for over a year (more than 2 in Turbulent's case) before the problem was detected. Poor discipline at Devonport is blamed. There has now been a shake-up of safety procedures the MOD claim.

Sea Viper fails

The Sea Viper, the principle weapon of the new Type 45 destroyers of the Royal Navy, has suffered a setback after a failure in what was supposed to be it's last qualification test firing. Sea Viper (a.k.a. PAAMS) failed in a two target engagement, for reasons not yet known, which is likely to mean the T45 will be basically crippled for some time yet. Though in happier T45 news the second ship, Dauntless, has now been delivered to the RN.

UK to not get JCA source code after all?

Despite apparently signing a memorandum of understanding that the UK, as the only Tier 1 partner, would get access to the source code of the F-35 JCA it now appears that no one will be getting access. Instead a reprogramming facility will be set up in Florida to develop and monitor upgrades. Maybe the US is afraid the British will lose the code on a bus? Well it seems they have a few problems hanging onto the JCA's secrets itself.

F135 problems investigated

Pratt & Whitney are investigating problems with the fan blades of the F135 turbofan which will power the F-35 JSF. The tips of some of the blades broke off damaging the jet engine during a ground test. The tests were on an engine which has already clocked up 8 years of simulated service life. So that should helpfully give P&W plenty of time to fix the problem experts say. That is reassuring huh?

A400M breaks cover

The troubled and delayed Airbus A400M military airlifter has been moved out of the Airbus factory in Seville to begin ground testing. First flight is now being mooted for the end of the year or the start of the next. It was supposed to fly in 2008 of course.

PMQ clash over helicopters for Afghanistan

Prime Minister's Question Time (yah-boo rubbish usually) had a defence theme this week as David Cameron used the theme of the lack of equipment for the troops in Afghanistan as his theme. He said that only a small amount of the total helicopters available to the British armed forces are in Afghanistan, and the US Marines who have the same number of troops as the British there have far more helicopters. The Prime Minister responded by saying more choppers would be available but they required modification before they could be deployed.

Thats true of course but some of these modifications are taking time. For example 6 ex-Danish (but brand new) Merlin helicopters bought in 2007 for use in Afghanistan but they have still not been upgraded despite the MOD saying it would be done by 2008.

Number of Panthers bought : 401. Number to go to Afghanistan : 67

Only 67 of the Panther armoured vehicles bought by the MOD are suitable to be deployed to Afghanistan. The other 334 (yes that is right, 334) will be used in "pre-deployment training, individual and collective training, and trials and development" according to the government. The problem is the vehicles, despite costing hundreds of millions of pounds, are unsuitable for action and an extra 20 million had to spent getting 67 of them ready for combat. The bad (ok even badder) news is that even with the changes if they get hit by an IED or other insurgent toys they are likely to be permanently damaged.

The changes include ECM, better protection, air conditioning and space for a fourth crew member. Its not known if funds will be available to get the other 334 up to speed.

Chinook HC3 flies... at last!

One of the most ridiculous cock-ups of the MOD was the procurement of 8 Chinook HC3s in 2002 which then couldn't be flown because the flight software could not be certified and thus became rather large ornaments. Now work is being carried out to get the helicopters usable by, basically, reverting them back in some ways to HC2 standard by replacing the avionics. The first conversion has finally taken to the air and it is hoped all 8 will be in service finally by the end of next year.

Carriers over budget

The RN's flagship project, the 2 CVF aircraft carriers, is under threat again after it was disclosed the project is running £1 billion over budget. The cost of the project is now estimated at £5 billion, the increase said to be due to inflation, accounting adjustments and direct costs. Maybe they should have costed it correctly in the first place. These cost increases put the programme under pressure it has been said in a memo by the contractors.

Personally i'd ditch Prince Of Wales and build a new ship along the lines of Ocean or Ark Royal to serve as an LPH/Reserve carrier. Wouldn't it be nice for once if a military project came in on budget?

Spare parts shortage hit Mastiff

The Mastiff was urgently ordered to provide extra protection for troops in Afghanistan however a shortage of spare parts meant 30% were out of action meaning less well protected vehicles like Snatch Land Rover continued to be used because of a dispute between the US manufacturer and a UK company who up-armoured and supported the vehicles for the British.



The problem arose because the Mastiffs were made by a US company, Force Protection, who demanded any spare parts which British company NP Aerospace used came from themselves and by US law spare parts have to go to the US forces first and foreign armies second. Thus spare parts intended for the British instead went to the US in Iraq. Finally the US company relented but the damage was already done.

Which just goes to show why you need to maintain an indigenous armaments industry doesn't it? Then at least you can only blame yourself when stuff isn't available.

MOD pays to upgrade APCs being taken out of service

Even though the failed Vector armoured vehicle is being withdrawn from service as it is insufficient to protect troops in Afghanistan against IEDs the MOD is still paying to upgrade it! The vehicles are being withdrawn after just 2 years when they were found inadequate, so much so indeed Army commanders called them "Coffins". BAE has an ongoing programme to upgrade the suspension and wheel hubs but not the armour which was quickly found not to deflect the blast from roadside or buried bombs. The MOD will have to pay for 20 more vehicles to be upgraded later this year.

The vehicles are not totally useless of course, they can be used in other theatres, training et cetera but it seems a bit silly does it not? The MOD are also paying to upgrade some Snatch Land Rovers which are also being withdrawn.

Airbus try and get A400M back on track

Airbus Military is trying to get the much-delayed and yet-to-fly A400M back on track with a show of commitment from from the 7 European partners before proceeding with the programme. The first flight is now expected some time later this year though the date as yet has not been made public. Delivery dates cannot be given until the flight testing has begun and they have some idea of how much work (and money) will be required to get the plane to completion. Earlier it was estimated delivery to the first customer will be about 3 years after the beginning of flight testing.



Of course the question remains for the RAF, in or out? Leaving it would seem the immediate relief for the short term pain but unfortunately in the long run the wrong option. Leaving A400M would put British jobs at risk and this plane will sell, and likely to sell a lot.

Of course the long term job prospects of Airbus employees is of little comfort or interest to hard pushed troops on the ground and strained RAF logistics crews and it is easy for some commentators to say an off-the-shelf solution should be procured immediately but that is ignoring politics. At the end of the day the military's greatest enemy is politics and its a fact of life that much military procurement is designed to generate or retain jobs in the home nation. Its not ideal for some reasons (but not a total loss, see below) but its a fact of life and grown-ups have to just "deal with it". Keeping arms production "local" is also one of the few times politicians actually think beyond their immediate re-election prospects.

To be reliant on foreign countries for your military hardware is not a situation you really want to be in. In some cases too you can only make some weapons for yourself (e.g. nuclear submarines) and you need to ensure a continual work stream to keep skills and facilities intact. For an example of what happens when you don't, Astute.

So basically the RAF will have to eat the short term pain to afford long-term political and economic gain, but they may get an extra C-17 or two out of it anyway.

Vector axed

The Vector armoured troop transporter vehicle is being withdrawn from combat operations just 3 years after it was procured in a £100 million contract. The reason is basically its not good enough. 100 were bought to give British soldiers more protection from IEDs and other insurgent goodies but it's design is flawed. It has a flat bottom instead of a v-shape which can help deflect the blast from buried bombs. Although up-armoured to protect crews 5 soldiers have died in Vectors since their introduction. Of course it may well be more soldiers could have died without the use of the Vector.

Victor takes to the air again... kinda

During the Cold War Jets Open Day at Bruntingthorpe Handley Page Victor, XM715 accidentally became airborne for a few brief moments during a high speed taxi run. The former Cold War Warrior is not on the civil aviation register so technically this is illegal however the Air Accidents Investigation Branch is not intending to investigate. Its not known why the Victor took off or if the aircraft was damaged in any way. What a wonderful sight it would be to see the aircraft airborne again, properly, though!

Chinook Mk3 fiasco condemned by government committee

The Public Accounts Committee has condemned the fiasco that is the Chinook HC3 which has wasted millions of pounds and may have led to the deaths of British troops in theatre who had to travel overland because of a shortage of helicopters. Despite costing £422m the 8 Chinooks have hardly been used as, because of MOD bungles, the helicopters cannot fly at night or in adverse weather. The MOD did not get the software code that would enable them to get an airworthiness certificate for the type. Now the plan is to downgrade the new Chinooks back to HC2 standard so they can finally be used and relieve the tension on the rest of the fleet in Afghanistan.

Missile alert crew asleep on duty at Minot AFB

The three man crew in a missile alert room at Minot AFB in North Dakota USA were found to be asleep on duty on the 12th of July even though they had the keys and launch codes to launch nuclear missiles, Minuteman III ICBMs, in their care. Minot AFB has already been in the news for the wrong reasons lately, it was here a B-52 was mistakenly loaded with nuclear tipped missiles and flew across America. The three men of the 91st Missile Wing's unauthorised nap is an embarrassment though USAF officials say there was danger to the security of the nuclear weapons in their care, the codes had been changed and were redundant apparently (so where were the correct codes and how would they be gotten to the crew in an emergency?) and the room was locked.