Royal Air Force - Royaume-Uni

RAF official warns of strategic transport shortfall

RAF gets funds for more Reaper UAVs, Puma upgrade

UK launches Chinook upgrade work

The RAF has taken delivery of the first of 91 new Typhoon combat aircraft (Eurofighter Tranche 2 Typhoons)

UK to award new support deal for RAF TriStars

The Royal Air Force's new precision-guided bomb has been flown for the first time onboard the Eurofighter Typhoon. Six Paveway IV trials weapons were fitted on an Italian test aircraft operating out of an air base in Sardinia. The test flights are part of an integration program subcontracted to weapons supplier Raytheon Systems by BAE Systems. The U.K. arm of Raytheon has a deal to integrate the 500-pound bomb on Typhoon as part of an incremental capability program that expires in 2012. Part of that program saw the weapons fitted to an Italian instrumented production aircraft at the Alenia integration facility in Turin for physical and electronic interface testing before the aircraft was flown to the Decimomannu air base in Sardinia on Oct. 24 for a series of flight tests. Integration of Paveway IV is part of the Eurofighter Phase 1 Enhancements program, which also includes fit of a laser designator pod and Enhanced GBU-16. For the moment, the Paveway IV has to be dropped at subsonic speeds on Typhoon, but Eurofighter has submitted a list of proposals to Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, the European partners in the multirole aircraft, to allow the weapon to be used at supersonic speed. Other Phase 2 enhancements include the possible fit of Brimstone anti-tank missiles, the small diameter bomb, Storm Shadow and Taurus cruise missiles and the Meteor air-to-air weapon. The RAF has cleared the new Paveway IV for operational use on its Harrier GR9 fleet. The weapon is expected to be deployed for the first time in Afghanistan in a matter of weeks. Raytheon is also working on integrating the weapon on the Tornado strike aircraft. The aircraft are scheduled to replace the Harrier on Afghanistan duty in the first half of 2009. The British have recently declared operational an austere Typhoon Tranche 1 aircraft which features earlier variants of the Paveway family allied with the Rafael Litening laser designator.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3789895&c=EUR&s=TOP

Reducing F-35 purchase could save UK up to USD5.8bn…

http://www.janes.com/news/defence/business/jdi/jdi081031_1_n.shtml

RAF to deploy Paveway IV bomb to Afghanistan this month

Apaches Fit For Purpose
(Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued Nov. 24, 2008)

Several national media outlets have reported that fewer than one in three Apache attack helicopters are 'fit for purpose'. The Apache helicopter is exceedingly fit for purpose in theatre and is fully delivering the required capability.

Helicopters and aircraft are technologically advanced pieces of equipment. Due to the harsh nature of operations the helicopters require some servicing to be conducted while they are in use on the front line. Priority is always given to operational commitments.

Our helicopters are meeting all operational tasks and training requirements. Our maintenance programmes are flexible enough to ensure that we continue to meet these demands.

The MOD is planning to invest over £6billion in helicopters over the next 10 years, a substantial investment by any yardstick. Over this period we intend to invest approximately £2.5billion in enhancements to our current helicopter fleet and ensure that it continues to meet emerging operational requirements. Under current plans this work will include modernisation of our Merlin, Puma and Sea King Medium Lift helicopters, our Chinook Heavy Lift helicopters, and our Apache Attack Helicopters.

In parallel we intend to invest approximately £3.5billion in procuring new helicopters. Under current plans this will include the procurement of Future Lynx, to replace the Royal Navy and Army's current Lynx helicopters, and of a Future Medium Helicopter which will begin to replace our Puma and Sea King Medium Lift helicopters in the latter part of the next decade.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: On Nov. 23, the Sunday Telegraph reported that “Of the 67 now in service with the Army Air Corps, just 20 are available for combat in Afghanistan or for training pilots in the United Kingdom. (…/…)
“The heat and dust of the Helmand desert and the constant use of the aircraft on combat operations has started to degrade the fighting capability of the entire fleet, according to defence sources.
“The highly sophisticated aircraft requires many hours of servicing every month and the arduous conditions in southern Afghanistan, where temperatures in the summer can reach 45C, dramatically shortens the life of the engine and the Apache's rotor blades.
“The Apache has flown hundreds of missions since troops first arrived in Helmand in 2006, when it was used in combat for the first time. Although the Taliban have often targeted the aircraft, none have so far been shot down.
“Details released by the Ministry of Defence in answer to a parliamentary question submitted by the Conservative Party show that just 53 per cent of the 40 strong Chinook fleet, which provides vital support in Helmand, are regarded as "fit for purpose".)

-ends-

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?prod=100056&session=dae.43104166.1227623352.VdFTDH8AAAEAAEJ8GGMAAAAP&modele=release


AgustaWestland Delivers M-TADS Equipped Apache AH Mk.1s

U.K. Hawk Delivery Slips

LONDON - Delivery of the first Hawk advanced jet trainers destined for Britain's Royal Air Force have been delayed until 2009, planemaker BAE Systems confirmed.

The British company should have delivered the first Hawk 128 to the RAF training base at Valley in October. The contract schedule required BAE to deliver 10 aircraft by the end of the year.

A company spokesman said the delivery program had slipped a number of weeks behind schedule as a result of delays caused by "supply chain and resource issues."

He said the delay will not "unduly impact on our customer's training program."

BAE said in a statement, "Six Hawk 128s have now been delivered to Warton from Brough for flight test and paint, and we aim to have seven aircraft to offer for customer for acceptance by year-end." Deliveries of these and subsequent aircraft to RAF Valley will commence in early 2009.

The RAF has been a long-time user of the Hawk. This latest version has been updated with a digital cockpit, new avionics systems and other improvements to make the aircraft compatible with new-generation fighters now coming into operation with the RAF such as the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The aircraft are built at BAE's Brough site and readied for customer acceptance at the company's prime air systems factory at Warton.

"An initial support package is already on contract and a large quantity of initial provisioning warehouse at RAF Valley. Technicians from our main sub-contractor at Valley, Babcock Defence Services, have started their training, and RAF pilots will start their Mk128 conversion training in the neat future," the statement said.

BAE secured the MoD contract in 2004 to develop the new Hawk in controversial circumstances. Geoff Hoon, the defense minister of the day, ignored the advice of officials and ordered the Hawk 128 without a competition.

The company was warning at the time it would have to run down the Brough Hawk operation without an RAF order. That would have put at risk a deal with India and other potential sales.

Hoon was vindicated when BAE later secured the Indian deal. The British eventually ordered 28 aircraft in 2006 in a deal worth 450 million pounds ($688 million).

The Hawks will provide the advanced training element of the Military Flying Training System program now coming together in a partnership arrangement between the MoD and Ascent, the Lockheed Martin-VT Group venture.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3838881&c=EUR&s=TOP

Euh… les gars, c'est un topic exclusivement en ïnegliche, ou quoi ?!

Tu comprends mieux pourquoi on a un topic "cours d'anglais", maintenant ?

Bah oui, la majeure partie des sources aéronautiques sont en anglais, faut s'y faire.

Source : Ministère de la défense/Engagement combat/Frapper à distance/Chasseur bombardier…

Les flottes de bombardiers sont différentes en nombre et en qualité selon les pays, mais parmi les pays européens la Grande Bretagne affiche une supériorité tant qualitative que quantitative, en net décrochage avec les moyens de combats français, de part une plus grande polyvalence et un format supérieur au notre.

http://www.senat.fr/rap/a08-102-5/a08-102-515.html#toc220

Ça va pleurer à chaude larmes dans les chaumières!

Je me demande bien si les forums anglophones auront connaissance de cette info synonyme de Crécy ou d'Azincourt?

The UK Ministry of Defence's Airborne Standoff Radar (ASTOR) system has made its operational debut over Afghanistan, ending a two-year delay in getting the ground surveillance asset into frontline use.

Military sources say the Royal Air Force's 5(AC) Sqn met an objective to have two Raytheon Systems-supplied Sentinel R1 aircraft and two ground stations operational during November, the benchmark required for the system to achieve its in-service date.

A UK counterpart to the US Air Force's Boeing 707-based Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS airborne ground surveillance system, ASTOR will deliver imagery from its dual-mode synthetic aperture radar and ground moving target indication sensor in support of ground operations.

The Sentinel R1s - modified Bombardier Global Express business jets - plus related ground-based communications and imagery exploitation equipment are now at undisclosed sites in the Middle East region, the sources say. The MoD formally announced the in-service date milestone on 1 December."Training of squadron personnel and development of the system has progressed exceedingly well over the last 18 months," says Wg Cdr Harry Kemsley, officer commanding 5 Sqn. "The squadron is now in a position to make a positive contribution to current operations in the very near future."

Raytheon Systems, meanwhile, expects to hand over the UK's fifth and last Sentinel R1 airframe before year-end at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. The type had originally been scheduled to meet an in-service target of November 2006, but the £860 million ($1.3 billion) programme suffered development delays with its radar, including the loss of one sensor during a ground mishap.

"As part of the ongoing operational development process ASTOR will undertake an overseas deployment prior to achieving full operating capability about two years from now," says the MoD.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/12/01/319508/uks-astor-system-achieves-delayed-in-service-date.html

Toujours personne pour défendre l'honneur de l'armée de l'air française? Pourtant si c'était l'inverse qui était arrivé, je ne doute pas que les britanniques se seraient faits f****** d'eux jusqu'au nouvel an et au delà…

Tu parles de quoi ?