Cross decking.
The idea that if the allies all operate the same aircraft then we can operate off each others aircraft carriers.
The idea was born with the British and French. They've been going through massive defense cuts longer than we have and one of the proposals was to operate mixed fleets of aircraft off each others boats.
At one time it had the Brits buying Rafales...this proved to be cost prohibitive and then the idea was to buy Super Hornets. I personally believed that this led to the first switch that the Brits did to the F-35C. Cats and traps and this time the idea was that they would team with the USN and operate off US carriers and we off their boats.
Flash forward and now that they're back buying F-35Bs they're suddenly all gung ho to operate off our amphibious assault ships.
Its a joke.
Its a lie.
Its a useless capability.
And its all for show.
First the Brits won't buy (even if they stick to plan) enough F-35's to send any over to US ships. Next British and American ships operate together only in a few places. The US is shifting to the Pacific and the Brits don't have a large presence there.
The only cross decking that will happen is what we're already doing. Refueling and supplying their ships at sea and maybe doing publicity shots.
A combat capability? Not even close.
Well the Brits have confirmed they are going to buy 48 F-35B in their initial purchase tranche, with the intention of having 12 at sea for "peace time" ops aboard QE and will obviously be able to deploy larger numbers for contingency operations. How many of those USMC Amphibs routinely carry 12 strike fighters?
ReplyDeleteSo 6 AV-8B's can cross deck and do now, but 12 F-35B's can't?
Curious...
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ReplyDeletef-35 buffalo II
ReplyDeleteShow is all they've got left after being cost-hammered on the F-35.
ReplyDeletenews report #1: Britain flip-flopped between versions of the Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter after learning the cost of converting one of the Royal Navy's partly built aircraft carriers to include catapults and arrestor gear rose from an estimated £800 million (US $1.24 billion) in 2010 when the initial switch in aircraft type was ordered to about £2 billion (US $3.2B).
news report #2: Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the F35-C had hit development problems and it would be cheaper in the long term to order F35-B jump jets, as originally planned by Labour. The cost of the U-turn is likely to be about £100m ($160m), he told BBC News.
Three point two billion for cats and traps?? And JSF cost-hammering ain't over yet, by a long shot, unless they get smart and deep-six the JSF this Fall.