U.K. Planning Four Front-Line F-35 Squadrons

[spazsinbad]

U.K. Planning Four Front-Line F-35 Squadrons
19 May 2016 Tony Osborne

"LONDON—The U.K. is planning to build a future force of four front-line F-35 squadrons, now that the country has committed to a fleet of 138 aircraft.

The U.K. will build a front-line fleet of 48 aircraft, 12 per squadron. A fifth unit, also with 12 aircraft, will be formed as an operational conversion unit (OCU), Air Cmdr. Harvey Smyth, the commander of the U.K.’s Lightning Force, told reporters on the sidelines of an F-35 training conference here May 19.

An additional three aircraft will serve with 17 Sqn, an operational test and evaluation unit which will be based at Edwards AFB, California. This means the U.K. will have an operational fleet of around 63 aircraft, less than half of the total number of F-35s that the U.K. has agreed to purchase under last year’s Strategic Defense and Security Review. But Smyth pointed out that the total number would cover attrition replacements and the so-called sustainment fleet, which is defined as additional aircraft required to sustain the fleet to its out-of-service date as well as to cover maintenance. Other U.K. combat aircraft also have large sustainment fleets.

The U.K. is in the process of establishing its first front-line unit, 617 Sqn., which will be stood up at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina in January 2018. The squadron will move to the U.K. that summer and achieve an interim operating capability on land by that year’s end.

“Once the squadron is formed up, they have six months to get things squared away before starting a transition back to the U.K. starting in June of 2018,” Smyth told delegates.

Smyth said the U.K. does not plan to disperse its F-35s to other bases. All F-35 operations will be concentrated at RAF Marham, Norfolk, currently the U.K.’s main Panavia Tornado operating base. Over the coming years Marham’s infrastructure will undergo an about £500 million renovation. It will include the construction of an integrated training center and maintenance facilities, as well as improvements to runways, taxiways and the construction of three hover pads.

U.K. operations will be conducted from hardened aircraft shelters (HAS), each of which can house two aircraft. Two HAS sites at Marham with multiple shelters will eventually each house two squadrons.

The OCU unit, which has not been given a squadron number, will begin training in the U.K. in the third quarter of 2019. The second front-line squadron, 809 Naval Air Squadron, will not form until April 2023.

The F-35s will form the backbone of the U.K.’s carrier strike capability, using the two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. So the Lightning Force will also have to begin preparing to go to sea. First sea trials with F-35s operating from the ship are planned for late 2018 off the U.S. East Coast. A maritime initial operating capability at sea is expected in late 2020...." [THEN TRAINING AIRSPACE ISSUE at the JUMP}

Source: http://aviationweek.com/defense/uk-plan ... -squadrons

[spazsinbad]

More 'bout 'the training/CONOPS' & mention of WOOMERA for training in the LAND of OZ (leave it out Guv - wot about us?).

UK F-35 commander highlights training challenge
20 May 2016 Beth Stevenson

"...“We’re very much in a transition here. We’re going through various iterations of CONOPS [concept of operations] development. We need to ensure that the training remains fit for purpose,” he says....

...The UK's second frontline squadron – 809 NAS – will stand up in April 2023, and full operational capability will then be declared for the UK’s F-35 fleet. This will require two established frontline squadrons, plus the OCU.

The criteria for initial operational capability (IOC) is undisclosed, but it is planned for land-based IOC to be achieved at the end of 2018. Carrier strike IOC will be declared in 2020.

As the UK’s first Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier nears completion, Smyth says that sea trials on board the vessel are expected to take place off the US East Coast at the end of 2018....

...Smyth says there are several teaming opportunities that the UK could make use of, including in Canada, [now that would be hilarious - at COLD LAKE I guess] at the Woomera test range in Australia, [PLUS bouncing of an LHD or two perhap?] plus the Pitch Black [usually OzLand - would be mythical if done off a CVF] and Red Flag exercises, which the UK already participates in. He says there is more room to network with partner nations, both on the interaction side and the physical networking, although “we’re not quite there yet” with linking training.

“We are procuring this [the F-35] because of the proliferation of some very high threats, so we have to train to that,” he adds...."

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... ge-425561/

[spazsinbad]