The Truth About the the Carriers – the National Audit Office reports that the F-35B will face problems landing on our new Aircraft Carriers in hot weather. The National Audit Office further says that the version of the Joint Strike Fighter that has been bought for the carriers is still in development but currently cannot land vertically – as its predecessor the HARRIER could – in warm climates without jettisoning heavy payloads. The MoD insists the problem will be overcome by the time the first Carrier is ready for service in 2020, but it is one of a number of concerns pointed out by the National Audit Office over a project that has been bedevilled by delays and cost increases.
The spending watchdog says the early warning "CROWSNEST" radar needed by the Carriers will not be fully operational until 2022, meaning the ships will need protection from other navy vessels for two years while trials are completed. Investment in the CROWSNEST radar had been delayed to cut costs, but this means when the first Carrier becomes operational "some tasks could only be undertaken with additional risks," the National Audit Office says.
Despite the difficulties, the National Audit Office says the MoD avoided further financial calamity last year by choosing a different version of the Joint Strike Fighter to fly from the carriers, the biggest warships ever built for the navy. Originally the military decided it wanted the so-called "short take off, vertical landing" version of the Joint Strike Fighter, which is being built and tested in the US. But in 2010, the MoD dumped the plan, with the Prime Minister arguing in the Strategic Defence and Security Review that another type of the fighter-bomber was much more capable and compatible with the UK's allies. The Coalition changed position again in May 2012, reverting back to the short take off, vertical landing aircraft because the cost of refitting the carriers to accommodate the superior planes was running out of control. Today's report by the National Audit Office castigates the 2010 decision, saying it was "based on immature data and a number of flawed assumptions". Persevering with the refitting of the Carriers would have cost £1.2bn more than the MoD had bargained for, and left the first ship, the QUEEN ELIZABETH without any aircraft until 2023 – three years after it is due to go into service. The National Audit Office praised senior Defence Officials for "acting quickly" once the scale of the costs became clear, but said the MoD will still have to write off at least £74m as a result of its second U-turn. "This cost could have been 10 times higher if the decision had been made after May 2012," the National Audit Office says.
The National Audit Office warns the Carrier project is still vulnerable to delays and cost overruns because the "highest risk phases of construction and integration are yet to come", including the laying of 2.5 million metres of cabling throughout the 65,000 tonne ship. The MoD has committed to 48 fighters in a first tranche, but tests on the jet "are slipping" and the early production versions of the aircraft are "likely to have less capability than planned", the National Audit Office notes.
