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Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesThe new HMS Astute, the lead boat of its classSummary
The British Royal Navy is simultaneously attempting to procure three of the most expensive naval platforms. Previous poor planning and chronic underfunding have now landed it squarely in the middle of a procurement nightmare, however. Just how the Royal Navy will emerge on the other end thus remains to be seen.Analysis
The British Royal Navy is mired in a procurement nightmare. Neglect of major acquisition programs in the 1990s and the diversion of British military spending to fund current operational obligations in Iraq and Afghanistan have left a military simultaneously stretched thin by the highest operational tempo seen in a generation and trying to acquire several new naval platforms all at once.Though the lasting impact on the Royal Navy’s operational effectiveness remains to be seen, in the short term it will remain difficult for London’s maritime forces to meet their multiple obligations.Conservative British governments began cutting naval funding as far back as 1982, when the Falkland Islands War broke out. That conflict highlighted shortcomings in the Royal Navy’s strategic reach. The Falkland War’s successful outcome and the last phases of the Cold War temporarily halted the planned reductions, but after 1991, the Royal Navy began major reductions again, and has seen a more or less steady quantitative decline across all classes of vessels.The 21st century has seen a meaningful revitalization of the Royal Navy’s amphibious forces with the Ocean, Albion and Bay classes, as well as the navy’s support fleet. But the force’s carriers, surface combatants and attack submarines have begun to atrophy and incremental upgrades have been underfunded. London is now retiring its warships faster than it is replacing them, consequently degrading the navy’s operational effectiveness.Now, the United Kingdom is trying to procure three of the most expensive modern naval platforms, which make amphibious forces and replenishment ships seem comparatively low-tech. These three include:
- the Type 45 Daring guided-missile destroyer (DDG). After withdrawing from the joint European Horizon Project, London went it alone to procure this air warfare surface combatant. The lead ship is now projected to cost close to $2 billion. The program is $2 billion over budget and two and a half years behind schedule.
- the Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). Britain’s next generation SSN, the program is now $2 billion over budget and four years behind schedule.
- the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier (formerly known as the CVF). This is the largest class of ship in terms of both tonnage and displacement ever commissioned by the Royal Navy. The finer points of its pricing are still being negotiated, but each is expected to exceed $3.6 billion — to say nothing of the procurement of the increasingly expensive F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, which are to operate from its decks.
Such an ambitious procurement program would be challenging enough. But with the highest operational tempo in at least a generation, the British military is already stretched thin, and defense funding is as exceptionally tight. (Whitehall’s twenty biggest weapons programs are cumulatively more than $5 billion over budget). The impending reset costs of worn equipment returning from Afghanistan will only further these troubles. These near-term spending pressures are constraining procurement decisions, leaving the Royal Navy in a bind.
STR/AFP/Getty ImagesAn early computer-generated image of the prospective Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier
With spending pressures so strong, procurement decisions are being constrained. The Royal Navy now looks like it will be lucky to acquire six Daring-class DDGs, only half its projected needs. A decision has not yet been made on the 4th and 5th Astute boats, though the oldest Trafalgar SSNs will begin to be retired in the next few years.The lead ship or boat of a class is almost invariably the most expensive, and the last vessel often is still cheaper than the 2nd to last. As each design and construction process becomes better understood, many costs can be eliminated. Thus, not only is London failing to build the number of ships it needs, its constrained procurement programs are ensuring that those it does obtain are as expensive as possible. Unless London decides to change its policy, the Royal Navy could find itself lacking adequate numbers to carry out any but a limited set of missions in Northern European or Mediterranean waters.Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
The HMS Daring, the lead ship of the Type 45 air warfare guided-missile destroyer
The British government appears to intend to hold the line on defense spending. But this hardly will be enough for the military as a whole, much less for the Royal Navy in particular — which has been the hardest hit of the services in terms of budgetary neglect.Naval power is often an underappreciated cornerstone of geopolitical security. This underappreciation is compounded today by the high profile of land operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Worse still, despite the United Kingdom’s long and proud naval tradition, there seems little political impetus to make the decisive funding choices necessary to sustain the fleet.The Royal Navy’s status as Washington’s most important naval ally is thus eroding. The next five to ten years will prove decisive in the navy’s ultimate future. Nothing short of its retention of the Royal Navy’s distinction as the pre-eminent European naval power is at stake. London’s predicament also should serve as a warning of the long-term consequences of poor planning to U.S. naval planners, who also face chronic cost overruns, expensive impending acquisitions, and mounting operational and reset costs.

Provided here Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph
Britain must have new aircraft carriers.
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