The Navy Vol_64_Part1 2002 - Navy League of Australia

Two RAF GR-7 ground Mack tamers coming into land on Kurd HMS ILLUSTRIOUS f«w the Anglo Omani Exercise Sail Sareea (Swift Sword). Saif
Sareea (Swift Stkord) successfully tested the RVs concept of maritime support to joint operations i lain Ballantync)
United States Navy unleashed its huge firepower.
Submarines and surface warships fired swarms of cruise
missiles and strike jets were launched from massive
aircraft carriers. Similarly. American amphibious warfare
vessels poised off Kuwait - assault carriers and landing
ships carry ing thousands of US Marines - also impressed
the Royal Navy. A major reason Saddam's forces in Kuw ait
were caught napping by the Allied ground offensive from
Saudi Arabia was his generals watching the sea. anxiously
waiting for a massive D-Day-style invasion by US
Marines. It never came, but the mere threat of it
contributed greatly to Allied victory.
Within a few years of Operation Desert Storm
liberating Kuwait, the Royal Navy had acquired
Tomahawk cruise missiles for its submarines. That
acquisition was the key stone in the foundations for MCJO.
By the end of the 1990s, the British had begun a massive
regeneration of their amphibious warfare capability by
bringing a new helicopter carrier into service and ordering
construction of a w hole range of landing ships. The Royal
Marines found their unit firepower increased, their
mobility broadened and they got back in the business of
living and operating from ships belonging to a new combat
formation called the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG).
The scale of winter deployments to Norway was scaled
back and Royal Marines were now more likely to go ashore
in the jungles of West Africa and deserts of the Middle East
than into the Arctic wasteland of NATO's northern flank.
The Strategic Defence Review of 1998 confirmed the
major revolution in British naval affairs. The UK's defence
strategy was now maritime-based and SDR stated that, by
2015. the Royal Navy should have two new 50.000 tonnes
super-carriers capable of carrying up to 50 aircraft (most of
them Joint Strike Fighters). Crucially. SDR clearly stated
that all three armed forces would make use of the Royal
Navy's platforms (its ships) for operations around the
globe. Post-SDR. RAF heavy-lift Chinks have become a
familiar sight on the flight decks of Royal Navy (RN)
VOL. 64 NO I
In a further display of Jominess. a RAF CH-47 Chinook heavy lift
helicopter lifts off the deck of HMS OCEAN with a Type 22 hatch 3
frigate in the distance RAF and Army helicopters and personnel
regularly deploy to the carrier HMS OCEAN (lain Ballantync)
earners and one day the Army's Apache gunship will also
fly from the same ships. But. one of the most radical
changes brought about by SDR has been the merging of the
RAF's and RN's Harrier jets. The new Joint Force Harrier
operates RAF Harrier GR-7 strike jets alongside Fleet Air
THF NAVY
A Royal Marine Sea King Commando helicopter passes HMS
ILLUSTRIOUS in the Arabian Sea On her deck are three Sea Kmc
helicopters and five RAF GR-7 and si* RN FA-2 Harriets
(lain Ballantync)
Arm Sea Harrier FA-2 fighters on a regular basis. The GR-
7s arc highly capable ground-attack aircraft proved in
action during the Kosovo campaign, while the FA-2s have
been equipped w ith new radar and new air-to-air missiles
that make them formidable fighters. To accommodate the
new joint air groups, the three Invincible class carriers -
INVINCIBLE. ILLUSTRIOUS and ARK ROYAL - have
been rebuilt. ARK ROYAL is the latest to undergo the
conversion and is just re-entering service with the front line
licet. She will carry the first operational Merlin squadron.
The carrier rebuilds have included nearly 200 tonnes of
new steel being put into the ships along with revamped
command and control facilities and improved
accommodation for the crews. The most important change
has been the removal of the carriers' Sea Dart air-defence
systems to make room for dedicated munitions spaces and
engineering stores for embarked RAF Harriers. This has
also enabled an expansion in the flight-deck area to better
accommodate up lo 16 GR-7s and FA-2s. The number of
Anti-Submarine Warfare helicopters embarked on the
carriers has been reduced, although those carried by Royal
Fleet Auxiliary support ships in any task group have been
b