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01 Aug 24. People familiar with the British Army, and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, in general will know the emphasis that is placed on measurement, evidence and demonstration. One phase of the UK MoD project life cycle is titled Demonstration. Thousands of manhours are spent providing the evidence to demonstrate that contractual requirements have been met. A closer inspection of the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) speech to the Royal United Services Institute Land Warfare Conference on 23 July 2024, indicates that the Army may not be subjecting itself to the same discipline, at least in its communication with the public.
In the speech, which can be read in full here, CGS stated: “I have a bold ambition to double our fighting power in three years and triple it by the end of the decade.”
This is impressive given the constraints on the supply of weapons that NATO is facing due to the demands of supporting Ukraine. CGS goes onto to hint that this bold ambition would be achieved by the application of new technology:
The big, bold bet, and this should be of no surprise after the last few days, is on the exploitation of rapidly maturing technologies fuelled by Artificial Intelligence, which leverages the booming technology sector as the catalyst to our modernisation.
Whilst there was a welcome acknowledgement in the speech that UK military capability is delivered to NATO that in turn provides the defence of Europe and the U.K., the lack of definition around the bold ambition and the bet, along with the Army’s troubled history around the adoption of new technology and systems undermines the announced ambition. It is incumbent on CGS to define ‘fighting power’; state how it is measured; provide the July 2024 measure and report how that will be doubled by July 2026. If that, or something similar is not forthcoming, how will the Army be able to measure and communicate success or failure? This is important to establish credibility with the Treasury and, more importantly, the public who have been fed a constant stream of stories describing failing defence programmes and initiatives. It would also contribute to U.K. and NATO deterrence.
CGS also remarks: “And whilst there are numerous challenges, which I do not wish away for a second, what I am saying is not science fiction or just management speak.”
It would be helpful if the Army provided the evidence to support this assertion. (Source: By Paul Hough)
01 Aug 24. UK MoD records £86m loss related to Type 23 frigate OSD change.
Including in its Annual Reports and Accounts on 30 July, the UK MoD appears to have detailed the investment loss from the withdrawal of two Type 23 frigates from service.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has recorded an £86.7m ($111m) constructive loss in its new Annual Reports and Accounts 2023/24 associated with ‘Type 23 Out of Service Date Change’ (OSD) that appear to be linked to the confirmed decommissioning of Type 23 frigates HMS Argyll and HMS Westminster.
Both warships were cut from the Royal Navy surface fleet in January 2024 when the then Secretary of State for Defence, Grant Shapps, confirmed HMS Argyll would be sold to UK shipbuilder BAE Systems to be used as an apprentice training platform. Meanwhile, HMS Westminster, deteriorating alongside in Devonport naval base, has seen its refit suspended as it effectively awaits disposal.
The announcements were part of a wider pitch to the UK’s naval sector, with UK government officials then extolling the current period as a ‘Golden Age’ for shipbuilding in the country.
At present, eight Type 26 and five Type 31 frigates are planned to be introduced over the next decade, while a series of multirole support ships are planned to be developed, while Spanish shipbuilder Navantia’s UK entity has been charged delivering on the Fleet Solid Support Ship (FSS) programme.
However, the Royal Navy surface fleet is vastly reduced, with just nine Type 23 frigates and six Type 45 destroyers in service by the end of 2024. In April 2024 just five frigates were operational with the remaining six theoretical hulls in refit.
In reality, two of the six hulls in refit were those of HMS Argyll and HMS Westminster, which have since been axed. The ships have a combined service of 63 years, with HMS Argyll itself entering a refit and sustainment process in August 2022 at Babcock’s Frigate Support Centre facility in Devonport that theoretically extending the vessel’s service life to around 2027-2028.
However, HMS Argyll in January 2024 was still in the recertification programme, with uncertainty over its fate ended with the announcement of its sale to BAE Systems.
Type 23 and Type 45 fleets eye OSD in 2030s
In September 2023 the then UK government stated that the Type 23 frigates were not subject of a formal life extension programme, rather the vessels were undergoing a planned series of upkeep periods in order to maintain their condition and introduce capability updates.
Total funding committed to this process through to the respective OSD for the Type 23s is £676.7m ($864.3m) over 10 years, this includes the costs allocated in financial year 2023-24.
On current plans, the last Type 23 frigate will transition out of service in 2035 while it is expected that the last Type 45 destroyer will transition out of service in 2038. The UK government does not disclose the individual OSDs of its warships and submarines, citing operational security reasons. (Source: naval-technology.com)
29 Jul 24. HMS Queen Elizabeth to return home to Portsmouth after months of repairs. HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to return home to Portsmouth on Tuesday following four months of repairs in Scotland and a short intensive time at sea to test her systems.
The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier left Rosyth Dockyard a week ago after arriving there in March for unscheduled work in dry dock to her shaft lines.
The Royal Navy’s flagship will come into Portsmouth via Cowes at 20:05 – which you can watch live on the Forces News YouTube channel.
Before heading into Portsmouth harbour, the aircraft carrier will carry out a sailpast of the Isle of Wight, exchanging gun salutes with the Royal Yacht Squadron as the iconic Cowes Week regatta – for which HMS Tyne is guard ship – continues in the Solent.
HMS Queen Elizabeth spent the last seven days at sea being put through her paces on trials to test her systems to the maximum.
This has included marine engineering trials, sailing at high speed for extended periods of time and manoeuvring as aggressively as possible to give the command team full confidence in her systems following the docking period.
Once home to Portsmouth, preparations will begin for operations this autumn.
Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, Captain Will King, said: “Whilst no warship wants to find itself spending unscheduled time out of the water, I am enormously proud of the work that has gone on in Rosyth.
“Everybody on board is looking forward to getting back to sea, where we belong, and picking up a busy programme in the autumn.”
To get the carrier back to sea has been a joint effort between the Royal Navy, Defence Equipment & Support and Babcock.
Commander Alex Davies, head of the marine engineering department, said: “An enormous amount of work has taken place over the last few months to get us to this point.
“This is at the larger end of the scale for Royal Navy Marine Engineering, and it has taken a really effective team effort from our own engineers, Defence Equipment and Support, and our industry partners to return us to sea.” (Source: forces.net)
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Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need.
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