USS Gabrielle Giffords Launched Naval Strike Missile | M60 Tanks Transferred To Libya | Britain’s MoD Gears Up Against Climate Change

Americas

During a virtual Navy League event, Rear Adm. Gregory Harris, who heads the Air Warfare Division, said the service is unlikely to adopt the small aircraft carrier concept. “I believe the L Class ships operating with the F-35B fit that bill,” Harris was quoted as saying. L-class ships include the Wasp- and America-class amphibious assault ships (LHDs and LHAs). The Navy is preparing to launch a formal review — called an analysis of alternatives — that will look at options for a light aircraft carrier and the type of ship that replaced the Ford Class.

The USS Gabrielle Giffords successfully launched the Naval Strike Missile earlier this month, the Navy announced on Tuesday. According to a Navy press release, the Giffords launched the missile as part of shipboard operational testing and evaluation March 19. “The recent missile launches were a great accomplishment for Gabrielle Giffords and the LCS community,” Cmdr. Michael Piano, commanding officer of Gabrielle Giffords’ Blue Crew, said in the release.

Middle East & Africa

According to Jane’s, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense has supplied US-made M60 tanks to the forces that were loyal to Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), which has now been superseded by the Government of National Unity that was endorsed on March 10 in key milestone for the country’s peace process. The Libyan military never operated the M60 but Turkey, the main supporter of the GNA in its war with the rival Libyan National Army (LNA), has large numbers of M60A1s and M60A3s.

Europe

General Atomics Aeronautical won a $13 million deal for the United Kingdom MQ-9 Second Operating Location Alternate Reaper (SOLAR). Production of one MQ-9 Reaper Block 1, Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar, Embedded Global Positioning System Inertial Navigation System, and United Kingdom specific modifications will be performed stateside and is expected to be completed July 1, 2021.

Britain’s defense ministry announced plans this week to reduce emissions, scale up its transition to renewables and to prepare for geopolitical threats posed by climate change. The department put out a press release Tuesday detailing several steps to address climate change, on the heels of a report outlining its climate change and stability approach. The Ministry of Defense wants to contribute to Britain’s goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to increase use of recycled materials for fuel and components as well as advancing maintenance methods to reduce waste and its carbon footprint.

Asia-Pacific

Raytheon Missiles and Defense won a $130 million contract modification to exercise options for fiscal 2021 for the Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2/2A Guided Missile Round Pack, spare replacement components and recertification. The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile in use by the German, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, South Korean, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Mexican and US Navies. This deal combines purchases for the U.S. government (66%); and the governments of Japan, Turkey and United Arab Emirates (34% combined) under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

Today’s Video

Watch: MQ-9 Reaper: The Most Feared U.S. Air Force Drone in Action

Airfields Afloat: The USA’s New Gerald Ford Class Super-Carriers

Some nations have aircraft carriers. The USA has super-carriers. The French Charles De Gaulle Class nuclear carriers displace about 43,000t. India’s new Vikramaditya/ Admiral Gorshkov Class will have a similar displacement. The future British CVF Queen Elizabeth Class and related French PA2 Project are expected to displace about 65,000t, while the British Invincible Class carriers that participated in the Falklands War weigh in at just 22,000t. Invincible actually compares well to Italy’s excellent new Cavour Class (27,000t), and Spain’s Principe de Asturias Class (17,000t). The USA’s Nimitz Class and CVN-21 Gerald R. Ford Class, in contrast, fall in the 90,000+ tonne range. Hence their unofficial designation: “super-carriers”. Just one of these ships packs a more potent air force than many nations.

As the successor to the 102,000 ton Nimitz Class super-carriers, the CVN-21 program aimed to increase aircraft sortie generation rates by 20%, increase survivability to better handle future threats, require fewer sailors, and have depot maintenance requirements that could support an increase of up to 25% in operational availability. The combination of a new design nuclear propulsion plant and an improved electric plant are expected to provide 2-3 times the electrical generation capacity of previous carriers, which in turn enables systems like an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System (EMALS, replacing steam-driven catapults), Advanced Arresting Gear, and integrated combat electronics that will leverage advances in open systems architecture. Other CVN-21 features include an enhanced flight deck, improved weapons handling and aircraft servicing efficiency, and a flexible island arrangement allowing for future technology insertion. This graphic points out many of the key improvements.

DID’s CVN-21 FOCUS Article offers a detailed look at a number of the program’s key innovations, as well as a list of relevant contract awards and events.