英國 해군, Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet (Silent Hornet) 구입?

 

영국 <The Times> 紙의 자매지 <The Sunday Times> 31日字 기사를 소개합니다.

 

내용은 영국 해군이 계획하고 있는 美 Lockheed Martin F-35B 구입을 취소하고, Boeing F/A-18F Super Horent (Silent Hornet) 

을  구입하면 약 100억 파운드 (약 158억불, 약 18조5천억원) 의 예산을 절약할 수 있다는 내용의 기사입니다. 이는 현재 2척으로

예정된 Queen Elizabeth 급 신형 항공모함을 충분히 건조할 수 있는 금액이라 합니다.

 

7월말 열린 Liam Fox 국방장관과 SDSR (Strategic Defence & Security Review) 팀이 가진 회의에서 거론된 내용 중에서 F-35

관련 내용을 The Sunday Times 紙에 제보하는 형식으로 보도된 내용입니다.

 

현재 영국 집권 보수당은 지난 13년간 집권한 노동당 정부에 의해 수립된 각종 정책들, 특히 국방정책에 있어 전반적인 재검토 즉,

[Defense Review] 를 진행하고 있습니다. 이 과정에서 영국 언론들을 통해 각종 국방정책의 변화를 예고하는 기사들이 쏟아져

나오는 가운데, 이러한 내용이 보도된 것으로 보입니다.

 

또한 7월말 개최된 <Farnborough Air Show 2010> 기간 중, 美 Boeing 社가 Silent Hornet 개발 계획을 구체적으로 발표한 것

역시 이러한 영국 해군의 검토와 관련이 있다는 분석도 있습니다.

 

물론 이 기사에 대해서 관련 당사자인 영국 국방성은 논평을 거부했다는 내용도 기사 말미에 언급하고 있습니다.

 

한편 다른 기사들에 의하면, F-35 JSF 개발과정에서 개발비용 상승의 주범(?) 이라 할 수 있는 B형에 대해서, 영국 해군은 F-35C

로의 전환, 구입도 검토하고 있다는 소식 입니다.

 

아래 기사에서 예상한 바와 같이 영국 해군이 이러한 결정을 내린다면 (아래 기사에서도 언급 되어 있습니다만), 아이러니 하게도

최대의 피해자는 영국 공군이 될 것으로 보인다는 점 입니다.

 

최근 영국 공군은 Tornado 전투기의 조기 퇴역을 전면적으로 실시하겠다고 발표한 바 있으며, 기존의 Harrier 전투기 역시 모두

F-35 JSF 로 대체할 계획인 가운데서, 어떠한 형태로든 F-35 JSF 구입에 대한 재검토/재조정의 압력이 영국 공군에게 이루어 질

것으로 보입니다.

 

개인적으로 이번 <The Sunday Times> 기사는 당사국인 영국 내부는 물론 미국 그리고 F-35 JSF 에 관심이 있는 모든 분들께

는 초미의 관심사가 아닐까 생각합니다. 

 

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Navy jet switch to save £10bn

The Sunday Times, 31 July 2010

Michael Smith

 

THE Royal Navy is set to save £10bn from the defence budget by dropping plans to buy the most expensive fighter aircraft ever built to fly off its new aircraft carriers.

 

It is set to swap the £13.8bn Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project for an improved stealthier version of the Boeing F/A18 Super Hornet which currently flies off US Navy carriers.

 

The potential move was discussed at a meeting between Liam Fox and defence chiefs last weekend to discuss cuts to be made in the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review.

 

“JSF is an unbelievably expensive programme,” a senior defence source said. “It makes no sense at all in the current climate and even if we continued with it, we cannot afford the aircraft we said we would buy.”

 

The Joint Strike Fighter, produced by Boeing’s main US rival Lockheed Martin, would have been the most expensive single project in the defence budget with costs already put at £13.8bn and rising.

 

The 138 aircraft Britain planned to buy to replace the Harrier jump jets flown by the RAF and Royal Navy were originally supposed to cost a total of £7bn.

 

But they are currently expected to cost £100m each, making them effectively unaffordable given the dire state of both the defence budget and the nation’s finances.

 

The JSF programme was originally designed to be enough for both new aircraft carriers and four RAF squadrons.

 

Buying the more stealthy Super Hornet 一 known as the Silent Hornet 一 and cutting numbers to no more than 50 so there are only enough aircraft to fly off the carriers, will cut costs to less than £4bn.

 

That would save £2bn in development costs over the next parliament and a total of around £10bn over the next ten years.

 

The £10bn saving would be enough on its own to remove a substantial portion of the long-term cash shortages in the defence budget.

 

The MoD has already received confirmation from Boeing that it could make the improvements to the Super Hornet that the navy needs to produce the Silent Hornet.

 

The Silent Hornet will have a new internal weapons bay to reduce the radar signature of the aircraft and improved fuel tanks that would give it a longer range than JSF.

 

The aircraft is already able to carry more bombs and missiles than JSF and could be produced in time for the first of the two new aircraft carriers which is due to come into service in 2015.

 

The JSF programme has been beset by difficulties, with Lockheed announcing further delays last week and the British aircraft not expected to be delivered in time for the first carrier in 2015.

 

Switching to the Silent Hornet would reverse 30 years of flying short take-off and vertical landing aircraft from the Royal Navy’s carriers.

 

The version of JSF Britain planned to buy is a short take-off and vertical landing aircraft like the Harrier it was to replace. But the Silent Hornet is a conventional take-off and landing aircraft.

 

The new aircraft carriers are being built to take either type of aircraft, so while it will require the fitting of catapults and arrester hooks, it is not a major problem or cost to switch from one to the other.

 

A number of Royal Navy pilots are already trained to fly the Super Hornet off carriers having spent time on exchange with the US Navy.

 

The move will be bad news for the RAF, which offered to axe its entire fleet of Tornado aircraft in the hope that this would mean it would continue to get the JSF.

 

Now it is set to lose both its Tornados and its Harriers and not get the JSF, leaving it with a single attack aircraft, the Eurofighter, now known as the Typhoon.

 

This would in itself provide significant cost savings in that a single attack aircraft fleet is much cheaper to maintain and run than a number of different aircraft.

 

The JSF programme has been beset with difficulties. Britain initially joined it as a development partner and has already put £2bn into the programme.

 

This was originally expected to cost £7bn with a further £7bn for maintenance and upgrading during the life of the aircraft.

 

But Congress has reneged on repeated promises by US President George W Bush that Britain would receive full details of the technology on the aircraft.

 

This will mean that some elements of the aircraft can only be maintained by US technicians increasing costs still further.

 

The MoD refused to comment on any changes planned as part of the defence review but reiterated that Fox “has made clear that tough decisions will need to be made”.

 

 

  ⓒ U.S. Navy