F-35 and aircraft carriers, here are the real problems to be solved
F-35, aircraft carriers and the real unresolved issues. Francis Walsingham's analysis
In the best possible world it would be nice to have two aircraft carriers, but there is some difference between auspices and reality.
“Why should a country like Italy need 2 aircraft carriers? Simple: because this would mean always having one available and being found ready for a crisis at any moment, in an increasingly uncertain, complex and dangerous scenario ”, remarked last week Pietro Batacchi , editor of Rid , Italian Defense Magazine .
As Batacchi explains, “to date Italy has an aircraft carrier… and a half. In fact, the LHD Trieste, an amphibious assault unit equipped with the skijump to operate with the F-35Bs , must be added to Cavour. The Trieste bridge has already been "treated" to operate with the aircraft, but the unit still lacks all the software and logistics – the Alis / Odin system and the Jpals system – which allows integration with the F-35B ".
The F-35B is the “short take-off and vertical landing variant” of the F-35, the fifth generation fighter aircraft of the Joint Strike Fighter program next to the Navy in the Stovl variant replacing the AV8B-plus.
The Italian Navy bought 15 F-35Bs. The Air Force also ordered the same quantity of the Model B, as well as 60 F-35A Ctol (conventional take-off).
The qualification for the F-35B will allow Nave Cavour to participate in joint operations between the Italian Mm and the United States Marine Corps (Usmc).
The real problem remains the bottleneck in the number of pilots, technicians and aircraft that the Italian Navy can support from a financial point of view.
The "delays" on the Trieste are also linked to the extremely low number of F-35Bs delivered up to now; the third aircraft to the Navy arrived recently and ended up parked on the Cavour bridge because in Grottaglie, the Navy Air Station that should accommodate the Grupaer mounted on the Lightning II, the works are rather late, perhaps only hinted at.
ALIS is installed on the Cavour, the system that allows logistic support; otherwise there would have been serious problems with the United States for the technical management of this aircraft (the other two remained in the United States for operational conversions of pilots and technicians and are maintained there).
Before talking about one, one and a half or two aircraft carriers, we would like to see the planes, pilots and trained technicians, the armaments made available for these aircraft (another rather obscure point of the story for both the Air Force and the Navy).
The fact that we need a critical mass does not rain us; many industry analysts have argued for years that it is necessary to establish an Italian Lightning Joint Force with the two groups of F-35Bs that remain in the sphere of competence of the respective Armed Forces but with training, technical and logistical and operational support (partially in common), with the Air Force pilots who obtain the qualification to operate from the Navy flight decks.
But the current situation is gray: the Navy has 3 F-35Bs and the Air Force only one. Moreover, thanks to the greater number of F-35As available, the Air Force is able to obtain the Initial Operating Capacity with the only B available because it has concentrated exclusively on vertical landing and short take-off procedures, exploiting all the work already done by the version A for the rest of the envelope and tests with the weapons available today.
Paradoxically, the Navy will have to wait a long time since it practically has to start from scratch: the qualification of the Cavour was obtained only thanks to the USSR much further in numbers, in the management and in the operation of the F-35B.
Conclusion: it will take some time before hypothesizing pindaric flights and aircraft carrier operations; we are only at the beginning and there are no pressures aimed at accelerating.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/f-35-portaerei/ on Sun, 07 Nov 2021 07:04:11 +0000.