Air Power 2017

64 AIR POWER 2017

21 ST CENTURY CAPABILITIES

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS

Even though Project Centurion relates to an RAF
plan to integrate the Meteor air-to-air missile, the Storm
Shadow cruise missile and the Brimstone II high-
precision, low collateral missile on to UK Typhoons before
the Tornado is retired in March 2019, AM Young still
needs to work through the NETMA (NATO Eurofighter
and Typhoon Management Agency) office that acts as a
single point of contact for all things Eurofighter/Typhoon.
This is particularly critical as some of the other partners
have expressed an interest in integrating at least some of
the same missiles on to their Eurofighters in the future.
As AM Young points out, “It is highly complicated

• a ‘wicked problem’. It is all about clearance and
  certification of the new weapons. The Typhoon is
  a flying computer and there are millions of lines
  of code that need to be modified.” So far, against
  multiple challenges, the project is on track to
  deliver and Project Centurion should be finished in
  December 2018, ready for a January 2019 roll-out.
  December 2018 is also the date that the UK’s next
  multirole fighter, the F-35B Lightning, will achieve its
  Initial Operational Capability status on land-based
  operations. The RAF will form its first squadron (617
  Squadron) in the United States in early 2018, before
  bringing it to the United Kingdom that summer. This
  again is a challenging programme as DE&S is working
  through the US Joint Programme Office as one of
  nine international partners, together with three FMS
  (foreign military sales) customers, so there is continual
  need for negotiating each other’s requirements.

P-8A POSEIDON AND PROTECTOR
Since the 2016 announcement that the UK will be
purchasing nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft
to replace the Nimrod, AM Young has been working
closely with another critical partner, the US Navy
(USN). In the next round of contract negotiations,

the USN is buying 37 P-8As, the RAF nine and the

Norwegians three. This ad hoc partnership is using

their economy of scale to get the best possible price

from Boeing. “The USN is doing the deal with Boeing,

but I have been supporting those negotiations to

get as good a price as we can,” says AM Young.

Replacing the RAF’s Reaper Remotely Piloted Air

Systems has entailed another close relationship with

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI),

the manufacturer of the Certifiable Predator B, known

in UK parlance as Protector. As lead customer for

Protector, the UK has pooled financial resources with

the company to develop what AM Young considers

not only to be a great aircraft, but one that will, in his

words, “take the world by storm”. He is immensely

proud of this project, saying, “Together we have created

something that other nations will want as well.”

This is good news for the RAF, as additional

customers will lead to more affordable through-

life support, better interoperability and collective

funding for future upgrades – just what DE&S

hopes it can deliver to all its customers.

The UK has part-

funded the first

military RPAS to

be able to fly in

unsegregated

airspace to replace

the existing Reaper

(PHOTO: CORPORAL

STEVE FOLLOWS/

© CROWN COPYRIGHT)

During a visit to

Lockheed Martin’s

Fort Worth facility,

Air Marshal Julian

Young stands in front

of a US Marine Corps

F-35B Lightning

(PHOTO: © LOCKHEED

MARTIN CORPORATION)