Air Power 2017

86 AIR POWER 2017

21 ST CENTURY CAPABILITIES

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS

stealth over the past 30 years or so is something

that we don’t have, and that is really enhancing our

understanding of how to operate a stealth aeroplane.

We have an irreducible requirement to go to the US

to train. It is baked into our concept of operations,”

says Gp Capt Townsend. “We will routinely go to

America to train, but we still need to train in the UK,

so another nod to the relationship with America is

the fact that, for the past 18 months, we have had

a working group relationship with the USAF Europe

(USAFE), recognising that the USAF intends to bring its

F-35A aircraft to RAF Lakenheath [in Suffolk] in 2020.”

The Lightning Force is in communication with

the USAFE to understand how they can brief and

debrief effectively at the right security levels. “We are

also talking about whether we can cross-service each

other’s F-35s. At the moment, I’m working alongside my

Marine Corps colleagues and we can fix each other’s

aeroplanes. That works because we are based on the

same squadron, but maybe there are some simple

things we can do with the USAF. For example, we

could refuel each other’s aeroplanes at RAF Marham,

and maybe if an F-35 main wheel blows at RAF

Lakenheath then we could share each other’s spares.”

FLIGHT TRIALS

First-of-class flight trials (fixed wing) on HMS Queen

Elizabeth will take place between September and

October 2018 off the US East Coast because, as

a developmental test evolution, they need to be

instrumented and tracked in the same way as

other tests. Detailed planning for the trials is under

way and contracts are being scoped and let.

Even though HMS Queen Elizabeth’s first

operational deployment will include both UK

and US F-35B jets, Gp Capt Townsend is sure of

one detail: “I can guarantee you one thing, and

that is that the first jet to touch down on the

HMS Queen Elizabeth will be a British jet.”

“I can guarantee you one

thing... the first jet to touch

down on the HMS Queen

Elizabeth will be a British jet”

An F-35B flies over

RAF Marham, the

future home of the

UK’s Lightning Force

(PHOTO: CPL

PAUL OLDFIELD/

© CROWN COPYRIGHT)