Defence fiasco

The carriers are not likely to be in service until 2020 at the earliest, by which time naval aviation technology will have moved on.

Last year the USA had more pilots in training for RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems) than any other branch.

In the past ten years RPAS Reapers have taken over surveillance, close air support and other roles on the battlefield. In Afghanistan they are the weapon of choice in monitoring and removing terrorists.

Their lack of an onboard pilot means they can be smaller, take far higher G forces and take greater risks as loss is not as disastrous.

Late last year the RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) produced a paper on the future of unmanned naval aviation and many research projects suggest a wide range of roles for RPAS.

From the attack on Taranto in 1940 by Fleet Air Arm Swordfish and the attack on Pearl Harbor to the Battle of the Coral Sea, the carrier took over from the battleship as the dominant naval weapon but at Coral Sea and later at the Battle of Midway their vulnerability to each other’s aircraft showed they had their flaws.

Now with submarines and missile technology, some of which arrives at high speed and is virtually undetectable, they are a big and expensive target.

Since RPAS can be launched at much higher accelerations and can be recovered in a similar way; they do not need a large carrier, working from smaller ships and fleet auxiliaries which are much cheaper to build.

With the development of micro electronics and satellite communications they have already replaced Nimrod-type aircraft in surveillance and, along with cruise missiles, provide much cheaper force projection.

It is likely that on completion both carriers will be redundant and the JSF35 aircraft bought only in very small numbers due to the cost increases (more than $200 million each and rising) meaning all the expense has been wasted.

We have already watched the Nimrod MR4A waste billions before being scrapped because it was late, not acceptable for service and obsolete as the latest in a long line of similar failures. The carriers and the JSF35 are likely to be the next fiasco.

Bruce D Skivington

Strath

Gairloch, Wester Ross

Of all the hypocritical lines churned out by the SNP, those concerning defence top the bill for sheer effrontery.

For this, a party whose stated policy is withdrawal from Nato, separation from the rest of the UK bringing with it isolation from our centuries-old Western allies, to complain about UK defence policy and possible mergers simply beggars belief.

There will be no Scottish element to the British Army if the SNP has its way. Can anyone in their right mind be taken in by such rank hypocrisy?

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh

The F-35B is certainly not a jump jet (your report, 11 May) as it cannot take off vertically, as the Harrier and Sea Harrier could.

These aircraft were known as “vertical and short take-off and landing”, or V/STOL, while the F-35B is “short take-off and vertical landing”, or STOVL. It certainly cannot “jump”; it simply flops down. The so-called lift fan is used only for landing.

It takes up space and adds to the weight of the aircraft, as well as cutting fuel capacity, which is why V/STOL aircraft with lift jets were dismissed by the RAF and Royal Navy in favour of the vectored thrust used by the Harrier and Sea Harrier.

Labour scrapped the Sea Harriers while the present government has sold off the Harriers, after costly upgrades, to the United States Marines, who will use them for spare parts.

DAVID WRAGG

Stoneyflatts

Edinburgh