Lord Hesketh calls for the navy's fighter programme to be scrapped
The former Conservative Party treasurer and Chief Whip is a longterm critic of the decisions made following the Strategic Defence and Security Review. In November 2010 he resigned his position as executive deputy chairman of defence company Babcock International Group after saying that the Royal Navy's new QE-class aircraft carriers would make the country a "laughing stock".
As UKIP's defence spokesman, Lord Hesketh has also devised an alternative fighter plane programme, which UKIP claims is not only better value to the British taxpayer, but will also give Britain's new aircraft carrier strike capability ahead of 2020.
The alternative proposal will also protect and create British jobs, according to UKIP.
Britain is due to buy around fifty of the American F-35C Joint Strike Fighters at a total cost of £5 billion, having already cancelled the F-35B at a cost several hundred million pounds, which resulted in the acquisition of one unusable prototype. However, UKIP said that leaked documents reveal that the F-35C has failed to take off and land safely in simulated tests.
UKIP believe that a possible redesign will no doubt be costly, or possibly difficult to implement, thus adding to the growing list of difficulties that has pushed the unit cost to currently beyond $155 million.
Lord Hesketh believes that an alternative cost-effective solution exists that would not only work practically, but would also protect and create British jobs.
Hesketh's solution would be to 'marinize' the Eurofighter Typhoon, an aircraft which requires no catapult system - electric or steam, only a ski jump as originally envisaged. BAE Systems, one of the three companies in the consortium that produces the Typhoon, first conducted the concept study of this in 1992. The study saw the development of the Thrust Vectoring Control (TVC) and there is a 'marinized' Eurofighter simulator at Farnborough.
Research and development costs are estimated at £1.4billion, which is roughly equivalent to the costs associated to modify the Queen Elizabeth (QE) class aircraft carriers to use the new (but not yet in service) US-built Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).
There are currently two QE-class aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy with the first expected to enter service in 2016. However the carrier will not have strike capability under the current programme until 2020 at the earliest.
UKIP claims that its plan offers a realistic solution to ensuring new carrier strike capability earlier than anticipated, and would also help protect British jobs as choosing to 'marinize' the Typhoon would extend the life of the Typhoon production line in Warton, Lancashire.
UKIP also argues that there would also be the opportunity for export for a fully 'marinized' Typhoon, particularly to the Indian Air Force under their Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) programme.
The unit cost of the Typhoon will also save the Royal Navy money, UKIP added. The Typhoon costs roughly £80 million, whilst the F-35C comes in at £100 million a unit.
"Furthermore the 'marinized' Typhoon will be not affected by the technology restrictions that have bedevilled the F35 programme since its inception, particularly with regard to the software source codes which the US have consistently refused to provide access to. These codes are integral to the installation of all weapons systems," read a statement from UKIP.
"In the case of the 'marinized' Typhoon, apart from the greatly increased UK content, there will be no outside restriction on the export of aircraft as the UK will have control of the intellectual property of both the aircraft systems and weapons."
Lord Hesketh said: "The F-35C programme should be scrapped before more taxpayers' money is wasted. It was another ludicrous decision to come out of the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
"Much of the work to make the Typhoon fit for taking off and landing on aircraft carriers has already been undertaken. There is also the added bonus that it would preserve and create British jobs, plus give our aircraft carriers an earlier strike capability than 2020."
