"Biggest challenge" facing Royal Navy addressed dealing with "pace of change" between new and old ships
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A defence expert has addressed one of the biggest challenges facing the industry and the Royal Navy.
Ian McFarlane, sales director of underwater systems at Thales UK, outlined his thoughts on the gap between old warships being retired and newer counterparts replacing them. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin previously described this as a “difficult” transition which the force would have to deal with.
Type 26 and 31 frigates are both being built to replace their Type 23 counterparts. Mr McFarlane said this gap is a “realignment of the market”. He told The News: “It shouldn’t be a surprise to us.
“When Illustrious, Invincible, and Ark Royal went out of service, there was a capability gap of five to six years before the new carriers came in. I would hope we’re not going to have that with other things, but I do think the Navy takes the fairly astute decision at times to say ‘we’re going to have to ramp this down to free up those people, to be able to ramp up a new capability’.
“While that occurs, there is nothing visible at sea. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there is nothing capable that we’ve got, but it does mean from a looks point of view, we may be challenged in some capabilities.”
The Strategic Defence Review outlined sweeping changes which will be implemented in the Royal Navy. Plans have been set for a hybrid carrier air wing, with fighter jets and autonomous systems to be utilised alongside the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.
Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates are expected to be used alongside un-crewed surface and underwater vessels, or other types of drone. With several changes coming to the armed forces, Mr McFarlane outlined some of the challenges which defence firms will face.
He said: “One of the biggest problems we’ve got in the industry as a whole is the pace of change is so fast, as evidenced by the Ukraine war, that changing our concept of operations to keep pace with new equipment that’s coming in is difficult. Keeping our warfighters up to date with the pace of change is one of the biggest challenges we’ve got.”