Could the F35B operate from a Mistral class BPC

Skirting the edge of this topic, the way things are going the UK is not going to have any RN amphibious lift capability for much longer relying on the Aux (Bay class) and chartered vessels (Ro-Ro) to move heavy equipment. It will retain a vertical lift capability through the CVFs but amphibious raiding and other landing ops will be a thing of the past.

Basically the RM will become another elite Light Infantry force who together with the paras and SF will be the UKs fire brigades for land ops. Their support units, Artillery , Engineers, etc will be amalgamated into single units to support both and they will share equipment like the vikings (The Broncos or whatever the ATVs the Army bought will be phased out when we leave Afghanistan). The RM will maintain ship board detachments together with SF allowing them to maintain a certain uniqueness but this will be a secondry roll.

aesthetics > effectiveness when it comes to war machines, as they’re almost never used anyway.

nic

Efficiency and effectiveness > Aesthetics.

Besides, I like the 2 island look.

Lets trade one Mistral for one conventional CVF. Only with just one island because the two island concept is ugly.

Nic

The bugs aren’t going to be worked out of BPE by the time an Ocean replacement is needed? It’ll have been in service for a decade, & won’t need a redesign & the consequent risk of introducing new bugs. It already has the features you suggest adding to Ocean. Why reinvent the wheel?

I wouldn’t be averse to buying an updated pair of Oceans, much cheaper than the foreign designs and the bugs are already worked out. Increase tonnage by a cople of thousand tonnes, square off the fore deck and maybe even fit a ski jump along with upgrading the aircraft support facilities so they can act as ‘support carriers’ when required… If POW goes there will be no budget for a substitute. As for ferrying Harriers on a Mistral and using Vertical takeoff, well you just don’t do VTO if there is a stretch of clear deck in front of you. Even a flat deck rolling takeoff uses a lot less fuel than a VTO.

I wouldn’t be averse to buying one to replace Ocean.

If for some reason PoW is cancelled, I wouldn’t be adverse to buying one/two of these somewhere down the line.

Not sure about a Mistral, but the similar, slightly larger Spanish BPE/Australian Canberra class seems to have the capability to operate a small number of Harriers, and presumably F-35s later on.

The Australians do not plan to operate F-35B off theirs. The Spanish plan to operate theirs as an auxiliary carrier, when their main carrier is in refit or under repair. They do not plan to operate it as an amphibious ship with some F-35B aboard. It will be strictly either/or. IIRC, to transition from amphibious assault ship to carrier, it will be docked, & have containerised modules for aviation fuel, weapons stores, etc. (NB. Australia is not buying any of these) installed in the dock & vehicle deck, & the dock gate temporarily sealed. Additional equipment for aircraft maintenance & handling will be put aboard, the aircraft & crews embarked, & there you go – ready to start working up. I think it’s scheduled to take a few weeks, though might be doable in days in an emergency.

And this, unlike Mistral, is a ship designed for such a transition, with a deck designed for the stresses of F-35B take-offs & landings, with the right lifts, a ski-jump, etc.

Could they operate from a mistral? Hmmm, probably in the same way Harriers could ‘operate’ from Ocean. It would be possible for a short amount of time in a desperately needed situation, but the deck would quickly be destroyed and the storage facilities would likely be too small to hold the required aviation fuel and ordnance, let alone the facilities to maintain them.

I’ve often envisaged situations in which Ocean operated a hand full of Harriers, I could see them maybe being able to do a few sorties each. But the problem with both Ocean and the Mistral is that, as helicopter carriers, they aren’t designed to operate STOVL aircraft and lack the essential item of a ski-ramp. The F-35s would have to take off at reduced fuel and ordnance in order to have a more vertical aspect to their take off than usual, which again would make the deck very unhappy.

It would be useful to use Mistrals to ferry F-35s around and then have them take off vertically and land at an airbase nearby, but to actually operate from them at full/near full efficiency would require a re-fit for the ships.

Not sure about a Mistral, but the similar, slightly larger Spanish BPE/Australian Canberra class seems to have the capability to operate a small number of Harriers, and presumably F-35s later on.

US Navy LHA/LHDs normally carry a small number of AV-8Bs, but for the Sea Control mission, they can carry up to 20 of them. They will be replacing the Harriers with F-35Bs.

In general, this type of vessel – Mistral, BPE/Canberra, Wasp – seems to offer a range of useful capabilities.