Back on board: regenerating UK carrier strike capability

The UK's Joint Force Harrier (JFH) stood down from Operation 'Herrick' – the UK's contribution to international security and reconstruction in Afghanistan – in June 2009 after almost five years in theatre.

In that time, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy (RN) elements that make up the UK's Harrier force flew around 4,500 missions from their base at Kandahar, with their main role being close air support in support of ground forces in Helmand province in the south of the country.

That extended operational commitment has seen the introduction of a package of upgrades implemented to address urgent operational requirements (UORs) raised in response to emergent mission needs in the Afghanistan theatre, including a new targeting pod, the latest precision-guided ordnance, helmet-mounted cueing and an advanced defensive aids pod.

Operation 'Herrick' also proved the enhanced capabilities introduced with the GR.9 avionics re-architecture/weapon system update and the uprated Mk 107 Pegasus engine.

However, there is no disguising that the extended commitment of JFH to the Afghanistan theatre has over the same period significantly curtailed the availability of the UK's ground attack Harrier force - particularly its maritime-oriented Naval Strike Wing (NSW) - to exercise in the carrier-borne strike role.

As a result, HMS Illustrious, currently the UK's high readiness strike carrier (CVS), has frequently found its hangar and flight deck empty of fixed-wing aircraft over the past three years. This is not good news at a time when the RN is attempting to practice and hone the strike potential of its existing carriers in the run up to the introduction of the two new 65,000-ton Queen Elizabeth class vessels from the middle of the next decade.

Richard Scott is the Jane's Naval Consultant, based in London