The deployment of the British navy’s top aircraft career, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, grabbed the headlines in leading British news outlet as it was deployed in the Northern Atlantic with only eight fighter jets, triggering concerns over UK’s massive shortages of combat planes.
Built at a cost of 4 billion pounds, the 920-ft long vessel has the capacity to accommodate 36 stealth jets and to carry 24 such aircraft on operations.
However, the British vessel has been leading an international patrol around Norway and the North Atlantic with only eight fifth-generation fighters on board for the Operation Firedrake., The Telegraph reported.
Recently, the Defence Select Committee had warned about the dwindling numbers of planes in the RAF following “deeply damaging cuts”.
The report by the committee criticised the early retirement of the C-130J Hercules fleet and the downsizing of the E-7 Wedgetail procurement programme from five planes to three.
It said that the RAF was “dangerously exposed” as a result of cuts.
“We should be concerned, as we have far fewer F-35Bs than we should have,” ormer Royal Navy officer Commander Tom Sharpe, told the Mail.
“More of the F-35Bs should have been delivered by this time too, so that is another factor.
“For these reasons, I’m not surprised to learn HMS Queen Elizabeth is deploying with so few combat aircraft. This scenario has been many years in the making.”
Responding to the report, an MoD spokeswoman told Telegraph: “The number of aircraft deployed on the carrier is decided by a variety of operational factors including the anticipated threat, aircraft needed for the deployment task and the requirement to continue to train personnel at RAF Marham to expand the Lightning force.
“This year UK F-35s have been exercising with NATO, US and European partners and have deployed once more on our aircraft carriers. We remain committed to growing the F-35 fleet with more to be delivered this year.”
During the previous deployments of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy has been forced to borrow planes from the US Marine Corps, according to Mail.com.
HMS Queen Elizabeth will undertake a series of exercises with Western partners before returning to the UK in December.