801 Naval Air Squadron

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801 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) was the last Fleet Air Arm squadron to operate the Sea Harrier FA2. After a very successful draw-down and decommissioning ceremony, the final Sea Harrier was withdrawn from service on 31 March 2006 at RNAS Yeovilton and the Squadron disbanded. Prior to decommissioning all aircraft adopted the omega symbol on their tail-fin, in recognition of 801 NAS being the last operators of the last all-British fixed-wing fighter aircraft. This harks back to the use of this symbol by 892 Naval Air Squadron, whose McDonnell Douglas F4K Phantom aircraft were the last conventional fixed-wing aircraft in use by the Fleet Air Arm.

On Tuesday 28 March 2006 a ceremony held at RNAS Yeovilton to mark the withdrawal from service of the Royal Navy’s famous Sea Harrier FA2 Jump-Jets.

801 NAS was due to recommission in March 2007, under the command of Cdr K Seymour RN, to operate the Harrier GR7 and GR9 from RAF Cottesmore. However, due to lack of manpower (and political will), all former 801 and 800 (their sister Squadron) personnel have now formed a "Naval Strike Wing" within RAF Cottesmore, thus severing all remaining ties to their former home at RNAS Yeovilton.

[edit] Commanding Officer

Commander K W Seymour Royal Navy, joined the Royal Navy in 1984 as a General List Officer. On passing out of Dartmouth, he completed Officer of the Watch Courses and was appointed as Correspondence Officer in HMS Apollo. In 1988 he was subsequently selected for flying training which culminated in August 1991 with his graduation from 899 Naval Air Squadron as a Sea Harrier FRS 1 pilot. His subsequent appointment was to 801 NAS where almost immediately he was deployed in HMS Ark Royal in support of Operation Deny Flight over the Former Yugoslavia.

On completion of his first front line tour he joined 899 NAS as a Radar Training Instructor and Operations Officer and converted to the Sea Harrier FA 2 before returning to the front line in 1997 with 800 NAS in HMS Invincible as operations officer and 2 further deployments in support operations over the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1998 he was appointed to United States Marine Corps Station Cherry Point and VMA 231 flying the AV8B 2+ as the Operations Officer responsible for the operational work up for Marine Expeditionary Units and Squadron readiness for operations over Kosovo. During this period he qualified as an Air Combat Instructor and Night System instructor on all variants of USMC Harriers. For maintaining the squadron at the highest levels of readiness for operations he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Secretary of the Navy in 2002.

Following a brief conversion back to the FA2 on his return in 2002, he was appointed to RAF Wittering for GR7 conversion and appointed to IV(AC) Squadron at RAF Cottesmore as a Flight Commander. In January 2003. he returned to the GR7 OCU for the Qualified Weapon Instructor course and subsequently became the first Royal Navy weapons instructor on GR7 as well as the Senior Naval Officer and Flight Commander on 20(R) Squadron. In 2005 he attended Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham where he completed Advanced Course number in July 2006 and was promoted to Commander. He has recently completed GR7 refresher training and GR 9 conversion and on 01 October 2006 he assumed Command of 801 NAS at RAF Cottesmore.

[edit] Future Joint Combat Aircraft

The Future Aircraft Carrier (CVF) design will be greatly determined by the selection of aircraft to fly from the vessel. That process is now well underway; in 1996, the UK began the formal procurement process to examine options for a Future Joint Combat Aircraft (FJCA). This project is required to provide the fleet with a fighter/ attack aircraft to succeed the Harrier which is currently in service flying from the Invincible class carriers.

The FJCA will be required to operate in all weathers, with an ability to fly day and night missions, for air defence of the fleet and of ground forces. It must also be capable of providing offensive air action and to be able to support long range air interdiction, as well as anti-surface warfare and tactical reconnaissance. Key attributes of the FJCA in comparison to the Sea Harrier and Harrier GR7 include the need for it to be supersonic and to have improved survivability and supportability. The aircraft is also required to have increased range relative to the current Sea Harrier and is to be able to support internal and external weapon carriage.

The aircraft to form the strike force of the Navy's new aircraft carriers is the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and Britain has signed a £1.3 billion deal with America to procure this aircraft. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) will replace the Navy's Sea Harrier FA2 and the RAF's Harrier GR7 with 150 of the new single-seat supersonic aircraft which will then take their place on the flight decks of the Navy's new aircraft carriers that are due in service by 2012. Though Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said, "The Joint Strike Fighter will not simply replace the Harrier. It will give the UK an aircraft that can take off from an aircraft carrier and provide the agility of a light fighter with the punch of a bomber. Put simply, it will be the best aircraft of its type in the world."

On 26 October 2001 Lockheed Martin was selected for the contract to build the US-UK JSF. The deal signed with America ensures that British companies will be closely involved in the building of the aircraft. Production of the United Kingdom JSF is planned to start in 2008 with the first due to enter UK operational service in 2012, a date that will coincide with the arrival of the first of the Navy's new aircraft carriers.

The MOD considered all other options very carefully before selecting the JSF as the preferred aircraft for its new aircraft carriers. The other options included a marinised version of the Eurofighter (232 Eurofighters are ordered for the RAF) the American F18E, the French Rafale and an updated Harrier. But the Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant JSF emerged as the best option.

Interestingly, the proposed future base for the JSF (recently named Lightning II) has been named as RAF (formerly RNAS) Lossiemouth in Northern Scotland, and the proposed future base for the Queen Elizabeth Class strike carrier (CVF) is Rosyth, near Edinburgh. A recent MoD document stated that the majority of Air Group personnel embarked on CVF will be RAF personnel - this will confirm speculation from many within Fleet Air Arm circles that the future for fixed-wing aviation within the Royal Navy is very bleak indeed.