Royal Navy CVF programme - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers (formerly the CV Future or CVF project) are a two-ship class of aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

being built for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to enter service in 2016 and HMS Prince of Wales in 2020. HMS Queen Elizabeth will not be built to a CATOBAR

CATOBAR

CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier...

configuration, but the second ship HMS Prince of Wales will. The vessels will displace about 65,600 tonnes, be 284 metres (931.8 ft) long and have a tailored air group of up to 40 aircraft. They will thus be by far the largest warships ever to be constructed for the Royal Navy.

The contract for the vessels was announced on 25 July 2007 by then Secretary of State for Defence

Secretary of State for Defence

The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...

Des Browne

Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010...

, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring. The cost was initially estimated to be £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

3.9 billion. The contracts were officially signed one year later on 3 July 2008 after the creation of BVT Surface Fleet

BVT Surface Fleet

BAE Systems Surface Ships is a wholly owned subsidiary company of BAE Systems, specialising in naval surface shipbuilding, systems integration and through-life support...

through the merger of BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and VT Group

VT Group

VT Group plc was a British defence and services company, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft. The Company had diversified from shipbuilding into various engineering and support services, becoming involved in many areas of provision through five main operating groups: VT Communications, VT...

's VT Shipbuilding which was a requirement of the UK Government.

Requirement

The 22,000-tonne s were designed for Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....

in the North Atlantic as part of a combined NATO fleet; they have limited space for STOVL fixed-wing aircraft. The 1982 Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

demonstrated the need to maintain aircraft carriers to support the United Kingdom's foreign policy

Foreign relations of the United Kingdom

The diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are implemented by the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The UK was the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Throughout history it has wielded significant influence upon other nations via the British...

.

Since the end of the Cold War

Cold War

, the Invincible-class ships have operated in a more traditional aircraft carrier mission: that of power projection

Power projection

Power projection is a term used in military and political science to refer to the capacity of a state to conduct expeditionary warfare, i.e. to intimidate other nations and implement policy by means of force, or the threat thereof, in an area distant from its own territory.This ability is a...

. As a result, the Harrier GR7 aircraft predominantly operated by the Royal Navy, have been routinely deployed on the carriers, which have been modified to carry more aircraft and ammunition (notably with the removal of the Sea Dart

Sea Dart missile

Sea Dart or Guided Weapon System 30 is a British surface-to-air missile system designed by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and built by British Aerospace from 1977...

defensive weapon system). Despite the shortcomings of the Invincible-class in this role, formal studies did not begin until 1994 regarding the replacement of the ships.

Strategic Defence Review

In May 1997, the newly-elected Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

government launched the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) which re-evaluated every weapon system (active or in procurement) with the exception of the Eurofighter Typhoon

Eurofighter Typhoon

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies: EADS, Alenia Aeronautica and BAE Systems; working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, which was formed in 1986...

and the Vanguard-class

Vanguard class submarine

The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...

ballistic missile submarine

Ballistic missile submarine

A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch ballistic missiles .-Description:Ballistic missile submarines are larger than any other type of submarine, in order to accommodate SLBMs such as the Russian R-29 or the American Trident...

s. The report, published in July 1998 concluded that aircraft carriers offered the following:

Ability to operate offensive aircraft abroad when foreign basing may be denied.
All required space and infrastructure; where foreign bases are available they are not always available early in a conflict and infrastructure is often lacking.
A coercive and deterrent effect when deployed to a trouble spot.

The report concluded: "the emphasis is now on increased offensive air power, and an ability to operate the largest possible range of aircraft in the widest possible range of roles. When the current carrier force reaches the end of its planned life, we plan to replace it with two larger vessels. Work will now begin to refine our requirements but present thinking suggests that they might be of the order of 30,000–40,000 tonnes and capable of deploying up to 50 aircraft, including helicopters."

It is planned that advanced design and maintenance techniques will eliminate the present requirement for major refits. In addition, , a specialised helicopter landing platform

Landing Platform, Helicopter

LPH is the hull classification used by a number of the world's navies to designate a type of amphibious warfare ship designed primarily to operate as a launch and recovery platform for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft...

, fills a role previously undertaken by the Invincible-class carriers.

Design studies

On 25 January 1999, six companies were invited to tender for the assessment phase of the project; Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

, British Aerospace

British Aerospace

British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...

, Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

, Marconi Electronic Systems

Marconi Electronic Systems

Marconi Electronic Systems , or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of The General Electric Company . It was demerged from GEC and acquired by British Aerospace on November 30, 1999 to form BAE Systems...

, Raytheon

Raytheon

Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...

and Thomson-CSF

Thomson-CSF

Thomson-CSF was a major electronics and defence contractor. In December 2000 it was renamed Thales Group.-History:In 1879 Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston formed the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in the United States....

. On 23 November 1999 the MoD awarded detailed assessment studies to two consortia, one led by BAe (renamed BAE Systems

BAE Systems

BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...

on 30 November 1999) and one led by Thomson-CSF (renamed Thales Group

Thales Group

The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...

in 2000). The brief required up to six designs from each consortium with airgroups of 30 to 40 Future Joint Combat Aircraft

Joint Combat Aircraft

The Joint Combat Aircraft is the official designation of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence used for the F-35 Lightning II, formerly the Joint Strike Fighter, and the result of the Joint Strike Fighter Program.-Programme history:...

(FJCA). The contracts were split into phases; The first £5.9 million phase was for design assessment which would form part of the aircraft selection, the second £23.5 million phase involved "risk reduction on the preferred carrier design option."

In the course of the design period, several different configurations were considered and submissions included large and small air groups based around three types of vessel.

STOVL

STOVL

STOVL is an acronym for short take off and vertical landing.This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway or take off vertically if it does not have a very heavy payload and land vertically...

A carrier operating short take-off and vertical landing aircraft could dispense with the costly steam catapults and arrestor gear of a conventional (CATOBAR

CATOBAR

CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier...

) carrier. This would also take advantage of the UK experience in STOVL technology. This is at the expense of aircraft range and payload capability (for an equal size CATOBAR carrier). The aircraft would be similar to the F-35B Lightning II

F-35 Lightning II

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability...

. The F-35B is more capable than the Harrier, but has lower range and payload than even previous generation CATOBAR aircraft such as Super Hornet.

STOBAR

STOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of both STOVL and CATOBAR .Aircraft launch under their own power using a ski-jump to assist take-off STOBAR (Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery) is a system used for the...

Short take-off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) again removes the requirement for the expense of catapults but uses arrestor gear. In this way conventional aircraft (albeit modified) can be used. Any STOBAR design would most likely have used a navalised version of the Eurofighter Typhoon

Eurofighter Typhoon

on order for the RAF. The modifications would require strengthened landing gear, modified flight control system and inclusion of a stronger arrestor hook

Tailhook

A tailhook, also arresting hook or arrester hook, is a device attached to the empennage of some military fixed wing aircraft...

suitable for carrier use. The advantages of this would be increased range, manoeuvrability, greater weapons stand-off and payload compared to a STOVL design and higher operating efficiency than a CATOBAR design.

CATOBAR

CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier...

A catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) CVF would use catapults and arrestor cables and an angled flight deck with existing naval aircraft, most likely the F/A-18

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a twin-engine carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft. The F/A-18E single-seat variant and F/A-18F tandem-seat variant are larger and more advanced derivatives of the F/A-18C and D Hornet. The Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm gun and can carry air-to-air...

or Rafale-M

Dassault Rafale

The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine delta-wing multi-role jet fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Introduced in 2000, the Rafale is being produced both for land-based use with the French Air Force and for carrier-based operations with the French Navy...

. This had the advantage of reducing technical risk for development of both the aircraft and carriers and offering maximum payload and range capabilities. There are disadvantages however, including higher operating costs and the minimal British involvement in development of the aircraft due to the "off-the-shelf" purchase.

In addition BAE made a submission of hybrid configuration, featuring a STOVL ski-jump and an angled flight deck, catapults and arrestor cables. Advantages of this design include the ability to operate STOVL offensive aircraft and also conventional aircraft. This would allow the operation of established, and therefore cheaper, designs of AEW aircraft e.g. the E-2 Hawkeye rather than new development.

Aircraft and carrier format selection

On 17 January 2001, the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the U.S. Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

(DoD) for full participation in the Joint Strike Fighter programme, confirming the JSF as the FJCA. This gave the UK input into aircraft design and the choice between the Lockheed X-35 and Boeing X-32

Boeing X-32

The Boeing X-32 was a multi-purpose jet fighter in the Joint Strike Fighter contest. It lost to the Lockheed Martin X-35 demonstrator which was further developed into the F-35 Lightning II.-Background:...

. On 26 October 2001, the DoD announced that Lockheed Martin had won the JSF contract.

On 30 September 2002, the MoD announced that the Royal Navy and RAF would operate the STOVL F-35B variant. At the same time it was announced that the carriers would take the form of large, conventional carriers, initially adapted for STOVL operations. The carriers, expected to remain in service for 50 years, were designed for but not with

For but not with

Fitting "for but not with" is a design concept used by militaries in which a weapon or system called for in a design is not installed or is only partially installed during construction to save on construction costs. The term is usually used in regard to vehicles and ships but sometimes extends to...

catapults and arrestor wires. The carriers were thus planned to be "future proof

Future proof

The phrase future proofing describes the exclusive process of trying to anticipate future developments, so that action can be taken to minimize possible negative consequences, and to seize opportunities. For more on the process and practitioners, see Futures studies.-Data storage:Electronically...

", allowing them to operate a generation of CATOBAR aircraft beyond the F-35.

On 30 January 2003, the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon

Geoff Hoon

Geoffrey "Geoff" William Hoon is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Ashfield from 1992 to 2010...

announced that the Thales Group design had won the competition but that BAE Systems would operate as prime contractor. In the course of this some equipment specified for the BAE design replaced that of the Thales group.

In August 2009, speculation mounted that the UK would drop the F-35B for the F-35C model, which would mean the carriers being built to operate conventional take off and landing aircraft using the US-designed Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults. Meanwhile, Converteam UK worked on a different electro-magnetic catapult (EMCAT) system for the carrier.

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010

On 19 October 2010, the government announced the results of its Strategic Defence and Security Review

Strategic Defence and Security Review

The Strategic Defence and Security Review was announced by the newly formed Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of the United Kingdom in May 2010, and published on 19 October 2010...

. Only one carrier is certain to be commissioned; the fate of the other is undecided. The second ship of the class may be placed in "extended readiness" to provide a continuous single carrier strike capability when the other is in refit or to provide the option to regenerate more quickly a two carrier strike ability. Alternatively the second ship may be sold with "cooperation with a close ally to provide continuous carrier-strike capability".

It was also announced that the operational carrier will have catapult and arrestor gear (CATOBAR

CATOBAR

CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier...

) installed in order to accommodate the F-35C variant of the Joint Strike Fighter rather than the STOVL

STOVL

F-35B. On 25 November 2011 the
First Sea Lord

First Sea Lord

The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...

Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope

Mark Stanhope

Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, GCB, OBE is the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff of the United Kingdom, thus the professional head of the Royal Navy.-Early life:...

, confirmed that the second ship HMS Prince of Wales will be fitted to a CATOBAR

CATOBAR

CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier...

configuration, while the eventually fate of HMS Queen Elizabeth is less certain. The cost of converting the carrier to CATOBAR is expected to increase the total cost, potentially to over £6.2bn. HMS Prince of Wales will be the second ship in the world to be fitted with the American EMALS system.

Design

The vessels will displace approximately 65,600 tonnes each, over three times the displacement of the current Invincible class. They will be the largest warships ever built in the UK and the most capable aircraft carriers outside of the U.S. Navy. Nothing of the scale has been proposed for the Royal Navy since the cancelled 1960s CVA-01

CVA-01

The CVA-01 aircraft carrier was to be a class of at least two fleet carriers that would have replaced the Royal Navy's existing aircraft carriers, most of which had been designed prior to or during World War II....

programme. Giving evidence to the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

Defence Committee, the First Sea Lord

First Sea Lord

Admiral Sir Alan West

Alan West, Baron West of Spithead

Admiral Alan William John West, Baron West of Spithead GCB DSC PC was, from June 2007 to May 2010, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the British Home Office with responsibility for Security and a Security Advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown...

explained that interoperability with the United States Navy was a factor in deciding of the size of the carriers as the firepower of the carrier's airwing:
The design features two small island structures, one devoted to ship navigation, and the other to air operations. This allows optimal placement of bridges for both tasks: navigation calls for a bridge placed forward (as on the Charles De Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle (R 91)

Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy and the largest Western European aircraft carrier. She is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the first and so far only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the United States Navy...

), while air operations are made easier with a bridge placed aft (as seen on the US Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier). Two deck lifts will be used, both on the starboard side.

Carrier air group

The vessels are expected to be capable of carrying 40 aircraft, including 36 F-35 Lightning IIs as well as helicopters. In context, one carrier's air wing is almost three times the size of the Tornado GR.1

Panavia Tornado

The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...

force deployed in Operation Desert Fox

Operation Desert Fox

The December 1998 bombing of Iraq was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from December 16–19, 1998 by the United States and United Kingdom...

and the same number as the Tornado GR.4

Panavia Tornado

The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...

/Harrier GR.7 offensive fleet which participated in Operation Telic

Operation Telic

Operation TELIC was the codename under which all British military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the Invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on 22 May 2011...

. Both of these land based deployments required the agreement of a local friendly nation. It was anticipated that the carriers would operate the Harrier GR9s until around 2018, as the RN will not have a complete F-35 group until then.

The Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASaC) component began as "Future Organic Airborne Early Warning" (FOAEW), with contracts being placed with BAE/Northrop Grumman and Thales in April 2001. In April 2002 BAE and Northrop Grumman received a follow-on study contract for Phase II of the project by then renamed Maritime Airborne Surveillance & Control (MASC).It has been announced that 8 RN Merlin HM.1 are to be converted to ASaC.5 configuration to fulfil the carrier-borne AEW role. They will be equipped with the Searchwater 2000 AEW Radar.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability. The F-35C carrier variant features larger wings with foldable wingtip sections, larger wing and tail control surfaces for improved low-speed control, stronger landing gear for the stresses of carrier arrested landings, a twin-wheel nose gear, and a stronger tailhook for use with carrier arrestor cables. The F-35 has been designed to have a low radar cross section primarily due to stealthy materials used in construction, including fiber mat.

The ships were originally intended to carry the Short Take Off Vertical Landing

STOVL

(STOVL) variant of the F-35 Lightning II

F-35 Lightning II

, known as the F-35B. However, on 19 October 2010, David Cameron announced that the UK would change their order to the carrier variant (F-35C) and that the carrier design would be modified to use a catapult launch and arrestor recovery

CATOBAR

CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier...

(CATOBAR) system to allow for the launch and recovery of these aircraft. The F-35C variant is cheaper and has a greater range and the ability to carry a larger and more diverse payload than the F-35B. The CATOBAR configuration will also enable the UK's defence partners such as the United States and France to operate aircraft from the carriers in joint mission situations.
An improved version of the Westland Super Lynx military helicopter, the Lynx Wildcat, entering service with the Royal Navy in 2015, may be included among the helicopters aboard both Queen Elizabeth-class carriers. It will have room for seven passengers, a top speed of 187mph and a range of 520nmi. It will be armed with forward firing CRV7 rockets and machine guns, pintle mounted machine gun (eg FN MAG or Browning M2), air-to-surface missile system, torpedoes and depth charges.
The Merlin is a medium-lift helicopter that performs a wide variety of functions for the Royal Navy. It performs exceptionally in an Anti-Submarine role. A chin FLIR is fitted to some variants.[24] The AW101 (excluding the ASM MK1) is equipped with chaff and flare dispensers, directed infrared countermeasures (infrared jammers), ESM (electronic support measures, in the form of RF [radio frequency] heads), and a laser detection and warning system. It has two hard points for weapon carriers, on which the HM Mk1 model can carry four Sting Ray torpedoes or Mk 11 Mod 3 depth charges, though at present cannot use the Sea Skua missile. The Mk1, Mk3 and 3a variants can mount General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) in up to 5 locations in the main cabin pointing out of door and window apertures.

Royal Navy Merlins have seen action in the Caribbean, on counter-narcotics and hurricane support duties. They have also been active in Iraq, providing support to British and coalition troops on the ground, as well as maritime security duties in the North Persian Gulf.

Powerplant

The MoD decided not to use nuclear propulsion due to its high costs. The carrier's propulsion system will be integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP). Electric power is generated at 11,000 volts by two Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce plc

Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...

Marine Trent MT30 36 MW gas turbine

Gas turbine

A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....

generator units and four Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include large combustion engines...

Diesel Generator sets (two 9 MW and two 11 MW sets). This power is used for both the electric propulsion system and the ship's domestic system. The electric power is used to drive four, Converteam, Advanced Induction Motors, two per shaft and situated in three separate compartments to improve survivability in the event of action damage or flooding. Each 20 MW motor is driven by a Converteam VDM 25000 pulse width modulated converter which produces a variable frequency output allowing the shaft speed to be controlled across the full operating range. The propulsion power management system is integrated fully with the ship's platform management system provided by L-3 Communications. This unique propulsion system eliminates the need for large gearboxes, is compact and by minimizing the number of running generating sets for a given speed is very fuel efficient.

The design places one gas turbine generator unit under each island in the starboard sponson

Sponson

Sponsons are projections from the sides of a watercraft, for protection, stability, or the mounting of equipment such as armaments or lifeboats, etc...

. This relatively high placement removes the requirement for air downtakes/exhausts deep into the ship. Conversely, the Diesel Generator sets are mounted low down in the ship, the weight of these units contributing to the stability of the ship. The unrefuelled range of the carrier will be 10000 nmi (18,520 km).

The power and propulsion system is being designed and built in a Sub Alliance arrangement which brings together leading companies in their specific fields to provide the most cost effective mechanism for delivery of the integrated system for the QEC programme. This innovative arrangement is led by Thales UK as members of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance and partnered by Converteam UK, Rolls-Royce and L-3 Communications.

Systems

Many of the systems remain unspecified, but most of the designs that have been released so far show a BAE Systems Insyte

BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies

BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies was formed on May 3, 2005, by bringing together BAE Systems' interests in C4ISR and the UK operations of AMS following the Eurosystems Transaction....

/Thales

Thales Nederland

Thales Nederland B.V. is a subsidiary of Thales Group involved primarily in naval defence systems...

S1850M

The S1850M is a long range radar for wide area search. The S1850M is produced by BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies and Thales. It is a modified version of the Thales Nederland SMART-L radar. The S1850M is advertised as being capable of fully automatic detection, track initiation and...

long range radar on the forward island structure. However, it was announced on 4 August 2008 that they would also be fitted with BAE Systems Insyte Artisan 3D Radars as a medium range radar fitted to the aft island.Aster missiles may be installed for self-defence, but this has never been officially specified.

Construction

During a speech on 21 July 2004 Geoff Hoon announced a one year delay to allow contractual and cost issues to be resolved. The building of the carriers was confirmed in December 2005. The building is being undertaken by four companies across seven shipyards, with final block integration and assembly at Rosyth

Rosyth Dockyard

Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels.-History:...

BAE Systems Surface Ships - Govan
Govan
Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....

(Lower Blocks 3 and 4), Scotstoun
Scotstoun
Scotstoun is a historic district of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Yoker and Knightswood to the west, Victoria Park, Broomhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde to the south...

(Aft Island) and Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

(Lower Block 2 and Forward Island)
Babcock Marine - Rosyth
Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels.-History:...

(Sponsons, Mast and Centre Blocks 5 and 6) and Appledore
Appledore Shipbuilders
-History:The Appledore Yard was founded in 1855 on the estuary of the River Torridge. The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay in Prince Edward Island, where the Yeo family's shipping fleet was based....

(Lower Block 1)
A&P Group
A&P Group
A&P Group Ltd is the largest ship repair and conversion company in the UK, with three shipyards located in Hebburn, Middlesbrough and Falmouth. The Company undertakes a wide variety of maintenance and repair work on commercial and military ships with projects ranging from a two day alongside repair...

- Hebburn
Hebburn
Hebburn is a small town situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in North East England, sandwiched between the towns of Jarrow and Bill Quay...

(Centre Block 3)
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...

- Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

(Centre Blocks 2 and 4)

In preparation for the construction phase of the project, long-lead items were ordered in Autumn 2007, including key parts of the main and emergency propulsion systems for the new aircraft carriers from Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä

. On 4 March 2008, contracts for the supply of 80,000 tonnes of steel were awarded to Corus Group

Corus Group

Tata Steel Europe is a multinational steel-making company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest steel-maker in Europe and is a subsidiary of Tata Steel of India, one of the ten largest steel producers in the world.Corus Group was formed through the merger of Koninklijke...

, with an estimated value of £65 million. Other contracts included £3 million for fibre optic cable, over £1 million for reverse osmosis

Reverse osmosis

Reverse osmosis is a membrane technical filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane. The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and...

equipment to provide over 500 tonnes of fresh water daily, and £4 million for aviation fuel systems. On 3 April 2008 a contract for the manufacture of aircraft lifts (worth £13m) was awarded to MacTaggart Scott of Loanhead, Scotland.

In mid May 2008, the Treasury announced that it would be making available further funds on top of the regular defence budget, reportedly allowing the construction of the carriers to begin. This was followed, on 20 May 2008, by the government giving the "green light" for construction of Queen Elizabeth class, stating that it was ready to sign the contracts for full production once the creation of the planned shipbuilding joint venture between BAE Systems and the VT Group had taken place. This joint venture, BVT Surface Fleet, became operational on On 1 July 2008. VT Group later sold its share to BAE Systems which renamed the unit BAE Systems Surface Ships. It will undertake approximately 40% of the project workload.

On 1 September 2008, the MOD announced a £51 million package of important equipment contracts; £34 million for the Highly Mechanised Weapons Handling System for the two ships, £8 million for supply of uptake and downtake systems for both ships, £5 million for Air Traffic Control software, £3 million for supply of pumps and associated systems engineering, and £1 million for emergency diesel generators. On 6 October 2008, it was announced that contracts had been placed for "the carriers' Rolls-Royce gas turbines, generators, motors, power distribution equipment, platform management systems, propellers, shafts, steering gear, rudders and stabilisers". On 11 February 2009, Thales indicated that the S1850M

S1850M

radar will be used on the carriers.

Construction of Lower Blocks 3 and 4 began at BAE Systems Clyde in July 2009 (the first steel cut for the project) and January 2010 respectively, while construction of the bow

Bow (ship)

The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...

Lower Block 1 was carried out at Appledore, North Devon and were completed in March 2010. When the four lower blocks are completed they will be transported to Rosyth

Rosyth

Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....

to be assembled.

On 25 January 2010, it was announced that the Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...

shipyard of Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

has secured a £44 million contract to build the flight decks of the carriers. That same day, construction began in Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

of Lower Block 2 for Queen Elizabeth. The structure will house machinery spaces, stores, switchboards and some of the ship's accommodation. The block will weigh around 6,000 tonnes and will stand over 18 metres (59.1 ft) tall, 70 metres (229.7 ft) long and 40 metres (131.2 ft) wide.

Construction on the second carrier, Prince of Wales, began in May 2011 with the first steel being cut by then Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox on 26 May.

The construction of the two carriers is involving more than 10,000 people and over 90 companies around the United Kingdom.

The 8,000 tonne Lower Block 03 of Queen Elizabeth left BAE Systems Surface Ships' Govan

Govan

Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....

shipyard in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

on a large ocean-going barge on 16 August 2011. Travelling 600 miles around the northern coast of Scotland, the block arrived at Rosyth

Rosyth

Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....

on the evening of 20 August 2011.

External links

Aircraft Carrier Alliance Website - Official website of the aircraft carrier alliance detailing the design, organisation and construction of the aircraft carriers.Queen Elizabeth class factsheet (Ministry of Defence)
Royal Navy Future Aircraft Carrier
Naval-Technology
Navy Matters
- Construction sequence diagrams
CGI sequence showing carriers' assembly
Future aircraft due for service in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy news site on the Queen Elizabeth class

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Requirement

Strategic Defence Review

Design studies

Aircraft and carrier format selection

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010

Design

Carrier air group

Powerplant

Systems

Construction

See also

External links