Posted on 10/15/2010 4:00:48 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Royal Navy looks set to have two new carriers capable of supporting planes as well as helicopters, Ministry of Defence sources have confirmed. There had been speculation the second of the two carriers ordered by the Navy - the HMS Prince of Wales, due to enter service in 2018 - would be either be scrapped, downgraded, or moth-balled following the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). Originally conceived as a Queen Elizabeth class carrier capable of supporting the American-built F35 Joint Strike Fighter, it had been rumoured the MoD would alter its specifications to that of a helicopter carrier. But it would appear pressure from the Royal Navy has prevailed over financial concerns. With just two days remaining before all SDSR decisions must be finalised, further horse-trading between the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Security Council could see these plans change. Cabinet Office sources have told Sky News the negotiations are likely to continue "until the last possible moment", but indications are the aircraft carriers as initially envisaged will survive the cuts.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
No angled flight deck? I wonder why.
Thank God for that. Unfortanately, it will probably mean savage cuts in the rest of the surface fleet, but escorts are quicker and easier to build. If we had lost our carrier air group capabilities, future British Governments would have grown accustomed to the situation and we would never have got them back....
MoD announced that the Royal Navy and RAF will 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, are designed for but not with catapults and arrestor wires.
That upswept deck on the bow seems to have served them well.
The Invincible, Illustrious and Ark Royal, were designed for anti-submarine warfare in the North Atlantic as part of a combined NATO fleet and have limited space for STOVL fixed-wing aircraft.
That is very interesting because the British were the first to have carriers with angled decks.
GOOD but add an angled landing deck! They will need a couple of these to protect the billions of barrels of OIL in the Falklands!
What do you think the four white “check marks” on the flight deck are meant to indicate?
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An angled flight deck is for arrested landings of conventional takeoff and landing aircraft. This ship will use the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing aircraft.
The F-35B will take off without a catapult by using a short rolling takeoff off of the bow ski jump, and land vertically on one of those white checkmark spots.
The carrier was designed to have an angled deck if for any reason the Royal Navy decided to go with a catapult takeoff/arrested landing (CATOBAR) aircraft. For the angled deck, pretty much all you have to do is repaint the lines. (And add the arrestor gear, and the catapults, and...)
Here is a pic of the CVF in both forms:
I believe there’s all sorts of penalty clauses built into these things; if the govt pulled out, it might be nearly as expensive as continuing with the difference that there wouldn’t be any jobs created/saved in the areas where they are being built.
As an aside, not sure how it is with new US defence stuff, but whenever the media and politician report new defence contracts in the UK, they always emphasise how many jobs will be created as opposed to the contribution made to the country’s defence capabilities which seems to always takes second place to job creation.
I’ll ask for you
Personally, I think it might mean the successor project (next gen nuclear subs) gets the axe.
Too late for that. The Astute programme is already well under way. The first two have already been launched and construction on a further two is already well under way. Worst case scenario will see the Trafalgar class being kept in service a little bit longer.
If you are talking about replacements for the bomber subs, its already been established that they will be replaced come hell or high water (even the lib dems have acceded to this)...
No, not the Astute program (although they may shave number 6 and/or 7 off). I’m talking about the NEXT generation after that (initial work already being done).
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