Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier

The ''Queen Elizabeth''-class aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy consists of two vessels. The lead ship of her class, , was named on 4 July 2014 in honour of Elizabeth I and was commissioned on 7 December 2017. Her sister ship, , was launched on 21 December 2017, and was commissioned on 10 December 2019. They form the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group.

The contract for the vessels was announced in July 2007, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring. The contracts were signed one year later on 3 July 2008, with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a partnership formed with Babcock International, Thales Group, A&P Group, the UK Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems. In 2014 the UK Government announced that the second carrier would be brought into service, ending years of uncertainty surrounding its future. This was confirmed by the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, with at least one carrier being available at any time.

The vessels have a full load displacement of an estimated , are long and are the largest warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy. The carrier air wing (CVW) will vary depending on the type and location of deployment, but will consist of 12-24 F-35Bs under in peacetime and 36 in a conflict scenario (with up to 48 in extreme cases) and Merlin helicopters to conduct Anti-Submarine Warfare, Airborne Early Warning and utility roles. The projected cost of the programme is £6.2 billion.

The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review announced the intention to purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35C "carrier variant" and to build ''Prince of Wales'' in a Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) configuration. However, in 2012, after projected costs of the CATOBAR system rose to around twice the original estimate, the government announced that it would revert to the original design deploying F-35Bs from Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) configured carriers.

Background

In May 1997, the newly elected Labour government led by Tony Blair launched the Strategic Defence Review, which re-evaluated every weapon system, then active or in procurement, with the exception of the Eurofighter Typhoon and the ballistic missile submarines. The report, published in July 1998, stated that aircraft carriers offer:
* The ability to operate offensive aircraft overseas, when foreign bases may not be available early in a conflict
* All required space and infrastructure, as even where foreign bases are available 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 airpower, 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."

Design studies

Initial Ministry of Defence (MoD) design studies for what was then the ''Invincible'' class replacement were conducted in the mid-1990s.Eddison, J.F.P., Groom, J.P., 'Innovation in the CV(F) - An Aircraft Carrier for the 21st Century', in ''RINA Warship '97 Conference ('Air Power at Sea')'', Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), 1997 Options considered at this early stage included the possibilities of lengthening the hulls and extending the life of the existing ''Invincible'' class ships, converting commercial ships to carriers, and the construction of purpose-built new aircraft carriers.Campbell-Roddis, M.E., 'Hullform & Hydrodynamic Considerations in the Design of the UK Future Aircraft Carrier (CVF)', in ''RINA Transactions Part A4 2017'', Royal Institution of Naval Architects, December 2017

On 25 January 1999, six companies were invited to tender for the assessment phase of the project – Boeing, British Aerospace (BAe), Lockheed Martin, Marconi Electronic Systems, Raytheon and Thomson-CSF. On 23 November 1999, the MoD awarded detailed assessment studies to two consortia, one led by BAe (renamed BAE Systems on 30 November 1999) and one led by Thomson-CSF (renamed Thales Group in 2000). The brief required up to six designs from each consortium with air-groups of thirty to forty Future Joint Combat Aircraft (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, while the second £23.5 million phase involved "risk reduction on the preferred carrier design option".

In 2005 BMT announced it had tested 4 different CVF hull form models and assessed them for propulsion efficiency, maneuverability, seakeeping and noise signatures. It also investigated skeg length, rudder size, transom stern flaps and bulbous bow designs. The basic Delta concept went through many further iterations and development before the design was considered sufficiently mature by late 2006 for detailed cost estimates to be drawn up prior to ordering long-lead items.

Capability requirements and ship size

The vessels, described as " supercarriers" by the media, legislators and sometimes by the Royal Navy, have a full load displacement of an estimated each, over three times the displacement of its predecessor, the . They are the largest warships ever built in the United Kingdom. The last large carriers proposed for the Royal Navy, the CVA-01 programme, were cancelled by the Labour government in the 1966 Defence White Paper. In November 2004 First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West explained that the sortie rate and interoperability with the United States Navy were factors in deciding on the size of the carriers and the composition of the carriers' air-wings:

Aircraft and carrier format selection

On 17 January 2001, the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for full participation in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, confirming the JSF as the FJCA. This gave the UK input into aircraft design and the choice between the Lockheed Martin X-35 and Boeing X-32. 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 Royal Air Force would operate the STOVL F-35B variant and that the carriers would take the form of large, conventional carriers, initially adapted for STOVL operations. The carriers, expected to remain in service for fifty years, were designed for but not with catapults and arrestor wires. The carriers were thus planned to be "future proof", allowing them to operate a generation of CATOBAR aircraft beyond the F-35. The contract specified that any conversion would use US C-13 steam catapults and Mark 7 Arresting gear as used by the American carriers. Four months later on 30 January 2003, the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced that the Thales Group design had won the competition but that BAE Systems would operate as prime contractor.

The Secretary of State for Defence announced the intention to proceed with the procurement of the carriers in July 2007. The contracts were officially signed one year later on 3 July 2008, after the creation of BVT Surface Fleet through the merger of BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and VT Group's VT Shipbuilding which was a requirement of the UK Government.

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010

On 19 October 2010, the government announced the results of its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). The review stated that only one carrier was certain to be commissioned; the fate of the other was left undecided. The second ship of the class could be placed in "extended readiness" to provide a continuous single carrier strike capability when the other was in refit or provide the option to regenerate more quickly to a two carrier strike ability. Alternatively, the second ship could be sold in "cooperation with a close ally to provide continuous carrier-strike capability".

It was also announced that the operational carrier would have catapult and arrestor gear (CATOBAR) installed to accommodate the carrier variant of the F-35 rather than the short-take off and vertical-landing version. It was decided to use the next-generation Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapult and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) instead of the more conventional systems which the design had originally been specified to be compatible with.

The decision to convert ''Prince of Wales'' to CATOBAR was reviewed after the projected costs rose to around double the original estimate. On 10 May 2012, the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, announced in Parliament that the government had decided to revert to its predecessor's plans to purchase the F-35B rather than the F-35C, and to complete both aircraft carriers with ski-jumps in the STOVL configuration. MoD sources indicated that the cost of installing EMALS and AAG on ''Prince of Wales'' would have risen to £2 billion, of which about £450 million of which was the cost of the equipment and the remainder the cost of installation. The total cost of the work that had been done on the conversion to a CATOBAR configuration, and of reverting the design to the original STOVL configuration, was estimated by Philip Hammond to be "something in the order of £100 million". In later testimony before a parliamentary committee, Bernard Gray, Chief of Defence Materiel, revealed that even though the carriers had been sold as adaptable and easy to convert for CATOBAR, no serious effort had been made in this direction since 2002.

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015

On 23 November 2015, the government published its 2015 SDSR which confirmed its plans to bring into service both ''Queen Elizabeth''-class aircraft carriers, with one to be available at all times. The review also confirmed that one of the carriers would have enhanced amphibious capabilities. The government also reaffirmed its commitment to ordering 138 F-35 Lightning IIs, although the specific variant(s) was not mentioned. The review stated that 24 of these aircraft would be available to the aircraft carriers by 2023.

Future Maritime Aviation Force

On 24 May 2023 during the 'Combined Naval Event 2023' conference in Farnborough 'Project Ark Royal' was announced. This project would "explore the widespread fielding of uncrewed aviation across the surface fleet, with a specific focus on future carrier aviation" The purpose of the project was to enable the operation of high-performance unmanned strike and support systems and potentially fixed-wing aircraft through the phased introduction of aircraft launch and recovery equipment for those types of aircraft. This phased implementation was described by Colonel Phil Kelly, Head of the Royal Navy's Carrier Strike and Maritime Aviation as "moving from STOVL (short take off vertical landing) to STOL (short takeoff and landing), then to STOBAR (Short takeoff but arrested recovery) and then to CATOBAR (catapult assisted takeoff but arrested recovery)". These changes would necessitate the eventual installation of catapults, arrestor gear and an angled flight deck as previously envisioned in the 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review with the carriers having been built for but not with this capability.

General characteristics

The ships' company is 679, rising to 1,600 when the air crew is added. In April 2015 a parliamentary reply stated that the average crew size would be 672. The ships have an empty load displacement of 65,000 tonnes on delivery, with an estimated full load displacement of 80,600 tonnes as the ships are upgraded through their lifetime. They have an overall length of , a width of , a height of , a draught of , and a range of . Nuclear propulsion was rejected due to its high cost and manpower required in favour of Integrated Electric Propulsion consisting of two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 gas turbine generator units and four Wärtsilä diesel generator sets (two and two ). The Trents and diesels are the largest ever supplied to the Royal Navy, and together they feed the low-voltage electrical systems as well as four GE Power Conversion's 20 MW electric propulsion motors that drive the twin fixed-pitch propellers.

Instead of a single island superstructure containing both the ships' navigation bridges and flying control (FLYCO) centres, the ships have these operations divided between two structures, with the forward island for navigation and the aft island for controlling flying operations. The primary reason for having twin islands was to space out the funnels, as the ships were designed with redundancy with "duplicated main and secondary machinery in two complexes with independent uptakes and downtakes in each of the two islands", while the alternative of consolidating all the exhaust trunkings would have reduced hangar space as well as increasing the vulnerability to flooding. Additional benefits include easier construction, reduced wind turbulence, and freed up deck space. Using two structures provides separate mountings for the air surveillance radar (forward), which does not interfere with the medium-range radar (aft); furthermore, visibility is improved for both navigation and landing operations.

Under the flight deck are a further nine decks. The hangar deck measures with a height of , large enough to accommodate up to twenty fixed and rotary wing aircraft. To transfer aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck, the ships have two large lifts, each of which is capable of lifting two F-35Bs or one CH-47 Chinook from the hangar to the flight deck in sixty seconds. The ships' only announced self-defence weapons are currently the Phalanx CIWS for airborne threats and Browning .50 caliber heavy machine guns. The planned 30 mm cannon to counter seaborne threats are currently fitted for but not with .

Systems

The ship's radars are the BAE Systems/Thales S1850M for long-range wide-area search, the BAE Systems Artisan 3D Type 997 maritime medium-range active electronically scanned array radar, and a navigation radar. BAE claims the S1850M has a fully automatic detection and track initiation that can track up to 1,000 air targets at a range of around . Artisan can "track a target the size of a snooker ball over away", with a maximum range of 200 km. They will also be fitted with the Ultra Electronics Series 2500 Electro Optical System (EOS) and Glide Path Camera (GPC).

Munitions and ammunition handling is accomplished using a Babcock designed highly mechanised weapons handling system (HMWHS). This is the first naval application of a common land-based warehouse system. The HMWHS moves palletised munitions from the magazines and weapon preparation areas, along trackways and via several lifts, forward and aft or port and starboard. The tracks can carry a pallet to magazines, the hangar, weapons preparation areas, and the flight deck. In a change from normal procedures the magazines are unmanned, the movement of pallets is controlled from a central location, and manpower is only required when munitions are being initially stored or prepared for use. This system speeds up delivery and reduces the size of the crew by automation.

Crew facilities

Crew facilities include a cinema, five physical fitness areas (gyms), a chapel (with embarked naval chaplain), and four galleys manned by sixty-seven catering staff. There are four large dining areas, the largest with the capacity to serve 960 meals in one hour. There are eleven medical staff for the eight-bed medical facility, which includes an operating theatre and a dental surgery. There are 1,600 bunks in 470 cabins, including accommodation for a company of 250 Royal Marines with wide access routes up to the flight deck.

Carrier air group

Only one carrier will have a carrier air wing embarked at any one time. In peacetime, 12–24 F-35Bs will be embarked. This will rise to 36 F-35Bs during combat operations, with the ability to operate 48 in extreme circumstances. The ships have a sortie generation rate of up to 110 per day. Fourteen Merlin HM2 will be available with typically nine in anti-submarine configuration and four or five with Crowsnest for airborne early warning; alternatively a "littoral manoeuvre" package could include a mix of Royal Navy Commando Helicopter Force Merlin HC4, Wildcat AH1, RAF Chinook transports, and Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopters. six landing spots are planned, but the deck could be marked out for the operation of ten medium helicopters at once, allowing the lift of a company of 250 troops. The hangars are designed for operating Chinooks without blade folding and the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor; the two aircraft lifts can each accommodate a Chinook with unfolded blades.

The use of UAVs and UCAVs is currently being explored by the Royal Navy. In November 2023, the General Atomics Mojave UAV successfully launched and recovered from HMS Prince of Wales, the first time a fixed wing RPAS had done so.

Fixed-wing aircraft

Although the size of the ''Queen Elizabeth'' class would enable it to accommodate most current and projected carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft, the lack of arresting gear means that, as initially completed, it is only capable of operating either STOVL aircraft, such as F-35B Lightning, tiltrotors such as the Osprey, or aircraft that do not require either catapult-assisted take-off or arrested recovery.

F-35 Lightning II

With the retirement of the Harrier GR7 and GR9 in 2010, there remained no carrier-capable fixed-wing aircraft available to the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force. Their replacement is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

After the 2010 SDSR Review the government intended to purchase the F-35C carrier variant and modify one carrier to use the CATOBAR system to launch and recover these aircraft. This was because the cheaper F-35C variant has a greater range and can carry a larger and more diverse payload than the F-35B. On 10 May 2012 the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced in Parliament that the government had decided to revert to its predecessor's plans to purchase the F-35B rather than the F-35C, and to abandon the completion of ''Prince of Wales'' in a CATOBAR configuration. The reason given was that "conversion to 'cats and traps' will cost about double what was originally estimated – and would not be delivered until 2023 at the earliest". Although the F-35B is fully capable of performing vertical landing, in a similar fashion to the way that the Harrier and Sea Harrier operated, this method of operation places limitations on the loads that the aircraft is capable of returning to the ship with. As a consequence, to avoid the costly disposal at sea of both fuel and munitions, the Royal Navy is developing the Shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) technique for its operation of the Lightning II. SRVL is a hybrid landing technique that uses the Lightning's vectored thrust capability to slow its forward speed to around 70 knots to allow it to make a rolling landing, using its disc brakes, without the need of an arrestor wire. A special type of metallic 'thermal paint' is being developed to withstand temperatures of up to 1,500 °C in the vicinity of jet nozzles.

On 19 July 2012, Hammond indicated in a speech in the United States that the UK would order an initial 48 F-35B aircraft to be operated jointly by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. In November 2015, the government announced its commitment to an order of 138 F-35 aircraft, with 24 available for carrier duties by 2023. The 2021 defence white paper sharply reduced the envisaged total number of aircraft to be purchased to "beyond 48". Subsequently, the First Sea Lord indicated that the new envisaged number was to be 60 aircraft initially and "then maybe more", up to a maximum of around 80 to hopefully equip four "deployable squadrons". In April 2022, the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Richard Knighton, told the House of Commons Defence Select Committee that the MoD was in discussions to purchase a second tranche of 26 F-35B fighters. Subsequent reports suggested that this second tranche order would only be completed in 2033.

Plans for frontline F-35B squadrons had been modified and now envisaged a total of three squadrons (rather than four) each deploying 12 to 16 aircraft. In surge conditions 24 F-35s might be deployed on a carrier but a routine deployment would likely involve 12 aircraft.

In December 2016, the British Government announced that it reached an agreement with the United States to allow the deployment of USMC F-35s from ''Queen Elizabeth'' upon the ship's entry into service, with a reciprocal arrangement seeing RAF and FAA aircraft operating from ships of the US Navy.

Currently, UK F-35B's are set to be integrated with a number of UK weapon systems. MBDA

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