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HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH BACK IN BUSINESS Britain’s newest and biggest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), is approaching the end of a first phase of sea trials. Tim Ripley visited her in Rosyth dockyard and reports on the UK’s return to the aircraft carrier business. 38 // SEPTEMBER 2017 #354 www.airforcesmonthly.com
The carrier gap
W
A fine aerial ALKING UP to the top of HMS Queen
view of HMS ‘Queen
Elizabeth’ shortly after Elizabeth’s ski-jump and looking Not surprisingly, the officers and sailors
sailing from Rosyth in June. back at her vast flight deck is the onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth were itching
All images Crown Copyright unless best way to appreciate that the UK’s new to put their ship through her paces. Setting
otherwise stated super-carrier is purpose designed and built sail for sea trials on June 26 was a major
to launch and recover aircraft in the most milestone in the project to close the Royal
efficient and effective way. The carrier’s Navy’s ‘aircraft carrier gap’, which resulted
919ft (280m) flight deck stretches into the from the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security
distance. In the carrier’s aft island, the Review. As part of a bid to cut the Ministry of
flying control (Flyco) is up and running to Defence’s (MOD’s) budget, Britain’s last strike
oversee air operations on the ship with her carrier, HMS Ark Royal and her complement of
team of aircraft controllers at work and Harrier GR9s were sacrificed, leaving the UK
visible through the island’s large windows. lacking fixed-wing naval aviation for the first
During AFM’s visit to the ship a few days time since World War One. The money saved
before she was to leave Rosyth to start her was to be ploughed back into making sure the
contractor sea trials (see AFM August, p8), delayed and over-budget HMS Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth was a hive of activity as the and Prince of Wales could actually be built.
dockyard workers were in the final stages The cost of re-establishing what is termed the
of removing their tools, scaffolding and UK’s Carrier Enabled Power Projection (CEPP)
temporary power supplies. Amid the coming capability is truly eye watering. At the time of
and going of hundreds of men and women initial contract signature in 2007 the estimated
in hi-visibility vests, the ship’s company cost of the two carriers was just over £3bn. It
was carrying out a last damage control now stands at some £6.2bn to build the two
rehearsal exercise to enable the carrier to carriers, £5.8bn to buy 48 Lockheed Martin
receive her certificate of sea worthiness. F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and
Just behind Rosyth dockyard’s huge £300m to procure Crowsnest airborne early
Goliath crane, Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, warning radars for installation in the Fleet Air
HMS Prince of Wales, can be seen in an Arm’s Merlin HMA2 helicopters. According to
advanced stage of assembly. Almost 20 the UK National Audit Office (NAO) spending
years of effort to design, build and deliver watchdog, a further £600m has been set aside
a new generation of aircraft carriers for to operate the two carriers over the next five
the Royal Navy is nearing its fruition. years; paying for fuel, food, maintenance and
www.airforcesmonthly.com #354 SEPTEMBER 2017 // 39
HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH
any minor repairs that might be required. Above: An artist’s rendering of the HMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ alongside HMS ‘Prince of Wales’, which is
The past seven years have been turbulent currently in final assembly. Aircraft Carrier Alliance Below: The F-35B is the cornerstone of carrier strike for
the UK, with trials aboard HMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ planned for 2018. Jamie Hunter
times for the Royal Navy as technical delays
and cost overruns dogged the carrier
programme. A bid to install ‘cat and trap’ take-
off and landing systems floundered in 2013
after it emerged that the projected costs of the
revolutionary electro-magnetic catapults for
the ships spiralled from £900m to more than
£2bn to equip each of the two carriers. There
were also serious doubts that the pioneering
Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System
(EMALS) catapults would be ready to meet
the Royal Navy’s delivery schedule. So, in an
abrupt U-turn, the MOD decided to drop the
‘cat and trap’ plan based around the US Navy’s
F-35C carrier variant and revert to the short
take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B.
After the first steel on the ships was cut
in 2009, work accelerated and HMS Queen
Elizabeth was formally launched in 2014. In
the same year it was finally confirmed that
HMS Prince of Wales would be brought into
service on a full-time basis to allow the
Royal Navy to maintain a ‘continuous at sea’
carrier presence. The second carrier should
be handed over to the navy in 2019. In the
2015 defence review, the purchase of the
full complement of 48 F-35Bs was confirmed
to allow both carriers to simultaneously
embark at least one squadron of jets.
Not surprisingly HMS Queen Elizabeth’s
commanding officer, Commodore Jerry Kyd,
believes the cost and hard work involved will
be worth the effort. “The premier nations
of the world are investing billions of dollars
in aircraft carriers,” he told AFM. “The ship
will provide the British government with
an incredibly flexible tool. HMS Queen
Elizabeth and her sister ship, HMS Prince of
Wales, are to give Britain a global presence.
Anywhere she goes in the world it will
[provide] Britain [with] a serious punch.”
Sea trials HMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ is
carefully moved out from the
Eleven tugs were required to manoeuvre
dockyard’s basin on June 26.
the 65,000-ton HMS Queen Elizabeth out
40 // SEPTEMBER 2017 #354 www.airforcesmonthly.com
of the dockyard’s Aircraft Carrier Alliance’s
basin on June 26, and position her in the
Firth of Forth. Later that evening she
passed under the three major bridges
across the Firth to start her four-month-
long contractor trials programme to allow
her to be handed over to the Royal Navy.
Prior to her sailing, Commodore Kyd described
the complex procedure to get HMS Queen
Elizabeth out from her place of construction.
“We need high water over the [entrance to the
basin]. Then we will have to wait for the tide
to go down so we can go under the bridges,”
he said. Kyd told AFM that the contractor sea
trials were expected to take place in two five-
to six-week blocks in the North Sea and Moray
Firth areas, stretching as far north as Fair Isle.
He said the first phase would concentrate
on testing the strengths and weaknesses of
the ship and its primary systems, such as
its sewage plant, fresh water systems and
auxiliary machinery. “After five to six weeks
we will come back into Rosyth for planned
engineering work and three weeks later we The impressive 919ft
will go out for more sea trials,” he explained. flight deck of the new
The second period will place more emphasis Queen Elizabeth-class
aircraft carrier.
on warfighting mission systems, such as
radars and radios, as well as working with to-service evaluation can be carried out. entry to service – the fast jet trials. What
other aircraft and ships. “After that we will From January-March 2018, rotary-wing trials is termed a ‘technology insertion period’
transition to our base port at Portsmouth will take place in the UK before the ship heads will take place to install the equipment
which is ready to receive us,” he added. to the United States for fixed-wing work-ups. needed to operate helicopters and F-35Bs
“The next couple of weeks will be vital.” According to Commodore Kyd, the first on a sustained basis. This includes the
During the contractor trials, the ship will phase of the sea trials will involve taking F-35B’s computerised Autonomic Logistics
continue to be owned by the Aircraft Carrier measurements of the wind flow around Information System (ALIS), which is essential
Alliance (ACA) and its sea trials manager and over the deck as the ship undertakes to operating the Lightning II from the ship.
will run the activity. To support this work, various manoeuvres around the UK coast. “In 14 months’ time, we will be on the
around 300 military, government and Then, deck landings and take-offs will begin, eastern seaboard of the US to embark the
civilian contractors are embarked on board, involving all of the main UK helicopter types, first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II,” Kyd
augmenting HMS Queen Elizabeth’s 700-strong including Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, said. “Then we will be carrying out hundreds
ship’s company of Royal Navy personnel. Apache AH1 attack helicopters, both variants of landings and take-offs under different wind
The ACA’s managing director, Ian Booth of the Wildcat, as well as Merlin HMA2s and and light conditions.” British and US aircraft
told AFM that these plans are designed to HC4s. The aim of this phase of the trials and personnel from the F-35 Integrated Test
be flexible. “This is the largest Royal Navy will be to confirm the release-to-service Force based at Naval Air Station Patuxent
warship to go to sea for some time,” he said. certificates to clear all relevant helicopters River, Maryland, will be at the heart of these
“Don’t be surprised if our plans change.” to safely operate from the carrier. This will trials. For reasons of national prestige,
During this first test phase, the focus will be mark the first milestone towards operational the first F-35B to land on HMS Queen
on proving whether HMS Queen Elizabeth readiness and will enable the carrier, if Elizabeth will be a British jet, piloted by a
meets the Royal Navy’s requirements. needed, to embark on limited helicopter- British test pilot. The MOD is expecting this
Commodore Kyd stressed that operating borne assaults by the Royal Marines. work to be carried out in autumn 2018.
aircraft was her primary function and that The carrier is then expected to return to her Senior officers onboard HMS Queen
he wanted to get aircraft on her deck very home base at Portsmouth for a maintenance Elizabeth are confident there will not be any
soon. Indeed, an 820 Naval Air Squadron and upgrade period to prepare her for what major problems putting the F-35Bs onto
(NAS) Merlin HM2 landed on deck on July could be the most challenging part of her the carrier. Many of the aircraft’s landing
3, marking a significant step in the first
period of trials. Throughout the contractor
sea trials, the ship will be supported and
protected by three shore-based Merlins from
the squadron, which had carried out a major
exercise in Scotland during March 2017 to
prepare for the mission. Operating from
forward bases at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray
and HMS Gannet at Prestwick International
Airport in Ayrshire, the Merlins are on hand to
provide surface and sub-surface surveillance
around the carrier to help prevent Russian
spy ships, submarines and reconnaissance
aircraft getting too close. Two Royal Navy
Type 23 frigates – HMS Sutherland and HMS
Iron Duke, with more Merlins embarked – also
escorted the carrier as she began this phase.
Aviation trials
Once the Queen Elizabeth is formally handed
The ship passes under the three major bridges across the Firth of Forth at low tide.
over to the Royal Navy a more complex entry-
www.airforcesmonthly.com #354 SEPTEMBER 2017 // 41
HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH
Squadron is expected to embark on HMS
Queen Elizabeth for a series of squadron-level
operational test and evaluation exercises, to
prove the warfighting tactics and procedures
needed to operate a significant number of
F-35Bs from the ship. The following year,
the operational envelope will be pushed
further still via a full task-group-level
operational trial that will bring together a
squadron of F-35Bs, anti-submarine and
airborne early warning Merlins, surface
warships, supply vessels and shore-based
air power. If successful, this test will allow
the Royal Navy to declare carrier strike IOC.
The importance of success
In its report into the carrier strike project
published in March 2017, the NAO spending
watchdog said that the timescale for realising
the new carrier strike plan was “ambitious”
and fraught with what it termed “risk”, which
could either lead to delays or cost overruns. If
key test milestones are missed then knock-on
delays could impact other parts of the project.
The tight nature of the test programme was
highlighted by the NAO when it revealed that
the former Prime Minister David Cameron
HMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ at had asked the Royal Navy to consider using
the start her four-month- the carrier for emergency combat operations
long contractor trials
before 2020. However, the Navy responded
programme in June.
that this was unadvisable because it would
controls are automated and they have into flames as soon as a jet tries to land,” he have “safety implications” and could end
been repeatedly practised in simulations. said. “What we are interested in is working up delaying the project even further.
A lot of the early work will involve proving out how long the coating will last and what The NAO also reported that many enabling
that the computer simulations of flight type of maintenance regime we need to capabilities had not yet been confirmed
operations are valid and will look at the put in place to maintain its effectiveness.” or even contracted. This included the
environmental impact of operating the F-35B The flight trials off the east coast of additional equipment and training required
over the deck. The carrier deck will have the US will involve test-instrumented to enable US Marine Corps F-35Bs to
to cope with 1,500-degree centigrade heat aircraft to collect the required data, rather operate from the UK carriers and vice-
from the F-35B’s engine. The original coating than operational examples from No versa, sufficient weapons for the Lightning
did not pass muster and a new Thermal 617 Squadron at MCAS Beaufort, South IIs and the helicopters to be embarked
Metal Spray System, consisting of a metallic Carolina. The first batch of pilots and on the carriers, the maritime intra-theatre
compound of aluminium and titanium, has ground personnel are in training there lift capability (known as carrier onboard
since been applied to important parts of ahead of the unit’s return to RAF Marham, delivery – COD) to move people and goods
Queen Elizabeth’s flight deck. One officer Norfolk, next summer. By the end of 2018, to and from shore, and tactical datalinks.
described this as a “science project” because nine aircraft should be at Marham, which
until a jet actually tries to land on the ship will enable initial operational capability Naval air power future
no one will know what will happen. “We are (IOC) to be declared by the squadron. If the next three years’ worth
pretty confident the deck is not going to burst In the summer/autumn of 2019, No 617 of trials and testing go
Right: The first
aviation arrival on
deck; an 820 NAS
Merlin HMA2
lands on
July 3.
Above: The carrier will return to Rosyth after the initial period of trials before a second set of evaluations
takes place designed to test ‘warfighting’ elements.
42 // SEPTEMBER 2017 #354 www.airforcesmonthly.com
as planned, then the UK’s carrier strike
capability will be declared ready for duty
by December 2020. Britain’s decade-
long carrier strike gap will be closed.
But the new carrier strike capability will
be very different from the one that was
unceremoniously scrapped in 2010. The
new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers are three
times larger than the Invincible-class carriers
they are replacing and can carry up to 40
aircraft or helicopters. All of the UK’s land-
based and maritime helicopters have been
replaced with newer, modern versions.
The biggest difference comes in the fixed-
wing arena, with 86 Harriers being replaced
by 48 jointly owned F-35Bs. While the F-35
is far more capable than the Harrier and
for the first time will give the UK a combat
aircraft designed to incorporate low-
observable capabilities, there are fewer
available airframes. Despite the overall
long-term commitment to purchase 138
F-35s, the immediate plan is for two F-35B Above: The advent of the F-35B and the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers together represent a major new
operational squadrons to be available for power projection tool for the UK. Jamie Hunter
deployment on the carriers over the next all the aircraft and personnel embarked on armoured vehicles, logistic trucks or large
decade – a total of 24 frontline aircraft should HMS Queen Elizabeth or Prince of Wales. Ad quantities of supplies ashore. All troops
be available to go to sea by around 2023. hoc command staff will either be embarked and materiel will have to be flown ashore
The aircraft will not be operated in the on the ship to plan air campaigns or will from the new carriers by helicopter. At
same manner either. Joint Force Harrier issue air tasking orders (ATOs) from a a maximum effort, 14 helicopters can be
was a combined organisation containing headquarters ashore. When serving in the launched in one go from the deck of HMS
distinct Royal Navy and Royal Air Force flying amphibious operations role landing Royal Queen Elizabeth but they will be limited in
squadrons, albeit with teams of dark and Marines, Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) is the size of the cargo and vehicles they can
light blue personnel. The current Lightning expected to deploy a command team onto carry. This has led to suggestions that the
Force is a truly integrated organisation, with the carriers to direct rotary-wing missions. Royal Marines will have to give up on major
RAF and RN personnel intrinsically mixed Once HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Falklands-style amphibious operations,
together within squadrons. Some 58% of the Wales are well and truly in service, there will with their focus reduced to raiding
force will be RAF and 42% will be RN, with need to be a debate about how the ships missions conducted solely by helicopter.
both services contributing commanders at all and their air groups will be employed. As The biggest question mark hangs over
levels on a merit basis. This could ultimately the name implies, carrier strike is focused how the new carriers will be used in fleet-
lead to No 617 Squadron or No 207 Squadron on projecting air power in the shape of the on-fleet naval battles. Britain’s F-35s don’t
– the Operational Conversion F-35B. It may be that the aircraft deploy to yet have anti-ship missiles and without
Unit (OCU) – being led by a a shore base, as will the US Marine Corps, them they will not be able to hit enemy
naval aviator or 809 NAS being to achieve higher sortie rates, or they may warships from stand-off ranges. Whether
commanded by an RAF officer. always operate from the ship. How the new or not the Royal Navy pushes for anti-ship
Unlike US Navy aircraft carriers carriers will be used in amphibious missions weapons, such as a navalised version of the
or the previous British carriers, is also still to be fully developed. Unlike many MBDA Selective Precision Effects At Range
there will not be a dedicated other Royal Navy amphibious warships, the (SPEAR) 3 for the F-35 could determine if
Commander Air Group, or Queen Elizabeth-class carriers do not have Britain’s new carriers will be able to take on
CAG, to control docks or davits to launch landing craft to take Russian or Chinese carriers in fleet actions. AFM
“HMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ and her sister ship, HMS
‘Prince of Wales’, are to give Britain a global
presence. Anywhere she goes in the world it will
[provide] Britain [with] a serious punch.”
HMS Queen Elizabeth’s commanding officer, Commodore Jerry Kyd
www.airforcesmonthly.com #354 SEPTEMBER 2017 // 43
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