CVF - ROYAL NAVY FUTURE AIRCRAFT CARRIER, UNITED KINGDOM
The new UK CVF Royal Navy aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are expected to enter service in 2012 and 2015.
The design continues to evolve but CVF is expected to displace 55,000t to 65,000t, a size between the USA's 100,000t Nimitz class and France's 43,000t Charles de Gaulle class aircraft carriers, and three times larger than the 20,000t UK Invincible class carriers.
The carrier will have a maximum speed of 25 knots. At 15 knots the range is 10,000 nautical miles and the ship carries food, fuel and stores for an endurance of seven days between replenishments.
The steel cutting for the first of class ship will be in 2006 and assembly will begin in 2009 at the Rosyth shipyard. Sea trials will begin in 2010 for commissioning in 2011. The Royal Navy will undertake the first of class operational sea trials prior to the in service date of October 2012. The second of class CVF-02 has an in service date of October 2015.
Each ship will have a complement of typically 1,200, including 600 air crew.
CVF AIRCRAFT CARRIER PROGRAMME
The CVF Integrated Project Team is managing the procurement programme on behalf of the Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive.
In January 2003 the Ministry of Defence announced that the preferred prime contractor for the UK Future Aircraft Carrier is BAE Systems with Thales UK as the key supplier. The industrial partnership between BAE Systems and Thales UK is known as the Future Carrier Alliance. In February 2005, Kellogg, Brown & Root UK (KBR) was appointed as preferred "Physical Integrator" for the project and is responsible for developing the optimum manufacturing strategy. The carriers will be constructed at a number of different yards with a final integration site.
The Alliance is scheduled to submit a fully costed bid for the demonstration and manufacturing phase of the program by the end of the Assessment Phase in 2005, prior to a Main Gate decision and subsequent contract award by the Ministry of Defence.
The major contractors include BAE Systems - prime contractor; Thales Naval Ltd - key supplier; Alenia Marconi Systems - C4IS; BMT Defence Systems - naval architecture; EDS - systems integration, fleet support, through life support; Lockheed Martin - programme management and engineering; QinetiQ - computer modelling and simulation, technology, test and evaluation; Rolls Royce - propulsion, life support; Strachan & Henshaw - waste management, munitions handling; Swan Hunter - construction; VT Group - naval architecture, construction, through life support.
The Maritime Group at QinetiQ have developed a suite of advanced modelling and simulation programs which are being used by the QinetiQ and DPA teams with BAE Systems and the major contractors to characterise the hull, flight deck, hangar deck, internal carrier design and other features.
CVF AIRCRAFT CARRIER HULL
The hull designs are being planned for a 50-year service life and are currently being configured with a ski ramp for short take off vertical landing (STOVL) operations. The carrier's service life is substantially longer than the 20-year service life of the selected F-35 STOVL carrier aircraft. The DPA has decided the carriers will be upgradeable to a conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) design, so the option will be available to operate conventional maritime aircraft.
A number of protective measures such as side armour and armoured bulkheads proposed by industrial bid teams have been deleted from the design in order to comply with cost limitations.
JOINT COMBAT AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS
The carrier will support 42 Joint Combat Aircraft carrying out up to 420 sorties over five days and be able to conduct day and night time operations. The maximum sortie rate is 110 Joint Combat Aircraft sorties per 24-hour period.
The standard airgroup aircraft include the Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, the EH-101 Merlin helicopter and the Maritime Surveillance and Control aircraft (MASC). The maximum launch rate is 24 aircraft in 15 minutes and the maximum recovery rate is 24 aircraft in 24 minutes.
The MASC airborne early warning aircraft is an airborne early warning aircraft to succeed the Sea King AEW helicopter. AEW variants of the EH101 helicopter and the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey are being considered for the MASC requirement.
The hanger deck, 155m x 33.5m x 6.7m to 10m high, accommodates up to 20 fixed and rotary wing aircraft.
ISLANDS
Instead of a traditional single island, a current ship design has two smaller islands. The forward island is for ship control functions and the aft (FLYCO) island is for flying control. Advantages of the two island configuration are increased flight deck area, reduced air turbulence over the flight deck and increased flexibility of space allocation in the lower decks. The flight control centre in the aft island is in the optimum position for control of the critical aircraft approach and deck landings.
Depending on budget availability, the radar fit will include a BAE Systems Sampson multi-function radar on the forward island and an Alenia Marconi Systems S1850M air surveillance radar on the aft FLYCO island. The AMS S1850M air surveillance radar, operating at 1GHz to 2GHz, is an electronically stabilised multibeam radar, operating up to an elevation of 0° to 70° and providing automatic target detection and tracking to a range of 400km. The Sampson multifunction radar includes two phased array antennae planes which are rotated and which scan electronically in azimuth and in elevation to provide 360° coverage. The four-sided pyramidal masthead with a spherical low-loss glass fibre reinforced plastic radome gives the Sampson radar its distinctive appearance.
AIRCRAFT CARRIER DECK
The deck will support simultaneous launch and recovery operations. The deck is fitted with a 13° bow deck ski jump.
No catapult or arresters will be fitted in the initial build but the carrier will be built to accommodate a future back-fit. The carrier will be fitted with a steam catapult or electromagnetic launch system and arrester gear, if the option to convert the carrier to the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant proceeds.
The deck has three runways: two shorter runways of approx. 160m for the STOVL Joint Strike Fighter and a long runway, approx. 260m over the full length of the carrier, for launching heavily loaded aircraft. The deck will have one or two vertical landing pads for the F-35 aircraft towards the stern of the ship.
Jet Blast Deflectors will be fitted on each runway 160m back from the bow ski jump and probably in line with the rear wall of the first island. The deflectors protect the deck from the blast of the F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft engines operating at maximum thrust for take-off.
There will be two large 70t-load deck-edge aircraft lifts to transfer aircraft between the hangar and flight decks, one between the islands and one to the aft of the FLYCO island.
QinetiQ and the US Navy carried out a study on an electromagnetic catapult launcher. Early studies indicated that a 300ft-long, 90MW linear motor would be needed for the CVF, but both MOD and UK industry would wish to see the results of demonstrations and trials of electromagnetic launcher technology before considering the selection of a launch system. An Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is to be developed by General Atomics in USA for the USN CVN-21 aircraft carrier. The maturity of EMALS technology for integration into UK CVF will be assessed as the US CVN-21 program progresses.
SYSTEMS
Communications systems will include Joint Tactical Information and Distribution System (JTIDS) and Links 10, 11, 14 and 16. The carrier might be built for but not with the installation of a close in weapons system. Another system which could be fitted if budget were made available would be two 16-cell vertical launchers for the Aster missiles.
AIRCRAFT CARRIER PROPULSION
The MOD has decided not to use nuclear propulsion because of high cost, and several alternative configurations have been considered for the propulsion system, including a 25MW WR21 gas turbine, as used on the Type 45 frigate, and a podded propulsion system based on Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP).
A configuration currently being considered is based on two Rolls Royce Marine Trent 36MW MT30 gas turbine alternators driving two electric motors. The motors power fixed conventional propeller shafts.
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/cvf/