, literally ''Aircraft Carrier Future'', but commonly called the '''Future Carrier''' is a new generation of
Aircraft Carrier being developed for the
United Kingdom's Royal Navy . The two vessels were expected to enter service in
2012 and
2015 , however development issues have delayed this –
BAE Systems CEO
Mike Turner said in February 2006 ''"we do not know when we will be able to give an in-service date"''. On 24 January 2006, the UK and
France agreed to collaborate on the design, with the potential for a French version, the
PA2 .
The vessels will displace approximately 60,000 tonnes each — almost three times the displacement of the current British
''Invincible''-class of
Aircraft Carrier s — and each will field an air wing of around 42
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter s. In context, one carrier's air wing is almost three times the size of the
Tornado GR1 force deployed in
Operation Desert Fox and the same number as the
Tornado GR4 /
Harrier GR7 offensive fleet which participated in
Operation Telic . Both of these land based deployments required the agreement of a local friendly nation.
Total cost of the development and production is put at £3bn ($5.5bn), in context two
''Nimitz''-class Carriers (98,000 tonnes displacement each) cost approximately £4.4bn ($8bn) to build. The carriers will be based in
Portsmouth ,
Hampshire .
While it has been suggested that reducing the carrier force by one vessel will lead to a reduction in the ability of the
Royal Navy to project carrier air power, it is planned that advanced design and maintenance techniques will eliminate the present requirement for major refits. At present one carrier is in active duty (R2 - 2 days readiness,) one in reserve or refit (R6 - 60 days' notice) and a third in training or maintenance.
The vessels will be the largest and most powerful surface warships ever built in the UK and the most capable aircraft carriers outside of the
U.S. Navy . The French
Marine Nationale have begun negotiations with the
Ministry Of Defence about purchasing the CVF design for about £140m (
Future French Aircraft Carrier ). The French Navy is understood to be unwilling to proceed with another nuclear powered carrier of the
''Charles De Gaulle'' design due to the problems and costs experienced both building and operating that ship.
Giving evidence to the
House Of Commons Defence Committee, the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir
Alan West explained that interoperability with the United States Navy was as much a deciding factor of the size of the carriers as the firepower of the carrier's airwing:
" a deep strike package, we have done ...quite detailed calculations and we have come out with the figure of 36 joint strike fighters ...that is the thing that has made us arrive at that size of deck and that size of ship, to enable that to happen."
"I have talked with the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) in America. He is very keen for us to get these because he sees us slotting in with his carrier groups. He really wants us to have these, but he wants us to have the same sort of clout as one of their carriers.."
The United Kingdom's aircraft carriers until 2005 were the 22,000 tonne ''Invincible''-class vessels; ''
Invincible '', ''
Illustrious '' and ''
Ark Royal .'' The vessels entered service in 1980, 1981 and 1985 respectively. The ''
Invincible '' was decommissioned on August 3, 2005, leaving only two of these vessels in active service. The ''Invincible''-class was designed for
Cold War anti-submarine warfare in the
North Atlantic and has limited space for offensive aircraft (nine Harrier GR7s or Sea Harriers)
In 1982 ''Invincible'' joined the taskforce dispatched to recover the . As a result
Royal Air Force Harrier GR7 have routinely deployed on the class and the ships have been modified to carry more aircraft and ammunition (notably with the removal of the
Sea Dart weapon system).
However the capability of the Invincible class has been limited by the size of the vessels. Studies began as early as
1994 regarding the replacement of the ships since when it has become clear that larger carriers with larger airgroups are necessary.
In May
1997 the election of the new
Labour government saw the launch of the
Strategic Defence Review (SDR). This review re-evaluated every weapon system (active or in procurement) with the exception of the
Eurofighter Typhoon and the
''Vanguard''-class Trident Submarine s. The report in December 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."
In January 1999 six companies were invited to tender for the assessment phase of the project;
Boeing ,
British Aerospace ,
Lockheed Martin ,
Marconi Electronic Systems ,
Raytheon and
Thomson-CSF . With the type of aircraft yet to be selected the possible configurations of the vessels was varied:
- - F-35'''B''' Joint Strike Fighter
'''S'''hort '''T'''ake-'''O'''ff/'''V'''ertical '''L'''anding (STOVL), the current choice for UK carrier air power. A STOVL CVF would remove the need for costly steam catapults and arrestor gear (i.e. CATOBAR), and would also take advantage of the UK lead in STOVL technology. This is at the expense of aircraft range and payload capability (for an equal size CATOBAR carrier). Importantly however the difference in capability between a CATOBAR JSF and STOVL JSF is slight compared to the gulf in capability between the Harrier and, for example, the F/A-18 .
- - Eurofighter Typhoon (Naval)
'''S'''hort '''T'''ake-'''O'''ff '''B'''ut '''A'''rrested '''R'''ecovery (STOBAR) again removes the requirement for the expense of catapults but uses arrestor gear. In this way conventional aircraft (with modification) can be used. Any STOBAR design would most likely have used a navalised version of the Eurofighter Typhoon; i.e. strengthened landing gear, improved FCS and inclusion of an arrestor hook. The advantages of this would be increased range, manoeuvreability and payload compared to a STOVL design and higher operating efficiency than a CATOBAR design. Disadvantages include lower stealth characteristics than the JSF and the very high cost of navalising the Typhoon (with little or no export potential).
- - F-35'''C''' Joint Strike Fighter - F/A-18E/F Super Hornet - Rafale-M
A '''C'''atapult '''A'''ssisted '''T'''ake-'''O'''ff '''B'''ut '''A'''rrested '''R'''ecovery CVF would have used catapults and arrestor cables and an Angled Flight Deck with existing naval aircraft, most likely the F/A-18 or Rafale-M. This has the advantage of reducing technical risk for development of both the aircraft and carriers and offering maximum payload and range capabilities. Disadvantages outweigh these however, including higher operating costs and the minimal British involvement in development of the aircraft due to the "off-the-shelf" purchase.
-
A late BAE submission was a hybrid carrier, featuring a STOVL ski-jump with angled flight deck, catapults and arrestor cables. Advantages of this design include the ability to operate STOVL offensive aircraft and CATOBAR AEW aircraft.
In November 1999 the MoD awarded detailed assessment studies to two consortia, one led by BAe (renamed
BAE Systems on
November 30 ) and one lead by Thomson-CSF (renamed
Thales Group in 2000). The brief required up to six designs from each consortium with airgroups of 30 to 40 Future Joint Combat Aircraft (FJCA).
On
January 17 2001 the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US
Department Of Defense for full participation in the Joint Strike Fighter project, confirming the JSF as the FJCA. This gave the UK significant input into aircraft design and the choice between the Lockheed X-35 and Boeing X-32. On
October 26 2001 the DoD announced that Lockheed Martin had won the JSF contract.
On
September 30 2002 the 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, which will be adapted for STOVL operations. The carriers, expected to remain in service for 50 years, will be convertible to CATOBAR operations for the generation of aircraft after the F-35.
On
January 30 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. These two companies, with the MoD, formed the "Carrier Alliance."
During a speech on
July 21 2004 Geoff Hoon announced a one year delay to allow contractural and cost issues to be resolved. In February 2005 the MoD announced that
Kellog Brown & Root UK Ltd had been selected as "Physical Integrator" for the project, overseeing the finalisation of the design and the construction process. This was due to concerns that neither BAE nor Thales had the capacity to oversee the construction on their own.
The building of the carriers was confirmed in December 2005. A statement said "the Alliance team of MoD, BAE Systems, Thales and KBR, is to be joined by VT Group and Babcock". The building is to be across 4 shipyards with final assembly at
Rosyth . The Defence
Select Committee warned that the project may be failing behind schedule and may even be in jeopardy.
The design features two small island structures, as opposed to the large single island of the ''Nimitz''-class, and two deck lifts. These will operate in the Short Take-Off/Vertical Landing (STOVL) role. The carrier will initially be fitted with a ski-jump but will be fully convertible to the Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) role. This will allow a second generation of aircraft to operate from the vessels after the expected 20 year service life of the F-35.
Assembly is expected to be carried out at
Rosyth in
Scotland ,
United Kingdom on the
Firth Of Forth , a naval base one mile (1.6 km) south of
Dunfermline .
The vessels are expected to be capable of carrying 30 F-35s (36 maximium if the six support/anti-submarine helicopters are not carried), four
Airborne Surveillance And Area Control (ASaC) aircraft and six support/anti-submarine helicopters, for example the
Merlin HM Mk.1 . The ASaC component is known as
Maritime Airborne Surveillance & Control (MASC), and current expectations are that this will be an EH101 airframe with the systems from the
Current Generation Of Sea King ASaC , although versions of the
V-22 Osprey and
E-2 Hawkeye are also being considered.
The crew will be about 600, only 15 more than Invincible, indicating the high level of automation being integrated into the ships' systems. Accommodation for 1400 will be available.
The MOD has decided not to use nuclear propulsion for the aircraft carrier because of high costs. The carrier's propulsion system will be Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) with the Rolls-Royce
Marine Trent MT30 36 MW gas turbine generator units.
The optimum location for the position of the main propulsion system is being examined, with maximising the hangar space below decks a major consideration. The current design places one gas turbine generator unit under each island in the starboard sponson, on 4 deck. The unrefuelled range of the carrier will be 10,000nm.
The UK has opted to build a larger carrier than strictly necessary for operation of the
STOVL F-35 version. This allows the carrier to be designed for, but not with, catapults and arrestor wires for conventional aircraft launch and recovery (
CATOBAR .) The carrier is thus said to be
Future Proof , allowing it to operate a generation of aircraft beyond the F-35. It should be noted that reduction in size, particularly flight deck and hangar area, has a proportionally far greater effect on sortie generation capabilities than on costs, and the current design size represents better value for the RN than many smaller designs.
Many of the systems remain unspecified however most designs released show a
BAE Systems Insyte /
Thales S1850M long range radar on the forward island structure. Some have also shown a BAE Systems Insyte
SAMPSON radar on the rear island.
It has been alleged that the large size of the carrier is a major problem.
With the proposed specification of 65,000 tonnes displacement and a length of 274m (900ft) there is no suitable dry dock for a CVF at either of the RN's main two naval bases, their home base of
Portsmouth Naval Base or
Devonport Naval Base . The No.10 Dock at Devonport is restricted to ships of about 40,000 tonnes and 259m (850ft) length, while the biggest two docks at Portsmouth are slightly smaller (259 m long with a 33m beam, 256 m long respectively). Lengthening of any of these docks, or the construction of a new dry dock, would be a major and expensive exercise, although the largest
Dry Dock in the world is at the
Harland & Wolff shipyard in
Belfast .
Plans are advanced for the dredging of the approaches to the harbour, the harbour's main channel and the refurbishment of several jetties prior to the arrival of the first vessel in 2010.
In
1998 George Robertson joked that the best way to guarantee funding for the programme was to name the lead ship HMS ''
Gordon Brown '', after the British
Chancellor Of The Exchequer . The following names are rumoured but not confirmed;
