Both the RN & RAF completed many years of studies in to which variant they wanted to meet their operational requirement. Both services agreed that it had to be the CTOL version & (in the Navy's case) cat & trap capable. The report went to the Minister (Buff(Hoon)) and the CEOs of both BAE & RR cried foul on the grounds that the CTOL version would be detrimental to British industries involvement in the project. The Minister backed BAe/ RR & not the customer!
Hi Andy,
Thank you very much for confirming my thoughts and if both services are operating the same excellent aircraft then it gives us all far more flexibility...
Cats and traps should have been a 'no brainer' but further to Andy's observations about decisions.. The cost of building the ski-slope version of this warship is far, far cheaper than the conventional carrier. Who cares how much the aircraft would cost... The ships will need thousands of employees to make them and each employee is a vote to keep these people in office. The ministers responsible for these decisions would no doubt have all long since been replaced and probably be sitting on the board of some arms manufacturer. Meanwhile we are building aircraft carriers that might not have any aircraft suitable for purpose.
Not-a-boffin,
NO decision has been made regarding what carrier will get the EMALS and this morning it has been stated no further decisions will be made until 2015 at the earliest! This is NOT from a newspaper article, it is from the relevant minister in the House of Lords. I take onboard what you are saying and the construction of the actual ski-jump may well not even be started until before 2015.. That is not the issue.
Would the installation of EMALS need to be done PRIOR to fitting 'the roof'? Might I suggest that installing it as an 'after thought' is going to create huge problems, that would no doubt take considerable periods of time to overcome and no doubt have huge cost ramifications. Should all the design, electrical and installation work be a part of the original concept as installation may well effect the stability of the ship?
This carrier contract may well have been negotiated for several years and it may well have involved the most highly qualified experts in the country but is it a professional contract that has been well thought out, well planned and inspires confidence?
A Royal Navy frigate gets converted to carry a detachment of just twenty Royal Marines. Not a big job but..... All the anti submarine equipment had to be removed, all the weaponry for the anti submarine role had to be removed. All just to make space for a store-room which is needed to take the additional equipment of these twenty extra crew members. Plus to allow these twenty Royal Marines to be a part of that ships company, twenty sailors had to go.
Is the fitting of EMALS going to take up space, space that has already been allocated which means a redesign and a recalculation regarding allocation of space. This system will also effect the stability of the ship plus it will need additional operators that have not been planned for. Has the accommodation been allocated, this will also have to be a consideration.
If the EMALS does not work then would a steam option be considered? An interesting challenge as this will be fitted way down in the guts of the ship, and then all the plumbing plus enormous amounts of insulation would need installation.
My thoughts are that this EMALS issue needs to be resolved as quickly as is possible because each day that goes by sees these carriers slowly being built. If in two years time they say no to the ski ramp and perish the thought, no to the electric option, then do they then decide to go for the steam option??
No one can say at this moment in time if the EMALS system will work
on our smaller carriers?? I am in the corner that hopes it will, but this system is designed for ships much longer than our vessels and am I correct to say all the tests so far are based on their installation into that type of ship?
Good afternoon James
the marinised versions of Typhoon and Gripen will both - supposedly - be ski-jump capable and don't forget that the Hawkeye has been successfully ski-jumped
An interesting observation and I have seen footage of a Hercules landing aboard an aircraft carrier
PLEASE look on this post along with all my other contributions as questions, as opposed to statements of facts unless clearly stated