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How will the drones be launched?

Earlier, we reported that the Ministry of Defence is currently seeking information on the potential for industry provide assisted launch and arrested recover systems for a range of air vehicles, which would be suitable to fit to a vessel within 3 – 5 years.
The Ministry of Defence add that it is looking to assess the availability of electromagnetic catapult, and arrestor wire systems for the launch and recovery of air vehicles.

While the Request for Information looks to assess the “availability of electromagnetic catapult and arrestor wire systems to launch aircraft” from a ship, words associated with the previous effort to explore converting the vessels to ‘CATOBAR’ in order to launch carrier variant F-35Cs, it shouldn’t be taken as indication that the Royal Navy are abandoning the short take off and vertical landing F-35Bs and returning to catapult launched fighters. On the contrary, they’re looking to augment the F-35Bs.

In fact, the upper and lower weight limits of the catapult and recovery system outlined aren’t enough to launch or recover any variant of the F-35 in normal conditions.

The launch and recovery options mentioned would be utilised for larger uncrewed aircraft as the armed forces begin to rely on them more and more in place of crewed platforms.

Anyway, on to the Request for Information itself.

“Potential supplier and interested parties are invited to provide information in relation to potential solutions which are sufficiently technically mature to be fitted to a suitable ship from 2023.”

According to the Request for Information, the Ministry of Defence have set out the following requirements.

“Potential arrestor solutions ideally should offer:
a. Max trap 47000lbs / 21318Kg
b. Min trap 11000lbs / 5000Kg
c. Energy damping method
d. Potential for energy reclamation

Potential catapult solutions ideally should offer:
a. Max launch weight 55000lbs / 24949Kg
b. Electrical power input required against launch cycle time.”

According to the Ministry of Defence, the intended outcomes of the Request for Information are as follows:

“a. Develop further MoD understanding of the different technologies and capabilities available in the market, both current and emerging.
b. Alignment of potential future MoD requirements with industry standards and processes for procurement of maritime un-crewed and autonomous capabilities; and,
c. Enable the Authority to develop a procurement strategy that will deliver best value for money for Defence.”

The Royal Navy say that the DEVELOP Directorate leads the development of the Royal Navy’s future warfighting capability and “acts as the platform for the through-life capability for all maritime capabilities in order to achieve the optimum mix of present and future warfighting technologies for a modern, global and ready Royal Navy”.

The Royal Navy is driving hard to introduce a range of un-crewed air vehicles and to “give wider options for the use of different air vehicles types within the Fleet”.

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The emphasis of the squadron’s embarkation on the carrier was ensuring air and ground crew were used to operating at sea – and to train Prince of Wales’ air/air engineering departments in handling, moving, maintaining and launching/recovering the Apache as part of the carrier’s broader air group.
During the fortnight-long spell on the Portsmouth-based leviathan*, 656 Squadron shared the flight deck with RAF Chinooks, Royal Navy Merlins and, briefly, the first F-35 Lightning jets to land/take-off from HMS Prince of Wales.
The Army Air Corps fliers landed and took off 161 times, qualified one new pilot for maritime operations by day/night, while eight more regained or maintained their currency.
Instructing the aircrews was veteran Apache pilot Major Tony Thompson with 19 years in the cockpit. This was his seventh embarkation in a ship in five years and he says the Queen Elizabeth class is a challenge for pilots – despite a flight deck large enough to accommodate three football pitches.
“HMS Prince of Wales is a much larger ship to land on – but she’s also much darker,” Major Thompson added.
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And if it’s tough for the crew in the cockpit, the Apache poses challenges for the Royal Navy aircraft handlers who guide it on to/off the deck and move the nine-tonne warbird around.
...
"For me, as a flight deck director, the Apache’s ability to be almost invisible in the dark makes marshalling and ground movement particularly difficult at night."

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Russian fighter jets armed with a new hypersonic “aircraft carrier killer missile” have been sent to a base in Syria to monitor the Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth strike force which is sailing in the eastern Mediterranean.

It is the first time Russia has deployed its Kinzhal hypersonic missileoverseas. It is claimed to be capable of flying at ten times the speed of sound (12,350kph or 7,670mph) and has a range of about 2,000km (1,250 miles).

The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (Dagger) missile was one of the new generation of weapons highlighted by President Putin in 2019. He claimed that Russia was the first country to deploy a hypersonic weapon. The missile can be armed with a nuclear warhead.

It is being carried by two MiG-31K supersonic fighter jets dispatched to the Khmeimim airbase in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia. The aircraft, codenamed Foxhound by Nato, are participating in a Russian naval exercise in the same region as the Queen Elizabeth.

It’s the latest sign of Moscow adopting a high-profile stance towards Britain’s inaugural operational deployment of the £3.2 billion, 65,000-tonne carrier, which led to a confrontation in the Black Sea last week with HMS Defender, which is part of the carrier’s strike force. The two Foxhounds will monitor “the actions of the [Royal Navy] aircraft carrier group”, the Russians said.

A Russian ministry of defence video showed one of the Foxhounds armed with the Kinzhal hypersonic missile taking off from the base. Three Tu-22M3 Backfire-C strategic bombers are also at the Khmeimim airbase taking part in the same exercise in the eastern Mediterranean and can be armed with long-range cruise missiles.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by two destroyers, two frigates, an Astute class nuclear-powered attack submarine and two support vessels, is on a 28-week maiden deployment which will take it to India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the South China Sea.

The incident in the Black Sea last week led to angry statements by Moscow and London.

Moscow claimed that a coastguard ship fired warning shots at HMS Defender, a Type 45 destroyer, and that fighter jets dropped four bombs in front of the warship after it had left the Ukrainian port of Odessa. This was denied by the Ministry of Defence in London though video showed the Russian vessel firing three rounds.


Tensions in the Black Sea remain high with an annual naval drill involving Ukraine, the United States and allies starting today and running until July 10. They involve 32 ships, 5,000 troops, and 40 aircraft from Nato member states, including Britain. The Russian embassy in Washington described the exercises as “aggressive” and called on the United States to cancel them. Moscow has warned that it will respond “appropriately” to any threats posed by the drills.

The Kremlin annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, triggering an international crisis. Tensions flared again in April when Russia amassed an estimated 100,000 soldiers on Ukraine’s eastern borders. HMS Defender’s voyage was intended to assert international navigation rights in the area and as a show of solidarity with Ukraine.

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