September 2011

UK carrier to receive second EMALS production shipset, Fox confirms

Dr Fox has confirmed that HMS Prince of Wales will be fitted with EMALS.

EMALS is an American produced Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System. It is currently being developed by the United States Navy and is due to be fitted on the new Ford class carriers.

EMALS Rail Launcher

There are many design advantages to having an electromagnetic system in place over the conventional steam version. EMALS is more efficient, requires less power, weighs a lot less and does not need the same manpower to maintain the system. It is thought that EMALS will be able to provide ~30% more energy output (122MJoules of energy)  and this will be able to be accurately adjusted to the dependence of the aircraft. This is likely to see the use of heavy fighters and UAVs on the same flight deck.

There was speculation that the Royal Navy would purchase EMCAT (Electromagnetic Catapult), a similar design from company Converteam UK. The UK Government had given Converteam a fund for researching, with an official decision not to be made until 2012.

A jet prepares to use EMALS to take off

Yard sees off its piece of carrier jigsaw

A&P Worker looks at his work sail down the Tyne

PART of Britain’s biggest warship has sailed from a South Tyneside yard – to become part of a giant defence jigsaw being assembled in Scotland.

Workers at A&P Tyne at Hebburn have completed a section of the massive HMS Queen Elizabeth II aircraft carrier, which is being assembled in Rosyth, Scotland.

A&P Tyne is the only North East shipyard involved in building the new aircraft carrier, which will measure 280m long by 70m wide and will eventually carry 40 aircraft.

The steel modules, which weighed a total of 3,000 tonnes when secured aboard the barge, were the culmination of three years’ work at A&P, but became the responsibility of Glasgow shipping and transportation specialist Henry Abram & Sons Ltd, the moment the mooring ropes were handed over.


Assembly of new carrier begins

Goliath Crane - Defence Minister Peter Luff sits at the "wheel"

EUROPE’S biggest crane swung into action to begin the final stages of building the first of the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers.

The first parts of HMS Queen Elizabeth are being put in place using a huge 223-ft tall crane, named Goliath, at Rosyth dockyard, Scotland.