BAE wins contract for new UK Carrier. "Ours are still bigger." Says Bush

[DuncanK]

When I first looked at the picture I thought one tower handled the landings and one handled the take offs, but I'm not sure where the planes land. I think its the red area though.

[DuncanK]

Looking at it again I don't know. What happens if they miss the wire. Is this for harriers only?

[Dinner]

Could one tower be for navigation and command while the other tower acts strictly for flight control?

[Kyle]

Originally posted by DuncanK
Looking at it again I don't know. What happens if they miss the wire. Is this for harriers only?

I'd wager the UK is ordering the VTOL variant of the JSF.

[Dis]

Well that's what I'm thinking. The tower in front is for navigation. And the tower in back is for flight operations. In the U.S. navy we have a position called "Air Boss". He runs the flight operations. The only problem is what would the captain do? All U.S. carrier captains are fly boys. They like to be part of air operations. Because that is in their blood. A captain would much rather be doing that than navigating the ship.

Also navigation plays a role in air operations in the U.S. navy. It is necessary to get a certain head wind for takeoff. This requires the carrier to go into the wind and run at a high speed. And any plane down will require maneuvering which would surely be harder to coordinate with 2 towers. And if communications are lost...

yuck, horrible design if that is the case. yeah it's not great to have all your eggs in one basket, but it makes coordination and communication much easier as I pointed out above.

I notice it also has the ramp, which is on other British carriers. The catapults look very long compared to U.S. carriers. At least I think those are catapults. The carrier also has an angle deck like U.S. carriers (the flight deck that extends off the port side). But it is less angled than U.S. carriers. There looks to be a catapult there as well for 3 catapults total. I don't see any arresting gears, but it is possible British carriers don't use them if they use harriers. but don't they have other planes that aren't vertical take off? Like planes that bring in mail and personnel etc. Unless they strictly use choppers for that.

[CerberusIV]

I have been watching this project for a while. Yes, these carriers are supposed to have the VTOL version of the JSF whenever it is ready.

Traditional carrier names:- Ark Royal, Illustrious, Victorious, Invincible, Eagle, Hermes. My money would be on Ark Royal plus one of these others.

They will only carry JSF plus helicopters AFAIK.

The recent fuss has been that the Sea Harrier, and presumably the current Invincible class ships, will be phased out two years before these carriers and JSF will be ready. So if anybody wants a war, that is their opportunity.

As for nuclear power, the French wanted two carriers but went for nuclear power and found they could only afford one so whenever the de Gaulle is in for refit, they don't have a carrier.

I would also bet that the final product looks very different from the pictures, it usually does.

[Lancer]

"Ours are still bigger" Says Bush.

Well, he's right, but he wasn't refering to aircraft carriers.

[Dauphin]

HMS Relentless and HMS Indomitable.

[Sandman]

HMS The Two Towers

[Rogan Josh]

For details, look here.

[Dauphin]

I hope that Courageous isn't mispelt on the real thing.