The UK government's decision to build two new 55,000-60,000 tonne short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) carriers with a ski jump (Flight International, 8-14 October) is welcome, especially as Admiral Alan West, First Sea Lord and the Chief of Naval Staff, said the main reason was the two-year wait for the F-35 conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant.
The new carrier needs to also operate CTOL aircraft and with the acceptance for the need to dredge Portsmouth harbour to take the two 290m (951ft) carriers, the MoD may be persuaded to go back to BAE's hybrid carrier design. The angled deck can take a single catapult and arrester wires and, with a redesign to a US Navy (USN) carrier angled deck, possibly two in addition to a ski jump. This would allow the use of the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft as used by the US and French navies. This proven, state of the art aircraft would give superior protection to the carrier and the fleet and the advanced version will be ready before the first carrier.
The taxpayer will be spending over £13 billion ($20 billion) on the project. The survivability of the sailors in the Royal Navy fleet is a primary concern and needs to be addressed for a relatively small increase in cost. The additional CTOL capability will allow USN Greyhound aircraft to use the carriers with the advantages of cross decking with USN and French Navy CTOL aircraft and USN unmanned air vehicles.
Tony Linden
Reading, UK
Source: Flight International
