Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers - News and Discussion

[QEC Eye in the SKY]

[Ron5]

And who asked you for your ten pence worth?

its called an open forum I know


to be fair I'm surprised Ron knows about cricket

Small but noisy insect.

[Ron5]

That hangar is bloody huge.. Balls to the F-35 I wonder how many London busses could be fitted in there?!

Interestingly enough, not big enough for the French. In their abortive attempt to adapt the CVF design for their navy, they asked that the hangar roof be made uniformly high instead of high in selected areas.

The Brits refused due to the negative influence that would have on the ship's stability. A concern that partly lingered from the (unnecessary) loss of Ark Royal.

[Opinion3]

That said I was expecting a permanent rail crane (similar to that proposed in the T26 for the containers) in the hangar... but no

[shark bait]

There are permanent gantry cranes in the hangar somewhere, just not shown in that image. I guess they don't travel the full length of the hangar because that would prevent different sections being isolated in a damage control scenario.

[hovematlot]

Considering there was a poor sod on top of the bridge of HMS Plymouth with a laser, trying to blind Argie pilots in 1982.
It’s certainly not a new concept! I just don’t know why they didn’t continue development over the last 35 years.

Having used it, it was a rather rudimentary device, but let's just say it did the job. I'm sure with all the advances over the past 3 decades Dragonfire will be an awesome piece of kit.

[Jake1992]

Will dragonfire be put on the carriers and other ships in place of phalanx or as well as it ?

[RetroSicotte]

Will dragonfire be put on the carriers and other ships in place of phalanx or as well as it ?

Unknown. The final design of Dragonfire is yet to be determined.

Current CGI appears to place it in the spots that the DS30M usually go, but that is not an announcement of anything.

Depending on the power systems connection requirements, they would go wonderfully atop either side of the Mission Bay on a Type 26. On the Carriers, I'm certain the sponsons have vast swathes of room.

[Timmymagic]

Will dragonfire be put on the carriers and other ships in place of phalanx or as well as it ?

It's unlikely to replace it as lasers will always have some issues with spray/fog. There will be times when they're more effective, times when they are far less effective. They should be seen as a adjunct rather than replacement, with the benefit of them being incredibly cheap to fire.

[Timmymagic]

Given the fact that a drone was able to land on HMS QE while it was on sea trials, having some sort of laser system on it would be an excellent defense against drone attacks as well as many others. What are the current options, fire an expensive CAM/Aster missile or fire CIWS, both of which if used against drones in lose proximity could have a chance of hitting friendly ships. A laser would be a cheap and accurate weapon system with minimal collateral damage.

Drone attacks at present would be best served by an anti-uav system like the Blighter AUDS. Anything too big for Blighter really needs to be dealt with by Phalanx, CAMM or a Wildcat with LMM or M3M installed.

http://www.blighter.com/products/auds-a ... ystem.html

[QEC Eye in the SKY]

[QEC Eye in the SKY]

[seaspear]

Given the fact that a drone was able to land on HMS QE while it was on sea trials, having some sort of laser system on it would be an excellent defense against drone attacks as well as many others. What are the current options, fire an expensive CAM/Aster missile or fire CIWS, both of which if used against drones in lose proximity could have a chance of hitting friendly ships. A laser would be a cheap and accurate weapon system with minimal collateral damage.

Drone attacks at present would be best served by an anti-uav system like the Blighter AUDS. Anything too big for Blighter really needs to be dealt with by Phalanx, CAMM or a Wildcat with LMM or M3M installed.

http://www.blighter.com/products/auds-a ... ystem.html

Or the deck watch could take up skeet shooting lol

[KyleG]

Given the fact that a drone was able to land on HMS QE while it was on sea trials, having some sort of laser system on it would be an excellent defense against drone attacks as well as many others.

It happened during sea trials, while the ship was alongside, and before any weapons systems were fitted. Sure, it might have been prudent for the crew to have monitored it (assuming they weren't), but it's not really comparable to a situation where the ship is in active service. If push came to shove, one of the mounted GPMGs (albeit one manned by a good shooter) would make short work of a quadcopter.

[indeid]

Given the fact that a drone was able to land on HMS QE while it was on sea trials, having some sort of laser system on it would be an excellent defense against drone attacks as well as many others.

It happened during sea trials, while the ship was alongside, and before any weapons systems were fitted. Sure, it might have been prudent for the crew to have monitored it (assuming they weren't), but it's not really comparable to a situation where the ship is in active service. If push came to shove, one of the mounted GPMGs (albeit one manned by a good shooter) would make short work of a quadcopter.

You’d be firing off crew served weapons into the air while alongside?

Pleased I don’t live in Pompy......

[Timmymagic]

Or the deck watch could take up skeet shooting lol

True. I'm surprised that we haven't seen Naval bases at least trialling systems like this though. Particularly as they can be mounted on buildings and left to their own devices whilst being monitored remotely. We're going to find out the hard way sooner or later, either by accident or design.

[KyleG]

You’d be firing off crew served weapons into the air while alongside?

Pleased I don’t live in Pompy......

No. In that case I was referring to a situation where the ship is actually out on operations.

[seaspear]

This is not the correct place to post this ,but I was not sure where else ,I understand the MQR predator b has been successfully engaged in asw operations against submerged contacts with the U.S.N ,this of course being a very large aircraft is not carrier launched ,but with 40 hours flying time could provide coverage for naval operations , IF configured to, as the R.A.F has a number of these more recently used in Afghanistan etc. is there information on this being done for R.A.F & R.N operations

[QEC Eye in the SKY]

[Wrekin1410]

It’s a great way to show just how big that hangar is.

[indeid]

You’d be firing off crew served weapons into the air while alongside?

Pleased I don’t live in Pompy......

No. In that case I was referring to a situation where the ship is actually out on operations.

But the drone that landed on QE was limited range to what, a couple of Km’s? Even ‘larger’ tactical systems aren’t going to be heading far offshore so if you are talking about when you out at sea conducting flight ops what is the threat that you are going to be hosing down with a GPMG?

[KyleG]

Think you're taking that part of my post a bit too seriously, it was more a theoretical point than a suggestion for actual procedures.

[Timmymagic]

The review stands and parade ground inside the hanger is a wonderful picture, it's the first I've seen that manages to convey just how massive the hanger is.

[QEC Eye in the SKY]

[QEC Eye in the SKY]