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N AV Y N E W S CONTINUED��� Defensive weapons will include the Phalanx Close-In Weapons System for anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence; also 30mm Automated Small Calibre Guns and Miniguns for use against fast attack craft. S P E C I F I C AT I O N S LOA Beam Dead weight Speed Ships company Aircraft 280m 70m 65,000 tonnes 25 knots 2286 40-plus CARRIER AIR WING, LIGHTNING II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of singleseat, single-engine, fifth generation multi-role fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defence missions with stealth capability. The F-35 has been designed to have a low radar cross section primarily due to stealthy materials used in construction, including fibre mat. As originally intended, the aircraft selected for use on the carriers is the Short Take Off Vertical Landing variant of the F35 Lightning II, known as the F35B. On October 19, 2010, David Cameron had announced that the UK would change their order to the carrier variant (F35C) and that the carrier design would be modified to use a catapult launch and arrestor recovery (CATOBAR) system. This was because the F35C variant has a greater range and the ability to carry a larger and more diverse payload. However, on May 10, 2012, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced that the government had decided to revert to its predecessor���s plans to purchase the F35B rather than the F35C, and to abandon the completion of Prince of Wales to a CATOBAR configuration. The reason given was that, ���conversion to ���cats and traps��� will cost about double what was originally estimated and would not be delivered until 2023 at the earliest.��� QUEEN ELIZABETH CLASS FOR RN LYNX WILDCAT Currently being built at shipyards around the England, HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales are the future flagships of the nation. Initially the ships will carry helicopters. The vast flight deck and hangar can accommodate any helicopter in Britain���s military inventory. From 2020, however, our punch will be delivered by the F35 Lightning II, the world���s most advanced stealth fighter-bomber. Both ships are being constructed in numerous shipyards in one of the most demanding and revolutionary shipbuilding programmes ever undertaken, with the pieces being slotted together in a specially extended dry dock at Rosyth on the Forth to create two 65,000 ton leviathans. Both ships are expected to serve for up to 50 years. Construction of Queen Elizabeth began in 2009. Her assembly is taking place in the Firth of Forth at Rosyth Royal Dockyard. She will be built from nine blocks built in six UK shipyards: BAE Systems Surface Ships in Glasgow, Babcock at Appledore, Babcock at Rosyth, A&P Tyne in Hebburn, BAE at Portsmouth and Cammell Laird (flight decks) at Birkenhead. Two of the lower main blocks, together weighing more than 6000 tonnes and forming part of the base of the ship, were assembled and joined into one piece on June 30, 2011. On October 28, 2012 an 11,000-tonne section of the carrier began the lengthy journey around the south coast of England to avoid bad weather, from the shipbuilding hall at Govan, to the Rosyth dockyard, arriving on November 21. An improved version of the Westland Super Lynx military helicopter, the Lynx Wildcat, entering service with the Royal Navy in 2015, may make up a significant number of the helicopters aboard both Queen Elizabeth-class carriers. It will have room for seven passengers, a top speed of 187mph and a range of 520nmi. It will be armed with forward firing CRV7 rockets and machine guns, pintle mounted machine gun (eg FN MAG or Browning M2), air-to-surface missile system (Thales Lightweight Multi-Role Missile) possibly Hellfire, torpedoes and depth charges. 64 Professional Skipper March/April 2013 THE MERLIN The Merlin is a medium-lift helicopter that performs a wide variety of functions for the Royal Navy. It performs exceptionally in an anti-submarine role. A chin-mount FLIR is fitted to some variants. The AW101 (excluding the ASM MK1) is equipped with chaff and flare dispensers, directed infrared countermeasures (infrared jammers), ESM (electronic support measures, in the form of RF (radio frequency) heads), and a laser detection and warning system. It has two hard points for weapon carriers, on which the HM Mk1 model can carry four Sting Ray torpedoes or Mk 11 Mod 3 depth charges, though at present cannot use the Sea Skua missile. The Mk1, and Mk3 and 3a variants can mount general purpose machine guns in up to five locations in the main cabin pointing out of door and window apertures.