Complex of former greatness: will the new aircraft carrier return Britain to the status of “mistress of the seas. The newest aircraft carrier "HMS Queen Elizabeth" built Aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth distinctive features
The opposing Russian and British militaries are so far limiting themselves to a verbal duel. The Russian Ministry of Defense responded to the statement of the British Minister of Defense Michael Fallon about the superiority of the new aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth over our aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov.
According to the official representative of the Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov, The British minister is not distinguished by his knowledge of military science. He called Fallon's statement "exalted" and explained that the British ship is, in fact, an "aircraft" capable only of "releasing airplanes from its belly" and requiring military escort.
"Unlike aircraft-carrying cruiser“Admiral Kuznetsov, equipped with anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and, most importantly, anti-ship missile weapons “Granit”, the British aircraft carrier is just a convenient large-sized naval target,” Konashenkov stated.
The ironic assessment came in response to Fallon’s attacks in an interview with The Telegraf. The minister suggested that the Russians would look with envy at the new British aircraft carrier. He promised to protect the new flagship with frigates and destroyers, and to use helicopters to search for Russian submarines.
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Let us recall that the recent voyage of the Russian naval strike group led by the Admiral Kuznetsov across the English Channel to the shores of Syria caused a painful reaction in Great Britain. At the suggestion of the same Fallon, NATO member countries refused Russian ships in refueling at ports. Having political ambitions, the minister directly declares his commitment to the course of Churchill and Thatcher on the issue of confrontation with Russia.
The aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, like its sister ship Prince of Wales under construction, is three times larger than its Invisible-class predecessors and comparable to the American Nimitz and the French Charles de Gaulle. The UK Ministry of Defense has already ordered 138 F-35 aircraft for them. The British treasury spent 3.5 billion pounds sterling on the construction of one ship.
Among the potential weaknesses of the aircraft carrier, the British The Telegraph named the outdated software. It was noted that on the computers in the control room of the ship there was installed operating system Windows XP, which Microsoft has now discontinued support for. It was this OS that turned out to be the most vulnerable during the Wannacry virus attack.
Editor-in-Chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Viktor Murakhovsky, the Soviet military leadership’s refusal to build aircraft carriers that require security in favor of aircraft-carrying cruisers equipped with all types of weapons, in modern conditions turns out to be justified. Modern types of weapons make it possible to effectively threaten enemy carrier strike groups.
In the same time Corresponding Member of RARAN, Captain 1st Rank Reserve Konstantin Sivkov warns the Russian military against mischievous sentiments, but at the same time notes that the Russian Navy has ways to neutralize the British ship.
— The new British aircraft carrier should not be underestimated. This enemy is quite serious. In general, it is intended for other purposes, and not to fight our surface forces. In the NATO system, this ship will be used to solve air defense and anti-aircraft defense missions. Namely: for operational cover of air and anti-submarine defense of the main strike forces of the US 2nd Fleet in the Norwegian Sea. These are the 401−1 and 401−2 carrier strike groups (AUG). The aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth will be deployed to the northern part of the Norwegian Sea. That's what it was created for.
This ship is replacing the Illustrious and Invisible class aircraft carriers, which have already been cut up and written off. The new aircraft carrier will not have catapults. It will accommodate about 40 F-35 short takeoff and landing aircraft, but the ship is not yet equipped with them. In addition, there will be about 20 helicopters. Thus, the British aircraft carrier will be comparable in its operational capabilities to our Kuznetsov. The only thing is that Kuznetsov has a larger range of action for carrier-based aircraft: for the Su-33 it is 1.3 thousand kilometers, for the MiG-29 it is about 1 thousand, and for the British it is about 0.8 thousand kilometers.
“SP”: — What is the security of the aircraft carrier “Queen Elizabeth”?
“It will be escorted by Daring Type 45 destroyers, which have powerful air defense. They can solve the problem of providing cover from a missile attack. In any case, to break through the air defense of two or three such destroyers and the aircraft carrier itself, it will be necessary to organize a salvo no less powerful than that against American aircraft carriers. If you use the Granit missiles that Konashenkov mentioned, then you need a salvo of at least 40 missiles. Then they will break through the defense. But organizing such a salvo is not so easy.
For example, on project 1144 ( cruiser« Peter the Great" - author.) there are only 20 of them. If you organize a strike from surface ships and submarines, then the question is how to do it at the same time. After all, launches must be carried out simultaneously, with an interval of up to one minute. This is a very difficult task.
Another way is to use naval missile aircraft. They can. In the two-missile version, the regiment can strike with 36-40 K-22 missiles. That is, you will have to use a combined option.
"SP": - But from 2018, new Zircon anti-ship missiles will enter service. There the speed is up to 7 Mach, while the Sea Ceptor systems equipped with British escort frigates are capable of intercepting targets at a speed of 3.5 Mach...
- “Zircon” - yes... But the question here is the combat range. The exact range of this missile is unknown. If it is 800 kilometers, as predicted, then there are no questions about hitting targets. But if it’s 300-400 kilometers, then the Zircon won’t help much, since our ship must come within salvo range. But it will be difficult to do. After all, the British will attack us with his strike aircraft, and the American AUGs will help him in this. And besides, if we spot him, he can simply retreat, bringing our ship under attack from the allies. He's not a fool.
— “Zircon” is a unique weapon for fighting aircraft carriers. If the Russian Navy can ensure its use, then there will be no problems,” continues military expert Dmitry Kornev - But it is necessary to provide reconnaissance and target designation. At the moment, there are no such weapons at a range at which our ships could use them without the risk of being destroyed within 15 minutes. There are shipborne assets, but their range of action is such that to do this it is necessary to enter the enemy’s AUG defense zone. And there the lifespan of a submarine or ship is short.
The long-range defense zone of the AUG is about 800 kilometers, denser - 400-500 kilometers. If the Zircon has a range of approximately 500 kilometers, and there is no accurate data on this yet, we have problems hitting targets. Information about the 800-kilometer destruction range is unconvincing, since the dimensions of the missile are known. Considering the speed and fuel consumption, this is an unrealistic range. Therefore, we need full-fledged space and air assets target designation. If they exist, it is quite possible to sink a target such as the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth with two or three Zircon missiles. It is impossible to shoot down these missiles.
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“SP”: — Is it correct to compare the Russian and British fleets, or even more so individual ships?
— We must remember that the British fleet operates as part of NATO. If he is involved in hostilities, then we are dealing with the entire NATO fleet. Moreover, their interaction with each other has been worked out - exercises take place constantly. The NATO fleet can be considered as a single fleet, and taking into account the power of the United States, it greatly exceeds our capabilities. We can resist them provided that we ensure the use of heterogeneous forces: basic aviation, air and space reconnaissance, ground missile systems. In a defensive operation we have a chance, but in an offensive operation we have none.
“SP”: — What do you think our fleet lacks?
— The Russian fleet must become a fleet. Even if we complete everything we are currently building, it will not be enough. We need a concept for fleet development. We need to understand why we are doing this. Now we are building a fleet at the request of industry, and not because we formulate certain tasks in the world’s oceans.
Armament
Same type ships
The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) is the largest surface warship that has been built for the Royal Navy. This aircraft carrier can be used in a variety of operations and greatly enhances the capabilities of the Royal Navy.
The aircraft carrier is named after the lead ship of the dreadnought class HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913). The new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth received the same motto and coat of arms, decorated with a Tudor rose.
class (English) Class) aircraft carriers, the lead of which is HMS Queen Elizabeth, are versatile ships that can be used both in combat and in providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief
General information
History of creation
The Royal British Navy in the 60s of the twentieth century still remained one of the leaders in the number of aircraft carriers in its composition and was second only to the US Navy. But these aircraft carriers were developed before the Second World War or during the war. In the post-war period, aircraft carriers began to be introduced into operation of larger and heavier jet fighters, for which the flight decks of early aircraft carriers were not intended. At the same time, the physical operation of the aircraft carriers themselves was coming to an end and they had to be replaced. Therefore, in the mid-1960s, the British Admiralty began to develop a project for two new large CVA-01 class aircraft carriers class) Queen Elizabeth.
But in 1966, this project was canceled. The project of Type 82 destroyers, which they wanted to build to accompany the CVA-01 aircraft carriers, was also canceled. The reasons for the cancellation were the very high cost of building such aircraft carriers and other problems that would have arisen during construction, operation and maintenance. But The main reason for the cancellation was rather that the Ministry of Defense believed that cover east of the Suez Canal could be better provided by air force strike aircraft based in Australia and the Indian Ocean Islands than by the few combat-ready aircraft carriers that remained at the time. Great Britain. The Royal Navy, however, did not completely abandon the capabilities of the aircraft carrier, and three light aircraft carriers with a displacement of 20,000 tons were built. class Invicible, which were intended to be used in the North Atlantic to counter the Soviet Northern Fleet. These ships served the Royal Navy from the early 1980s of the twentieth century until the second decade of the twenty-first century. They were used in the South Atlantic during the Falklands War, in the Adriatic Sea during during the Bosnian War, and in the Middle East in 2003 during the invasion of Iraq. When their service life expired, they were taken out of service, the last one being removed from service in 2014 was HMS_Illustrious.
By this time, a project was already in development to create two new aircraft carriers of the Queen Elizabeth class. The strategic military review of the British Ministry of Defense for 1998 stated that aircraft carriers were needed that could carry offensive aircraft abroad if foreign bases from which were denied there will be the necessary area and infrastructure, since where there are bases abroad, they are not always accessible, and the infrastructure may be completely absent; in the event of a conflict in a problem area, they will have a deterrent effect. The report also said that at present time, the emphasis is on offensive powerful aviation operations and maximum flight range in the most multi-purpose use. And that, “when the current operating aircraft carriers reach their planned service life, we plan to replace them with two larger ships.”
On 25 July 2007, Defense Minister Des Browne announced the construction of two new aircraft carriers of the class. class) Queen Elizabeth. The order was 4.085 billion pounds sterling. In December 2008, there was a financial crisis, this delayed the construction of the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth and added another 1.560 billion pounds sterling to the construction cost. In November 2013, the contract was revised, and amounted to £6,200 billion.
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Construction
aircraft carrier at Rosyth shipyard
Fluid Transfer International was involved in the installation of equipment for aviation fuel systems. Reverse osmosis equipment was installed, which provides 500 tons of fresh water daily on board the ship
The two lower blocks of the ship's base were connected on June 20, 2011
The third unit was delivered to Rosyth from Govan on 20 August 2011
The aircraft carrier section weighing 11,000 tons arrived on November 21
Unit LB02 was shipped from Portsmouth in May 2012 to Rosyth.
In June 2012, a bulbous bow was installed on the bow block
On 28 May 2012, sections of CB02, which make up the flight deck, were shipped from Cammell Laird to Rosyth. They were transported around the entire north coast of Scotland and delivered to the Firth of Forth.
Unit LB04 was shipped in November 2012 from Govan to Rosyth due to bad weather Its transport route took it south around the coast of England and it arrived at the shipyard in December for assembly.
In September 2013, a long-range radar was installed. In November of the same year, a springboard was installed.
By the beginning of 2014, almost 80% of the work was completed; in September 2015, a 3D Artisan radar was installed
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Naming ceremony
On July 4, 2014, a ceremony was held to name the aircraft carrier, the name was given to it by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. Instead of the traditional bottle of champagne, which is broken on the hull, she used a bottle of Scotch whiskey. Prince Philip (Duke of Edinburgh, Lord Admiral of the Royal Navy) took part in the ceremony. , George Zambellas, who was the First Sea Lord at the time, high-ranking naval officers from the US and France and some politicians.
naming ceremony
Anti-ship weapons
There are 4 small-caliber automatic guns 30 mm DS30M Mark2. The gun system consists of a Mark 44 Bushmaster gun on an automatic mount. It was designed to protect Royal Navy frigates from fast ships armed with short-range missiles, grenade launchers, machine guns, and explosives. These guns are installed on Type 23 frigates and other small ships of the Royal Navy .There are also FN-MAK - Belgian machine guns of 7.62 caliber and various variants of the M134 Minigun - a six-barreled machine gun with drum loading and high speed firing from 2000 to 6000 rounds per minute.
Aviation
Aviation team squad on the flight deck
For HMS Queen Elizabeth, 14 Merlin HM2 helicopters are allocated - a variant of the medium-capacity Agusta Westland AW101 helicopter for the Royal Navy. Nine in an anti-submarine configuration and five with an airborne detection system. The Merlin HM2 in anti-submarine equipment has 4 Sting Ray torpedoes - these are British light homing torpedoes torpedoes. The reconnaissance Merlin HM2 is equipped with the Crowsnest AEW early warning module, in Russian-language literature - AWACS, a long-range radar detection system that is installed on aircraft and is designed for long-range detection of the enemy in the air.
If necessary, a group of different helicopters can be used, such as
Merlin HC4 - a modernized Merlin HC3 (the type has larger fuel tanks and can be air-to-air refueling), which is more suitable for use in the Navy;
Wildcat AH1 - a variant of the Agusta Westland AW159 ordered for the Royal Navy. Wildcat - an improved version of the Westland Lynks, which has significant differences in design, the helicopter has undergone major modernization and has become more functional;
RAF Chinook is a heavy longitudinal military transport helicopter, a variant of the American Boeing CH-47 Chinook and
Apache AH MK1 is a licensed version of the American attack helicopter Boenig AH-46 Apache.
There are 6 seats for helicopters planned on the deck, but it can be increased to 10 seats for medium helicopters, which will allow a company of 250 marine paratroopers to be lifted into the air. The hangars can accommodate CH-47 Chinook helicopters without folding blades and the American V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.
It is assumed that the aircraft carrier will have 42 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II aircraft on board. usual time the squadron consists of 12 aircraft, but during combat deployment it will be 24 aircraft plus several helicopters. The remaining 18 aircraft will either be undergoing technical inspection or in reserve to cover the aircraft carrier.
The F-35B Lightning II is a fifth-generation multirole single-engine stealth jet fighter with a short takeoff and vertical landing STOVL. With a low combat load and incomplete fuel tanks, the aircraft can take off and land vertically. With a higher load, takeoff is carried out with a short range.
The Royal Navy is developing ship rolling technology vertical landing SRVL, which allows you to land vertically on the deck of an aircraft carrier with heavier loads, that is, pilots do not have to throw excess fuel and ammunition into the water before landing. It can also increase the aircraft's payload capacity, which is limited due to a vertical landing. This can reduce the level of engine wear and extend their service life and reduce deck wear.
In a vertical landing, the aircraft slowly reaches a hovering position, then moves sideways over the deck and slowly descends. This technique places stringent weight requirements due to the thrust required to keep the aircraft in the air while it descends. With the rolling technique (SRVL), the aircraft can return on a ship with a large cargo reserve: the combination of nozzle thrust, fan and lift generated by the wing as a result of slow forward movement can save up to 7,000 feet of excess weight. Without SRVL technology, the aircraft would be forced to jettison what it had left, in sea. There is information that such technology was first used by Russian pilots on the Yak-38 aircraft
class (English) class) Queen Elizabeth marks the transition from the number of aircraft that are carried on an aircraft carrier to the number of sorties that can be made from the deck. Two elevators lift two aircraft onto the deck in 60 seconds. Aircraft undergo post-flight maintenance on the deck. The number of sorties per day can be 72. The F-35B_Lightning_II fighter has a 25 mm GAU 22 /A cannon installed in the external compartment - a four-barrel version of the 25 mm Equalizer GAU-12 cannon. This gun is being developed for the F-35 Lightning II.
In the F-35A Lightning II variant, the gun will be inside the aircraft, in the F-35B Lightning II variant - in the external weapons compartment. Unlike the five-barrel Equalizer GAU-12, the 25 mm GAU 22 /A cannon has four barrels, it is lighter, but has reduced rate of fire of 3300 rounds per minute, but at the same time improved accuracy of 1.4 milliradians. In production General Dynamics Corporation(GD)
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft has external hard mounts to carry missiles, bombs and extra fuel tanks.
Rockets can be:
- AGM 158 JASSM - long-range air-to-surface cruise missile,
developed in the USA, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation with an armor-piercing warhead weighing 454 kg.
- The AIM-120 AMRAAM is an American all-weather, medium-range air-to-air guided missile. Missiles of this class are designed to destroy air targets beyond the line of sight of the target.
- The AIM-132 ASRAAM is a British short-range air-to-air guided missile equipped with an infrared homing head based on a CCD matrix, which forms an infrared image of the target. It replaced the AIM-9 Sidewinder in the Royal Air Forces of Great Britain and Australia.
External AIM-132 ASRAAM are planned to be transported on "hidden" pylons; the missile allows you to attack slightly beyond the visible range without using radar.
- The AIM9X Sidewinder is a short-range air-to-air missile. The AIM-9X Sidewinder variant was developed by Raytheon. Features infrared focal plane array (FPA) imaging, helmet-mounted display compatibility, and a new three-dimensional thrust vector control (TVC) system. Using JHMCS, the pilot can guide the AIM-9X missile seeker and "lock" by simply looking at the target. Has the same rocket motor, fuze and warhead as the primary variant, but lower air resistance allows for increased range and speed. Also has internal system cooling.Also AIM9X has the ability locks after startup (LOAL) This made it possible to install missiles inside the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
The [Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II] fighter also has two internal weapons bays with four weapons stations. Two of them can carry air-to-ground missiles or bombs weighing up to 9,000 kg each in the "A" and "C" models, or air-to-ground missiles or bombs weighing up to 450 kg each in the "B" model. The other two stations are designed for smaller weapons such as air-to-air missiles.
Rockets can be:
a/installed also on external mounts
b/only for internal weapons compartment
- Brimstone anti-tank missiles are a high-tech air-to-ground homing missile. Developed by the international MDBA consortium for the British Air Force (RAF). Equipped with an active radar homing head that allows you to hit moving targets with great accuracy. In addition, there is the possibility of laser guidance.
- SPEAR3 air-to-surface missiles and possibly anti-ship missiles. The production contract was awarded to MBDA. The range is expected to be at least 100 km, although current figures for SPEAR indicate a range of more than 130 km. The missile will largely use precision technology Brimstone strike missile. It is 2 m (6.6 ft) long and will fly at high subsonic speed using a turbojet engine and wing package and will have a multi-mode seeker with INS/GPS guidance and a data link. These missiles are planned by the UK Ministry of Defense to be deployed in internal compartments of the F-35B Lightning_II fighter with 4 missiles per compartment
F35B fighter - landing using SRVL technique
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- The long-range radar above the forward superstructure can track up to 1,000 contacts in the air or at sea within a 250-mile radius;
- The Artisan 3D radar above the aft superstructure can track a tennis ball moving at three times the speed of sound.;
- Class(English) Class ) Queen Elizabeth will fly the F35B Lightning II strike fighter, as well as any type of helicopter used by the UK Armed Forces.;
- Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning II can fly at a speed equal to Mach 1.6;
- Class Queen Elizabeth offers 72 fixed flights per day, which may increase for a limited period of time;
- A new technique called "Vertical Rolling Landing" for landing on a Queen El class aircraft carrier)
