You have to be careful of the
time frame these documents were produced, in 2013 the decision on what plane and how the flight deck would be designed was
very much up in the air. The plane issue is buried in here somewhere. The QE Class carriers have three runways two at
160m/or 525ft. the larger one is at
260m/or 853ft.. As a flattop she would've been equipped with the
electromagnetic catapults which will be on our newest class carriers. That decision was made before the RN's commitment to the F-38B Program. I'm not sure that a final decision for the flight deck of the
Prince of Wales has been made yet. Last I read they were holding off on this decision pending program delays and increased cost issues of the F-35B that still might affect their final buy of the number of units. They will probably go the the F/A-18E/F or possibly the navalized Rafael that the French I believe are using on their much smaller carrier compared to the QE Class now.
Concerning the
F/A-18E/F they are about 25ft. longer than the
C/D version and heavier by I believe 2-3Klbs. if not mistaken. With catapult assistance the
E/F needs at least
300ft (~1500 feet unassisted.) minimum take off distance and again a minimum of
329ft (~+1350ft non-arrested.) landing distance with a arresting system.
So the QE Class can handle them. By way of another example the Russian KIEV is
ONLY 14m longer in
total length then the length of the longest flight deck on the QE Class carriers and it carries 18 M-29K jets plus 8 Helicopters using a "
ski jump"!
The basics have always come down to high ships speed into the wind to provide maximum lift for the aircraft, supplemented by aircraft engine power/
thrust and catapults if equipped.
The QE Class is a very multi-functional carrier though the
QE will be commissioned with a "ski jump" deck, these decks can easily be converted to a flattop in a normal refit period and vice versa. These are well designed and functional ships.
From the Ref...
"No catapult or arresters will be fitted in the initial build but the carrier will be built to accommodate a future back-fit. The carrier will be fitted with a steam catapult or electromagnetic launch system and arrester gear, if the option to convert the carrier to the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant proceeds.
The deck has three runways: two shorter runways of approximately 160m for the STOVL joint strike fighter and a long runway, approximately 260m over the full length of the carrier, for launching heavily loaded aircraft – an area of nearly 13,000m². The deck will have one or two vertical landing pads for the F-35 aircraft towards the stern of the ship."
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/cvf/
http://www.ausairpower.net/SuperBug.html
https://www.quora.com/Military-Why-d...have-ski-jumps
Regards,
Pat
Re: Jets & Planes but no UAV's here.
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