HMS Queen Elizabeth

[RizzoTheRat]

Predator B only weighs about 2.5 tonnes, new "loyal wingman" concepts like Valkyrie are surprisingly small, and even Stingray is under 10 tonnes, compared to around 30 tonnes for a fully loaded F35, so presumably you'd need a much smaller catapult to launch even big drones than you would to launch manned fighters.

[thewarlock]

hidetheelephants said:

The one that doesn't involve cutting up the carriers, just buying a kit of bits from GA to navalise the Reapers the RAF already has. Catapults are starting to have a hint of the buggy whip about them.

Ah yeah, sorry I misunderstood.

[shouldbworking]

They should flip it on its head and use the lack of catapults to drive forward carrier drone development - 24 hour loiter aew drones anyone?

[Cold]

HMS PWLS took part in trials with drones (QinetiQ Banshee Jet 80+) in the autumn of last year. "Uncrewed systems".

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activ...

[hidetheelephants]

shouldbworking said:

They should flip it on its head and use the lack of catapults to drive forward carrier drone development - 24 hour loiter aew drones anyone?

MQ-9 already has endurance of over 24hrs and has radar.

[RizzoTheRat]

hidetheelephants said:

MQ-9 already has endurance of over 24hrs and has radar.

Ground/surface search at the moment though isn't it? When Crowsnest expires could Sea Guardian or similar with an air radar do the job?

[hidetheelephants]

RizzoTheRat said:

hidetheelephants said:

MQ-9 already has endurance of over 24hrs and has radar.

Ground/surface search at the moment though isn't it? When Crowsnest expires could Sea Guardian or similar with an air radar do the job?

There's no reason I can see why the SAR radar General Atomics fit can't do air search, if it can spot people on the ground it can spot planes although the low power may restrict range; the radar offered for maritime search appears to be the Leonardo Seaspray 7500E V2 multi-mode radar, which definitely is capable of air search.

[IanH755]

hidetheelephants said:

RizzoTheRat said:

hidetheelephants said:

MQ-9 already has endurance of over 24hrs and has radar.

Ground/surface search at the moment though isn't it? When Crowsnest expires could Sea Guardian or similar with an air radar do the job?

There's no reason I can see why the SAR radar General Atomics fit can't do air search, if it can spot people on the ground it can spot planes although the low power may restrict range; the radar offered for maritime search appears to be the Leonardo Seaspray 7500E V2 multi-mode radar, which definitely is capable of air search.

SAR can't do "air" targets, it's ground only due to the way SAR works but you can leverage modern AESA radars like the Seaspray you mentioned to do the job of both, only the range is far less for both Air and Ground targets than a radar carried by a larger aircraft (Seasprays 320km range is diameter not radius), with the alternative being multiple drones continuously rotating on a picket line (say 3-5 drones all working at the same time for 24hr coverage).

[hidetheelephants]

Leonardo state an instrumented range of 320nm for surface search(I assume for large ship-sized targets as they are understandably coy about performance), so practically limited by altitude rather than power?

[StephenP]

I bet she makes an impressive sight this morning, moored where the cruise ships usually go. She's leaving very soon it appears





https://www.cruisingearth.com/port-webcams/europe/...

Edited by StephenP on Thursday 24th November 11:13

[shouldbworking]

Wonder if it'll be under one screw or both.. Would be a quick turnaround if both wouldn't it

[FourWheelDrift]

Cold said:

HMS PWLS took part in trials with drones (QinetiQ Banshee Jet 80+) in the autumn of last year. "Uncrewed systems".

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activ...

At last catapult launches on a Royal Navy Carrier again.

[FourWheelDrift]

Coming into Portsmouth

[Simpo Two]

Function unknown? At least Marine Traffic has it down as Combat Vessel..!

[98elise]

I was in Portsmouth so thought I would take a harbour tour as HMS QE was in.

It's very big and imposing. I was on HMS Ark Royal and this was so much bigger.

Edited by 98elise on Sunday 2nd July 16:14

[LotusOmega375D]

Me too! Took the 11am departure!

[98elise]

LotusOmega375D said:

Me too! Took the 11am departure!

Mine was 3pm

Took me 5 hours to get back to Kent though. There was a vehicle fire on the M25 and it took 3 hours to move 3 miles.