The Queen Elizabeth class (formerly the CV Future or CVF project) is a class of two aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy. HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to begin sea trials in 2017 with an initial operational capability in 2020; the decision whether to operate HMS Prince of Wales will not be taken until 2015.
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| - Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier
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| - The Queen Elizabeth class (formerly the CV Future or CVF project) is a class of two aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy. HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to begin sea trials in 2017 with an initial operational capability in 2020; the decision whether to operate HMS Prince of Wales will not be taken until 2015.
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| - Depiction of a Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier
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| - The reason that we have arrived at what we have arrived at is because to do the initial strike package, that deep strike package, we have done really quite detailed calculations and we have come out with the figure of 36 joint strike fighters, and that is what has driven the size of it, and that is to be able to deliver the weight of effort that you need for these operations that we are planning in the future. That is the thing that has made us arrive at that size of deck and that size of ship, to enable that to happen. I think it is something like 75 sorties per day over the five-day period or something like that as well.
- I have talked with the CNO in America. He is very keen for us to get these because he sees us slotting in with his carrier groups. For example, in Afghanistan last year they had to call on the French to bail them out with their carrier. He really wants us to have these, but he wants us to have same sort of clout as one of their carriers, which is this figure at 36. He would find that very useful, and really we would mix and match with that.
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| - The Queen Elizabeth class (formerly the CV Future or CVF project) is a class of two aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy. HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to begin sea trials in 2017 with an initial operational capability in 2020; the decision whether to operate HMS Prince of Wales will not be taken until 2015. The contract for the vessels was announced on 25 July 2007 by the then Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring. The contracts were signed one year later on 3 July 2008 after the creation of BVT Surface Fleet through the merger of BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and VT Group's VT Shipbuilding which was a requirement of the UK Government. The vessels were originally expected to displace about , however, as construction continued, the revised estimate of 70,600 tonnes was revealed by the Royal Institute of Naval Architects. The ships will be long and have a tailored air group of up to forty aircraft (though are capable of carrying up to fifty at full load). They will be the largest warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy. The projected cost of the programme is £5.9 billion. The carriers will be completed as originally planned, in a Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) configuration, deploying the Lockheed Martin F-35B. Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the British government had intended to purchase the F-35C carrier version of this aircraft, and adopted plans for Prince of Wales to be built to a Catapult Assisted Take Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) configuration. After the projected costs of the CATOBAR system rose to around twice the original estimate, the government announced that it would revert to the original design on 10 May 2012. Under the previous plans, the Royal Navy would operate only one aircraft carrier, routinely equipped with 12 fast jets. However, the Chief of the Defence Staff has subsequently said that the STOVL design, "gives us the ability to operate two carriers if we choose." The final decision will be made at the next major strategic defence review, expected in 2015.
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