U.S. Trials Bring F-35 and Queen Elizabeth Carrier Together

Britain is in the process of completing two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. HMS Queen Elizabeth put to sea for the first time in June 2017 and was commissioned into service last December. Initial trials have enabled helicopter operations with the Leonardo AW101 Merlin and Boeing CH-47 Chinook. The second ship, HMS Prince of Wales, is being fitted out at the Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland and is expected to join the Royal Navy in 2019.

The first aircraft to embark on the Queen Elizabeth were two U.S.-marked F-35Bs, one from the F-35 Integrated Test Force (aircraft BF-4) and another from the VX-23 “Salty Dogs,” a Naval Air Systems Command Air Test and Evaluation Sqdn. The UK Defense Ministry had some concerns about the perception of U.S.-marked aircraft making the first landings on the new carrier and the potential reaction from the UK mainstream media, but the developmental test aircraft from Patuxent River NAS, Maryland, are the most appropriate assets for the trials because of their extensive instrumentation suites.

Initial trials see the F-35Bs making their approach over the water, before transiting over the deck to make a landing on the Queen Elizabeth’s enormous 4-acre flight deck. Later the test pilots will trial the Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing (SRVL), a low-speed rolling landing that has been developed to increase the aircraft’s bringback capability and reduce the need for crews to jettison expensive stores to lower landing weights, particularly during operations in warmer parts of the world.

Royal Navy Cmdr. Nathan Gray (pictured) was the first pilot to perform a landing of a fixed-wing aircraft onto the Queen Elizabeth. It was the first time in eight years that a fixed-wing aircraft had landed on a British aircraft carrier, since the retirement of the Harrier and the Invincible-class carriers in 2010.

Unlike the flat-deck amphibious landing ships employed by the U.S. Marine Corps, F-35Bs operating from the Queen Elizabeth-class will take off using a ski jump. Originally developed by the British for use with the Harrier, the ski jump is 200 ft. long, angled at 12.5 deg. and designed to reduce the required deck roll on takeoff by up to 50%, or allow an increased payload of up to 20%.

Within days of the first landings and takeoffs on Sept. 25, the test pilots also began flight operations at night resulting in some spectacular imagery and long-exposure images.

The Queen Elizabeth uses low-intensity light-emitting diode lighting systems to enable safe flight-deck operations for deck personnel and to reduce the glare for pilot night-vision systems. Also of note is the glow of the engine from the landing aircraft, which can be confused as reheat. The F-35 does not use reheat for landing; the effect is likely caused by a long camera exposure. A similar effect can be seen in night-vision camera imagery of F-35Bs landing on U.S. flat-deck ships.

A second round of flight testing on the Queen Elizabeth is planned for 2019, followed by operational testing shortly afterward involving aircraft from the UK’s 17 Sqdn. test and evaluation unit. The first operational cruise of the new carrier is planned for 2021, which will also include aircraft from the U.S. Marine Corps.