HEADSUP QE CLASS THE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP

MAI is playing an important role in the development of the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier. “I’VE LANDED ON THE QUEEN ELIZABETH We caught up with test pilot Pete Kosogorin ahead of the official MANY, MANY TIMES IN THE SIMULATOR naming ceremony for HMS Queen Elizabeth to get the inside track on AT WARTON, SO IN MANY RESPECTS, IT the work that is taking place to integrate F-35 with the new carrier FELT LIKE A FAMILIAR ENVIRONMENT”

ete Kosogorin quivers This is the first time he has the 65,000-tonne vessel rising thanks to the work he has “It was really exciting to see Elizabeth many, many times “The thing that struck me, how wide it was – that really with excitement as he set foot on the flight deck of the majestically out of the ground done with BAE Systems’ the carrier for the first time,” in the simulator at Warton, so and I imagine it’s the same with surprised me. Ppictures himself at the Royal Navy’s magnificent new beneath him, the 45-year-old is Simulation Team at Warton, says Pete, an experimental test in many respects, it felt like a most people who see the carrier “I have to say I’m really controls of an F-35 Lightning II, aircraft carrier, HMS Queen gripped by a sense of deja vu. he already feels like he knows pilot on the F-35B programme, familiar environment. for the first time, was the sheer excited by it and if I’m lucky hurtling down the vast expanse Elizabeth. Pete has never previously every square centimetre of her after taking a guided tour during “But obviously that was in an size of it. enough to get involved in the of grey runway stretching out But as his brain struggles to clapped eyes on the first of the 280 metres-long flight deck in a recent visit to Rosyth shipyard. aircraft; it’s different once you “Everything about it is just before him. comprehend the sheer scale of UK’s new super carriers, but, intimate detail. “I’ve landed on the Queen actually stand on the flight deck. vast and I couldn’t believe CONTINUES ON PAGE 6 >>

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<landing. manoeuvrability within those boundaries. fantastic.” “We’ve brought together a cross section of “Obviously I work for BAE Systems, but The excitement in Pete’s voice is entirely ON THE DESIGN AND individuals to do that, from very experienced I think the fact that we’ve got a team of 30 genuine, and with good reason. Harrier pilots with legacy experience to US or so engineers out here who are intimately By combining the biggest and most DEVELOPMENT SIDE Navy conventional F18 pilots, and also Royal involved in this, not just on the STOVL side powerful surface warship ever constructed FOR 10 YEARS PLUS, Navy and other Airforce pilots who have no and the B model but we also have one of the for the Royal Navy with the world’s first shipborne or STOVL experience. lead engineers on the C model which is the supersonic STOVL (short take-off/vertical AND NOW WE ARE “That has been done to ensure the design US Navy variant, is a great success story. landing) aircraft, the UK Armed Forces will is optimised for all levels of ability, and all “Some of these guys have been working have a ‘matchless capability’ when they enter INTO THE FLIGHT levels of scale.” on the design and development side for 10 service in 2020. Pete has spent the last four years working years plus, and now we are into the flight But ensuring the two elements operate TEST STAGE” on the F-35B programme as part of the test stage, they are either working on the seamlessly is no easy feat, which is why the Integrated Task Force (ITF) based at Naval flight tests directly or they are engineers carrier integration work at Warton is so Air Station Patuxent River in St Mary’s who are looking at and analysing the data integral to the programme’s success. many of the results of those trials fed into County, Maryland. we produce from those flight tests. “The beauty of this is the carrier has the design of the deck – the markings on the The ITF comprises personnel from the “It may be weeks later before we find out been designed with the aircraft in mind,” deck, the lighting on the deck, the systems. US Navy and Marine Corps, the UK Royal that the point we flew was good, or there explains Pete. “There are various shipborne systems Airforce and Royal Navy, and industry was a problem in the point that we need to “It’s not an anti-submarine carrier that will help the pilot when landing, partners, including 30 engineers from look at again, or we might need to change that has been modified for F-35 – the QE particularly in high sea states when the BAE Systems in the UK. the software. carrier has been designed for F-35 right conditions are challenging and the deck Together, they are testing two variants “So it’s not just about expanding the from the outset, so I think the two will is moving around quite a bit, or at a night of the F-35 – the B model (short take-off/ envelope of the aeroplane, it’s also about integrate very well. when there is limited visibility. vertical landing) and the carrier variant developing the software to make the “That work began many years ago and the “But the sim work hasn’t just been about (C model) – and their mission systems. aircraft better, and each member of the stuff we’ve done in the simulator at Warton developing the flight controls software in Testing is intense – Pete can be flying BAE Systems team is vitally important to has been incredibly important because the aircraft, it’s also about finding out how for up to four hours per day – and the end that process.

concentration, but that doesn’t mean you “WE WILL BE ABLE TO can’t make a mistake. FACTS AND FIGURES LAUNCH A STEALTHY, “When a pilot is working really hard, he’s using up a high proportion of his capacity •The QE Class Aircraft Carrier is the largest SUPERSONIC STRIKE and his ability to spot things, to see things, surface warship ever constructed for the UK and to cope with things is affected. and represents a step change in joint capability AIRCRAFT FROM LAND “In the Harrier, you could easily miss •It’s 56m from keel to masthead, which is four OR SEA FROM PRETTY one aspect of your technique, miss a metres taller than Niagra Falls! problem with the aircraft, or not hear a MUCH ANYWHERE IN radio call, so it was easy to lose track of •The distribution network on board will what was going on. generate enough energy to power 300,000 THE WORLD ON DAY “But this aircraft works so well for you, kettles or 5,500 family homes (a town the the extra capacity that allows you is a big size of Swindon) ONE OF A CONFLICT” bonus. It means a pilot can deal with an •1.5 million m2 of paintwork, which is 370 emergency better, or follow a particular acres, or slightly more than size of Hyde Park technique better, so the execution of your “They are very well respected by the approach and landing on a ship is going to •The ship’s two propellers will weigh 33 tonnes organisation here, so they can all be really be way more efficient.” each – two-and-half times as heavy as a double proud of their involvement in what has been The real acid test will come in 2020, decker bus and one-and-a-half times higher achieved up to now.” when HMS Queen Elizabeth becomes fully Pete is already counting down the days to operational. •Each of the two huge aircraft lifts can move two F35 aircraft from the hangar to the flight 2018, when flight-testing from HMS Queen With her 4.5 acres of flight deck and deck in 60 seconds Elizabeth is due to commence. 40 F35B aircraft able to deliver bombs with But what can those test pilots lucky pinpoint accuracy hundreds of miles away, •It can take up to 40 aircraft, which is double enough to be chosen for those trials expect? she will deliver a radical change in the the capacity of its predecessors And how will the F-35B compare to its Navy’s capabilities. predecessor, the Harrier, which was the “The capability will be something •The F35B IS are expected to carry at least aircraft of choice for the old Invincible the UK has not had for many decades,” twice the payload of the Harrier class carriers? adds Pete. •The maximum embarked air group is up to 36 “By the time the F-35 comes into service “We will be able to launch a stealthy, F35s and four Airborne Early Warning aircraft and has been fully tested, there won’t be supersonic strike aircraft from land or sea – double the aircraft capacity of the current many Harrier pilots flying it – it will be a from pretty much anywhere in the world, carriers much younger generation,” says Pete. on day one of a conflict alongside our NATO “The aircraft itself, and the control and allies, which we haven’t been able to do for “THE STUFF WE’VE DONE IN THE SIMULATOR AT •The ship’s Long Range radar is the same size handling it has in slow speeds in STOVL a long, long time. as a large mobile home WARTON HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT mode 4, is exceptional. “Of course, we need to be wary of backing •The ship will produce more than 500 tonnes “I’ve landed at night on a ship in the that up, and having the carrier and the F35 BECAUSE MANY OF THE RESULTS OF THOSE of fresh water daily via its onboard water Harrier and that’s a really exciting – but embarked clearly needs a support structure treatment plant. also scary – event. to make it as effective as it can be. TRIALS FED INTO THE DESIGN OF THE DECK” “You are probably the most aroused you “But operating the two together will will ever be as a pilot in terms of focused provide the UK with a matchless capability.”

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