Netcentric warfare (source: DPA)

C4ISR Facilities

Surprisingly for ships of this size and importance, in order to keep costs down the MOD did not originally require that the CVF design have "flagship" standard facilities (so called Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance - C4SIR), anticipating that these be provided by an accompanying Type 45 destroyers or even Albion Class LPD's.  However the requirement re-emerged given the obvious suitability of CVF in terms of space and accommodation for a flag role during large deployments, particularly compared with a Type 45 destroyer.  The Royal Navy in particular now wants its new carrier to be a fully enabled command-and-control centre from where personnel can direct operations on land and sea and integrate into the US military command infrastructure.  To enable this a requirement was stated in early 2003 to add a number of systems, most importantly (and expensively) the Royal Navy's Lockheed Martin developed variant of the US Navy's Co-operative Engagement Capability (CEC) sensor data distribution and plot fusion system.

After the Thales design was selected for CVF in January 2003 but with BAE Systems as prime contractor, it was decided to amalgamate some features of the two separate bids made by BAE and Thales.  Some mission systems originally specified by BAE Systems for their design, including command and control technologies, were now placed in the platform designed by Thales.  While these were often more capable than the systems they replaced, they were also more expensive, and that meant that the overall price went up.  Similarly a number of sensors and radars specified by Thales were replaced by more capable but expensive systems, e.g. the Thales Arabel multifunction radar was  replaced by the BAE Systems Sampson.

Simulation of the CVF Operations Room

Inevitably cost issues have now emerged, and in August 2003 Simon Knight of BMT Defence Services confirmed there will have to be a compromise in some C4SIR area's, and that some of the more expensive of the newly added systems would taken out of the design again. "Steel is the most expensive component of the ship, but after that it is the mission systems area.  But you would expect the carrier never to sail on its own?  It would always have a fleet of Type 45s around it.  If the 45s have got all the latest communications and sensors onboard why put them on the carrier as well?"  He said he could not name the specific systems that would be removed but described the resultant ship as a 'halfway house' between the most basic floating runway and the original brief.  Subsequent continuing efforts to to reduce costs have resulted in senior officials indicated that Mr Knight may have been over-optimistic, and the carriers are likely to be completed with a very sparse sensor fit.

Despite the two island arrangement, EMI/EMC remains a major technical challenge that drives close examination of advanced antenna working using common multifunction aperture technology.

Jean-Marie Pointboeuf, Chairman and CEO of DCN has said that Amaris (a joint venture between Thales Group and DCN) will have a role in providing the combat system for CVF, but it seems more that the CVF's will use a development of the Type 45 combat management system from BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies, itself a development of Type 23 DNA 1 system.

On 3 July 2008 it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had awarded BAE Systems a £275 million contract for the design and supply of the CVF mission system.  The company will be responsible for systems engineering and integration of the mission system which caters for over 1000 operational users and will be present in 1200 compartments on the ship.

The main components of the mission system are an air management and protection system (comprising of a combat management system, radars, air traffic control system, navigation and bridge systems); an information system; networks; and communications. Cdr Simon Petitt, MoD’s lead in Mission Systems stated, “The Mission System turns the ship into a warfighting unit able to deploy air power and focus its fighting effect against appropriate targets.”

Guy Griffiths, managing director, BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies said “The new mission system will significantly improve situational awareness especially in combat scenarios.”

The mission system has three functional areas; the information system which covers the computing hardware, internal networks and C4I software applications to support effective command and control on the carrier. The internal and external communications equipment to support the required voice and data services, and finally the air management and protection system which contains the on-board sensor and weapon systems for the management of aircraft in the air and on deck and the defence of the ship.

The mission system will underpin three key operational compartments on the carriers:

1. The operations room where the operators control CVF, its sensors and aircraft.
2. The bridge, which will be responsible for getting the ship to the launch position at the right time and for safe operation of the ship at sea. From here the ship is navigated to the correct point for aircraft launch, turned into wind for launch and positioned for aircraft recovery.
3. The FLYCO (flying control) which is the seaborne equivalent of an airfield control tower

Radars

In 2003/4 it was hoped to fit the CVF with two very capable but expensive radars:

• For long range surveillance, tracking and targeting: the SAMPSON  produced by BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (Insyte - formerly AMS UK)). The is is aolid-state, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with maximum range reported to be 400km

• For long range surveillance (both air and surface detection): the S1850M radar, also produced by BAE Systems Insyte.  This is an upgraded version of the Thales Nederland SMART-L radar.

However by 2005 the SAMPSON radar had been dropped from the design as cost saving measure.

On 4 August 2008 BAE Systems announced that their ARTISAN 3D (Advanced Radar Target Indication Situational Awareness and Navigation) would be fitted, from build, to the two new aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.  They stated that ARTISAN 3D will replace the RN’s legacy Type 996 surveillance and target indication radar, as well as subsuming the navigation radar functionality currently provided by the Radar 1008.

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