Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 3:47:10-3:48:03

Project Ark Royal and CATOBAR options

The reply treats Project Ark Royal as a concept study and weighs the aircraft options and fleet costs of a hypothetical CATOBAR conversion.

CATOBARE-2 HawkeyeF-35CLive Q&ANaval AviationProject Ark RoyalQueen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers
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Question

What happened to Project Ark Royal, and what would catapult-and-arrested aircraft add to the Royal Navy?

Short answer

Project Ark Royal was only a thought experiment; a working CATOBAR conversion would chiefly add aircraft such as E-2 Hawkeye and long-range uncrewed strike platforms, but changing from the established F-35B fleet would be costly.

Notes

In the discussion, Project Ark Royal is described as a thought experiment rather than an approved conversion program. A working CATOBAR system would permit aircraft such as E-2 Hawkeye, the first purchase proposed in the reply. F-35C and long-range uncrewed strike aircraft are further possibilities. Existing F-35B procurement would make a change of fighter type difficult, and a mixed fleet would bring additional support costs and complexity.