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FLIGHT International, IS September 1975

Flight reports from the third Royal Naval Equipment Exhibition, Greenwich

Vosper studies "Harrier Carrier"

OSPER THORNYCROFT has, in consul-

tation with Hawker Siddeley,

V
completed a feasibility study of a
frigate-sized (6,000-ton) vessel which
could carry eight Sea Harriers or the
same number of Sea Kings, or a mixture of both types (see photograph).
The "Harrier Carrier" would cost little
more than a frigate, could cruise at up
to 30kt and would carry a complement
of 250 officers and men.
Mr John Farley, Hawker Siddeley's
deputy chief test pilot at Dunsfold,
says of the proposal: "The Harrier,
which now has more than six years of
service experience behind it, offers the
chance to break the ever-increasing
cost spiral of operating fixed-wing aircraft from ships. It makes possible the
Vosper Thornycroft proposal for a
frigate-sized ship from which a jet
aircraft can operate in all the traditional fighter, reconnaissance and
strike roles.
"In recent years I have had the
opportunity to fly Harriers from a
dozen different ships, and have
watched the United States Marine
Corps develop its expertise in flying
AV-8As from helicopter assault ships.
This experience has convinced me that
the Harrier brings new standards in
landing safety and easy poor-visibility
approach, freedom from the need to
turn the ship head to wind to recover
aircraft, and a complete end to operational bottlenecks due to flight-deck
machinery failures. I believe the
'Harrier Carrier' proposal is based on
sound experience, a new maritime concept that does not involve the doubts
about cost and development difficulties
that normally come with a new and
advanced weapons system. It has all
the signs of being the right thing at
the right time, politically, economically and militarily."
The 450ft flight deckthe full
length of the shipallows a Sea Harrier to take off while fully loaded if
the ship is under way and steaming

into a lOkt headwind. Runway width is

40ft, and there is room aft of the
superstructure for three Harriers to
hold while a fourth is taking off. A
turntable at the aft end of the flight
deck reduces intervals between takeoffs, and a pilot-released hold-back tie
attached to the undercarriage allows
the engine to be run up to full power
before the aircraft is committed to
rolling. No catapults or arrester gear
are fitted. Two lifts allow any particular aircraft to be transferred
between flight deck and hangar without others being moved.
A vertical take-off gridded area
with ducting to carry away exhaust
gases is provided, forward of the
superstructure and clear of the runway, to allow a Harrier to wait at
immediate readiness for a scramble

VTO. Quick-release hold-down gear,

operated by the pilot from his cockpit,
can be used to tie the aircraft firmly
on to the deck until the engine reaches
full power. This allows the Harrier to
operate safely with its full VTO payload in a variety of sea states. The
gridded area could alternatively be
used by a helicopter for search and
rescue or other duties.
Harriers would always land vertically, and there would be no need to
limit ship speed or heading or to provide a specific relative wind over deck.
Radar equipment comprises a Marconi S613N height-finder, which can
determine the altitudes of up to 20
aircraft targets/min at ranges of up to
120 miles, and a Plessey AWS-3 twodimensional search radar of similar
range with advanced anti-clutter and

i:

ECCM (electronic counter-countermeasures) facilities. A smaller AWS-5,

with a detection range of 80-90 miles,
could be substituted for the AWS-3 to
reduce costs considerably.
The air-group functions are divided
into three sections: operations room,
flying-control office (flyco) and fighterdirection office.
The operations room has all displays
and controls needed to compile air and
surface tactical pictures and present
them to the command. The actioninformation and flying-control organisation uses a modification of the
Ferranti
Caais
(computer-assisted
action information system). Two main
command displays with similar facilities are provided for tactical command
of own ship and aircraft and for force
command. Anti-aircraft point defence
is also controlled from the operations
room.
The flyco is situated above the

A silhouette of the "Harrier Carrier" is dwarfed

by that of the 845ft-long 50,000-ton "Ark Royal"

bridge and houses two display consoles, for local air-traffic control and
homing returning aircraft. The flyco
officer directs two console operators,
who also have full computer assistance available. Adjacent to the flyco
is the fighter-direction office, and the
officer in charge here takes over from
the local air-traffic-control officer when
departing aircraft leave the "circuit."
He has two fighter controllers, each with
his own PPI display. Using computer
assistance, each controller can handle
two simultaneous interceptions. IFF
(identification, friend or foe), together
with Tacan and UHF/DF navigational
facilities, are provided as a minimum,
and there would be at least nine UHF
radar links.
For self defence, apart from its aircraft, the vessel is armed with three
twin 40mm Breda 1970 gun mountings.
Fire control is provided by dual
Marconi-Sperry Sapphire equipment
with ST802 tracker radars and an
S810 X-band surveillance radar, mainly
for target acquisition. This gives
independence from the action-information organisation, but targets can
be designated from the ship's other
radars through this system.
Aircraft fuel and spares and other
stores are carried for cruises of about
a fortnight, during which each aircraft
would probably operate for some
40hr. Despite the small size of the
ship, maintenanceincluding engine
changes, wing changes and other
major operationscan be carried out
aboard if necessary.