QEC Carriers - Close in weapons systems; Light weapons & force protection

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Little h
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QEC Carriers - Close in weapons systems; Light weapons & force protection

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Babcock to Deliver, Convert Phalanx 1B CIWS for Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier

Posted On Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:03

Naval Defense Industry News - UK, USA

Babcock to Deliver, Convert Phalanx 1B CIWS for Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier

Babcock, in association with Raytheon, is to deliver four Phalanx 1B kits and convert four land Phalanx Weapons Systems to their original marinised configuration to provide naval Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS) capability (the UK's primary defence for ships against anti-ship missiles), under a contract awarded by the UK MoD, with three of the four Phalanx kits adding to the defensive capability of the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

Babcock is the in-service support provider to the MoD for Phalanx systems under a long-term availability contract awarded in 2006, managing and executing all upkeep support activities, including a 24/7 helpdesk for the Royal Navy, as well as providing logistics support for spares and repairable units. The company is also under contract to upgrade 16 Phalanx systems to the 1B configuration in an on-going programme.

The latest contract to provide a further four Phalanx 1B kits and four conversions, which follows a similar contract awarded last year for four kits and two conversions, will be delivered under an amendment to the existing support and upgrade contract. Babcock will procure the Phalanx 1B systems in partnership with the original equipment manufacturer Raytheon, and will undertake the land-based Phalanx weapon system conversions using Babcock weapons support engineers. The systems are to be delivered by March 2015.

A spokesperson for DE&S added: “We are pleased to have signed this £20m contract with Babcock to provide the Royal Navy with this advanced Close-In Weapons System. Three of the four Phalanx kits will go on to add to the defensive capability of the Queen Elizabeth Carrier and we look forward to working with our counterparts in industry to ensure this important requirement is met.”

Phalanx CIWS is a rapid-fire, computer-controlled radar and 20mm Gatling gun system. The Phalanx 1B upgrade incorporates a side-mounted Forward Looking Infra-Red Camera (FLIR) enabling the CIWS to defend the ship against surface targets and slow air targets in addition to anti-ship missiles.

Source of excerpts above; an article in [urlhttps://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/news/ ... rrier.html]Navy Recognition[/url]

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Also two further excerpts:-

5. Close in weapons systems

The QEC has a very standard CIWS fit of 3 x 20 mm Block 1B Phalanx guns and 4 x 30mm Automated Small Caliber Guns (ASCG). The ubiquitous Phalanx system is used by many navies across the world, is simple and reliable but how it would perform in saturation missile attack is unknown. The ASCGs are cued by electro-optical mounts high on the ship and can be controlled from the ops room. They would probably be very effective against small boat swarm attacks. It is assumed the QEC will also be fitted with a variety of decoy launchers and the Surface Ship Torpedo Defence (SSTD) decoy system. The USN is fitting an active variant of SSTD on its carriers that launch mini torpedos to destroy inbound torpedos, rather than just attempting to confuse them.

6. Light weapons and force protection measures

The inner layer of protection consists of a selection of removable M2HB machine guns and Mk44 mini guns on pintle mounts around the ship. All RN vessels, man these weapons when entering or leaving port as protection against attack from small craft or drones. In battle conditions, they may also serve as useful last-ditch defence particularly against aircraft or small boat swarms. Being manually aimed, they are of minimal use against missiles.

Source; an article in Save The Royal Navy titled
August 30, 2017
Royal Navy aircraft carriers – vulnerable or fit for the fight?

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CIWS_Radar - Copy.jpg
CIWS Phalanx

DS30M-30mm-gun-02 seaforces.org.jpg
DS30M-30mm Automated Small Calibre Gun

Mk44_Minigun_Firing_at_Sea_MOD_45151577.jpg
Mk 44 Minigun

Royal_Navy_Lookout_Manning_a_GPMG_on_HMS_Westminster_MOD_45156550.jpg
GPMG
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Last edited by Little h on Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:33 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Little h
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Re: QEC Carriers - Close in weapon systems; Light weapons & Force protection

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.... and now my observations as to the location of some of the installations on QE R08



Fwd of navigating bridge on a sponson (Phalanx) - and stbd bow on flightdeck(Minigun)
,DzZGfrzX0AAXkUI.jpg large NavyLookout twitter copy.jpg


Port qtr on a sponson (Phalanx)
,52407436_355223471735978_3700707982423730337_n StRN Photo S Wenham.jpg


as viewed from off the stbd qtr
D911iYCXkAME53X NavyLookout.jpg


, D3DpYgQXgAEBokc.jpg large TugmasterRob (2).jpg


looking aft under port overhang
, D9Qhs7XWwAA8I8G TugmasterRob copy.jpg
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Re: QEC Carriers - Close in weapon systems; Light weapons & Force protection

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Little h wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 6:17 pm .... and now my observations as to the location of some of the installations on QE R08
Further observation taken from a) an image on NavyLookout on Twitter and b) a short video of QE R08 leaving Pompey for Westlant 19 reveals a GPMG position hitherto missed by myself :oops: ... so belated included in this post.

a) the image (taken on flight deck looking athwartships port to stbd)
z EDPf2bSXoAE437o.jpg



b) screenshots from the short video (view from off the port qtr)
z Westlant 19 #1 (2).png

z Westlant 19 #2 (2).png
z Westlant 19 #3 (2).png
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