The deployment ‘WESTLANT 19’, will see HMS Queen Elizabeth and her crew conduct vital deck and warfare trials with British F-35 jets.

It is understood that 617 Squadron will embark on HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time for this deployment.

The jets will conduct Operational Tests, alongside 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron, onboard the carrier in the USA during the WESTLANT 19 deployment, proving their capability at sea.

The MoD say that this is vital step on the path to the first Carrier Strike Deployment planned for 2021.

Admiral Tony Radakin CB ADC, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, said:

“Our aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth will return to the East Coast of the United States to conduct Operational Trials with our Lightning Force, taking this 5th generation capability to the next level as they prove their ability to operate from the sea.

For decades to come, this exciting new combination of aircraft carriers and F35B Lightnings will provide a potent, globally deployable carrier strike capability, a powerful conventional deterrent and the centrepiece of our country’s expeditionary forces.”

Recently, the 18th F-35B for the UK was delivered. Numbers right now are exactly where they’re expected to be and inline with the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

2 F-35B in LRIP run 3, 1 F-35B in LRIP run 4, 1 F-35B in LRIP run 7, 4 F-35B in LRIP run 8, 6 F-35B in LRIP run 9, 3 F-35B in LRIP run 10, 2 F-35B in LRIP run 11, 2 F-35B in LRIP run 12, 6 F-35B in LRIP run 13, 8 F-35B in LRIP run 14 and 7 F-35B in LRIP run 15. This brings us to 42 in 2023. The next run brings us to the total of the first batch of aircraft, 48.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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27 COMMENTS

  1. Could HMS QE be fitted easily with a small arestor wire for drones? STOBAR, then if so could we launch drones such as predator or even watchkeeper and maybe even Taranis in future. Arestor wire surely would be easy to install and would give our carriers powerful drones. Anyone know if we will have large drones embarked in future?

    • Hey Cam.
      I believe it will happen. As the world deploys more drones and as confidence in them grows, we’ll probably see ‘marine’ versions of existing systems being developed for the QE class.
      This *might include some developments into recovery equipment too. This is an area that should get some focus for our engineers leaving university.
      Really interested to see how the QE class develops over the years
      M@

      • Hi Matt, yeah it’s going to be very interesting and actually exciting to see how the new carriers develop and what new capabilities they will get in future.

        We should feel proud and quite frankly lucky we have two huge carriers to promote the UK worldwide and to help protect us and they sure make me feel proud, most nations would love to have these assets and I don’t understand all the online Brits who hate these carriers and think they are a waste of money and are white elephants! They couldn’t be more wrong! Our carriers are huge conventional deterrents and they also promote the Uk globally, they have lots of different uses apart from war fighting and it’s great they’re British and will be with us for 50 years ?? ?. It’s funny the idiots who kept spewing “WE HAVE NO AIRCRAFT TO PUT ON THEM” crawled back into their hole! We always had jets for them but they had to keep repeating the no jets BULL….

  2. There’s already is some cracking photos of QE, Tideforce and FS La Motte-Picquet heading out to sea. Looking forward to hearing more about this at it develops.

    • The clue is in the tweet, last line before the picture…

      “We are live on @GMB #TheWorldIsWatching”

      It’s a QE tweet so “We” = the carrier and “GMB” = the ITV “Good Morning Britain” breakfast TV show which I believe Piers & Suzana host. I don’t watch it so no idea when it is/was on and how much time it got/is-getting.

      By the way, when I was Googling to try and find the answer before I read the tweet all the way through I came across a marvellous (sarcasm) graphic of QE in this ITV article…

      https://www.itv.com/news/2019-08-30/aircraft-carrier-to-deploy-to-us-to-test-british-jets-on-flight-deck/

      Apparently our carriers don’t just have engine rooms, they also have an “After engine room”. There is also a special lift for “After aircraft” apparently. They don’t show where the “After Eight” compartment is but I’m sure there must be one somewhere. (Obviously no one checked the labelling on that graphic. I assume “After” was supposed to be “Aft”. Honestly, is this really the quality of defence reporting that we have to put up with?)

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