HMS Queen Elizabeth
“Celebrating the best of British engineering”
Fast jets might be stealing all the headlines as aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth conducts trials of the F-35 Lightning II off the east coast of the USA, but British engineering has also been celebrated by sailors, airmen and Royal Marines on-board. A Jaguar F-TYPE Coupe, displayed alongside an F-35B fighter took pride of place on the flight deck. The car had been kept under wraps in the ship’s vast hangar until its runway appearance during the ‘Westlant 18’ deployment where the F-35Bs embarked to conduct trials. The Jaguar Land Rover has been affiliated to both HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales, currently in build in Rosyth, Scotland, for the past five years.
British engineering celebrated with both marvels on display: The F-35 Lightning II is the world’s largest single defence programme and the UK has played a major role from the outset, UK industry providing approximately 15% by value of every F-35 Lightning II built with the UK to be a major global hub for F-35B maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade for avionic and aircraft components.
Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, Capt Jerry Kyd said: “The
Jaguar F- TYPE alongside the F- 35B symbolises the very best of British design and engineering. Bringing the two together in HMS Queen Elizabeth, itself a triumph of collaboration between UK industry partners and the Ministry of Defence, is representative of the strong ties we as a ship have developed with Jaguar Land Rover. The technology involved in the aircraft carrier, F-TYPE and the F- 35B are all linked; a high quality demanding specification, precision engineering, power and performance. All three represent cutting edge technology that underlines the very best of British innovation and design.”