The United Kingdom’s newest aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, started traveling to the U.S. on Friday to test F-35B landings on its deck for the first time.

These tests will be the first time a fast jet, or short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL), fly off a British carrier at all in eight years.

These developmental trials will use two specially equipped F-35Bs from the Integrated Test Force (ITF), based from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and special sensors aboard the carrier to determine proper operating parameters of the jets and ship. This will include 500 takeoffs and landings over 11 weeks at sea.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth. (Photo: UK Ministry of Defence)
The HMS Queen Elizabeth. (Photo: UK Ministry of Defence)

The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the tests will help determine the normal operating parameters across a range of conditions.

The carrier will use about 200 support staff to conduct the tests, including pilots, engineers, maintainers, and data analysts.

That includes four F-35B developmental test pilots within the ITF, a Royal Navy commander,  squadron leaders from the Royal Air Force, a British civilian test pilot, and a major in the U.S. Marine Corps.

This deployment to the U.S. is being called WESTLANT 18’ and will also be the first time the carrier will sail across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Queen Elizabeth first arrived at its homeport of Portsmouth last August after finishing training and sea trials off the coast of Scotland (Defense Daily, Aug. 16, 2017).

Other activities during this deployment will include exercises to prove the Queen Elizabeth can operate with other countries’ maritime and aviation assets and landing Royal Marines and their equipment ashore in the U.S. to conduct training with American counterparts.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) noted similar developmental trials for rotary wing aircraft were successfully conducted on the carrier at sea earlier this year.

Before sailing to the U.S., the carrier will conduct trials in U.K. waters for the first few days before leaving later in August. The Queen Elizabeth will then travel with the Tide-class replenishment tanker RFA Tiderace, the Type-23 frigate HMS Monmouth, Merlin Mk2 helicopters from the 820 Naval Air Squadron based out of Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose, MK 4 Merlins from 845 Naval Air Squadron based out of RNAS Yeovilton, and a contingent of Royal Marines from the 42 Commando unit.

U.K. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in a statement that the carrier’s “voyage to America not only shows her global reach, but strengthens our special relationship with the U.S. forces who we have worked hand-in-hand with on this iconic program. As she sails along the East Coast of the USA, she will signal our determination to keep fighting alongside our allies in all corners of an ever more complex and uncertain world.”

Commander of the U.K. Carrier Strike Group (COMUKCSG), Commodore Andrew Betton, will take command of the ship and other units of the task group during this deployment.

“As a critical step toward delivering the U.K.’s new Carrier Strike Group, this deployment demonstrates the astonishing collaborative effort that will enable the new F-35 jets to fly routinely from our Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers,” Betton said in a statement.

“These first F-35B embarked trials in a U.K. aircraft carrier are not only key to future operational success, but represent an iconic moment for the modern Royal Navy,” he added.

Operational testing of British F-35Bs on the Queen Elizabeth is planned to occur next year. The first four joint Royal Navy and Royal Air Force F-35B aircraft arrived in the U.K., based at Royal Air Force (RAF) Base Marham in Norfolk, in June.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth is the U.K.’s largest ever naval craft and was designed for a range of 10,000 nautical miles. It has a top speed of 25 knots, 65,000-ton displacement, will have a crew of 700, and will have up to 1,600 personnel once a full complement of F-35Bs and Crowsnest helicopters are aboard.

It was built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a team of BAE Systems, Thales, Babcock, and the MoD.