Warship supplied by AEI Cables starts aircraft trials

The biggest warship ever to be built in Britain – with more than 1,800 miles of cables supplied by AEI Cables powering the vessel – has set sail for the US to start trials with fighter jets landing for the first time.

The newly-built Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier (QEC) will be tested by the four F35B Lightning jets off the east coast of America.

AEI Cables supplied the state-of-the-art range of naval power, instrumentation and communications wires and cables for the QEC, amounting to more than three million metres of cable and wiring that would stretch from London to Moscow and beyond.

Stuart Dover, Commercial Manager for AEI Cables, said: “It’s satisfying to see months of hard work coming to fruition and trials starting in earnest knowing that our products are playing such an important part.”

At 65,000-tonnes, and at a cost of £3.1billion, the QEC is the largest ever to enter service with the Royal Navy at three times the size of the Invincible Aircraft Carriers.

AEI Cables also supplied the cables for a second carrier – HMS Prince of Wales – which is currently being fitted at Rosyth in Scotland before it starts trials next year.

AEI Cables is already a supplier of defence cables and wiring products to Naval Fleets, including the supply for the Type 45 Anti-Air Warfare Destroyer programme for the Royal Navy to prime contractor BAE Systems, including control cables, weapons cables and medium voltage propulsion cables.

All AEI Cables’ products are supplied with approvals from independent bodies including BASEC and LPCB covering design, manufacture and supply.

It also holds approvals from organisations such as Lloyds, the MoD, Network Rail and LUL, and works to international standards around the world including American and Canadian approval systems.

Source: CABLE TECHNOLOGY NEWS