EMALS selected as Royal Navy's choice of Catapult.

Dr Fox has confirmed that the new carriers being built for the Royal Navy will use the American designed "EMALS" system for catapult launch. EMALS stands for Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and is currently being designed by General Atomics for the United States Navy. It is due to be fitted on to the future Ford class carriers, and it now looks like the Queen Elizabeth class will eventually have it too.



Instead of using the conventional steam pistons to launch an aircraft, EMALS uses a linear motor drive which can be accurately adjusted to different amounts of energy. EMALS generates magnetic fields using the electric currents produced by the linear motor to propel the undercarriage of the aircraft down a track.

EMALS Rail Launcher

The linear induction motor consists of a row of stator coils that have the function of a conventional motor’s rotor. When energized, the motor accelerates the carriage down the track. Only the section of the coils surrounding the carriage is energized at any given time, minimizing reactive losses. The EMALS' 300-foot (91 m) LIM will accelerate a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg) aircraft to 130 knots (240 km/h).

HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is already underway in the building process, will be fitted for but not with EMALS. It is likely that the system will be installed during her first major refit (some time after HMS Prince of Wales comes in to service)

HMS Prince of Wales is due to enter service with EMALS already fitted, something which has been controversial from the start.

General Atomics team work on EMALS

There are many design advantages to having an electromagnetic system in place over the conventional steam version. EMALS is more efficient, requires less power, weighs a lot less and does not need the same manpower to maintain the system. It is thought that EMALS will be able to provide ~30% more energy output (122MJoules of energy)  and this will be able to be accurately adjusted to the dependence of the aircraft. This is likely to see the use of heavy fighters and UAVs on the same flight deck.

F/A-18E is launched for the first time using EMALS

There was speculation that the Royal Navy would purchase EMCAT (Electromagnetic Catapult), a similar design from company Converteam UK. The UK Government had given Converteam a fund for researching, with an official decision not to be made until 2012.

It is likely that EMALS was selected over EMCAT due to the position it is in development. Several flights have been successfully launched using EMALS, whereas EMCAT is still in prototype production.