British announce new aircraft carrier tech

LONDON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The British Ministry of Defense announced plans to install a munitions automation technology on the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers currently under construction.

British Defense officials say the new technology will automate and track munitions on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carriers.

The Highly Mechanized Weapons Handling System is part of a more than $91 million series of new equipment contracts awarded for the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers under construction and scheduled to enter service in 2014, the British Ministry of Defense reported.

Additional contracts include awards for uptakes and downtakes systems, air traffic control software, whole-ship pump integration and emergency diesel generators.

"An equipment program of this scale has clear benefits not only to the Royal Navy and United Kingdom shipyards but to industry throughout the country," Baroness Ann Taylor, British minister for Defense Equipment and Support, said in a statement.

"It truly is a national project. Defense Equipment and Support continues to work closely with industry to deliver the capabilities our Armed Forces need for now and the future."