HMS Invincible had three Thales Nederland (formerly Signaal) Goalkeeper CIWS. Goalkeeper’s Gatling principle 30mm gun provides a maximum firing rate of 4,200 rounds a minute with a range of 1,500m.

HMS invincible guns

HMS Invincible was also equipped with two GAM-B01 20mm guns from Oerlikon-Contraves and BAE Systems, which have a maximum range of 2km and firing rate of 1,000 rounds a minute.

Countermeasures

The Invincible Class is fitted with the Thales Defence Type 675(2) jamming system and a UAT(8) electronic support measures system also supplied by Thales Defence (formerly Racal).

The ship’s decoy system is the Royal Navy’s Outfit DLJ with Sea Gnat. There are eight 130mm six-barrel launchers produced by Hunting Engineering. Chemring and Pains Wessex produce the Sea Gnat chaff and infra-red decoys.

Invincible initially lacked any close-in weapon systems. As one of the lessons from the Falklands War Invincible had two 20 mm Raytheon Phalanx close-in weapon systems fitted but these were later upgraded to three Thales 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS; there are also two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Countermeasures were provided by a Thales jamming system and ECM system, Seagnat launchers provide for chaff or flare decoys.

Initially the carriers were armed with a Sea Dart SAM missile system, but this was removed to enlarge the flight deck and to allow magazine storage for Royal Air Force Harrier GR7s.

The carrier’s air group comprised nine Harriers and twelve helicopters which were usually all Sea Kings, either anti-submarine warfare (ASW) or Airborne Early Warning (AEW) variants. The carrier also provided an operational headquarters for the Royal Navy task force.

The runway is 170 metres or 560 ft long and included the characteristic “ski jump”. The runway jump was initially 7° but later increased to 12°.