Engineering news
Up and away: The ramp section is 64 metres long and 13 metres wide
The final section of the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth has been fitted onto the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier.
The ramp section, which will allow jet aircraft to take off from the ship, was lowered into place at the Rosyth shipyard in Scotland where the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers are being constructed.
The 300-tonne section of ramp is lifted onto the aircraft carrier 
The ramp section in place on the Queen Elizabeth at the Rosyth shipyard
The 300-tonne section of ramp is 64 metres long and 13 metres wide. It is the final exterior piece of the aircraft carrier to be fitted. At its highest point, the take-off ramp is 6 metres above the flight deck, which will allow aircraft to be propelled into the air.
The fitting of the ramp took place on the same day as Ministry of Defence announced that a fourth Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft has been ordered from Lockheed Martin. The UK has already taken delivery of three Lightning II jets. Royal Navy and RAF pilots are currently training on the aircraft in the USA.
The fourth jet is specifically designed to be a test aircraft and it will help boost the ongoing training available.
Defence minister, Philip Dunne, commented: “We are on track to ensuring carrier strike capability by 2020. Both the completion of the take-off ramp and the announcement of the contract for the fourth jet show the tremendous progress being made to ensure that the Royal Navy will have a modern carrier force.
“Not only are these jets the most advanced ever operated by our armed forces, but the programme is worth over £1 billion to UK industry each year and will support around 25,000 British jobs over the next 25 years."
An F-35B Lightning II jet taking off from the USS Wasp
Commenting on the fourth order of a Lightning II fighter, MoD's chief of materiel, Air Marshal Simon Bollom, said: “The latest contract for the fourth Lightning II means we are a step closer to realising the ambition of having the most advanced fast jets available for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy to defend our nation’s interests.”
HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to be structurally complete next year. The vessel will begin sea trials in 2017 before flight trials with the Lightning II jets get underway in 2018.
As well as operating from the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers, Lightning II will be jointly operated by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy from RAF Marham in Norfolk.