Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales shows off its hi-tech miniguns as it prepares for active service

The 65,000-tonne behemoth departed Portsmouth on June 6 to continue a series of sea trials before it begins active service.

Now the £3.2bn warship has continued tests of its defence systems, including its on-board Phalanx close-in weapons system which can spew 75 rounds in a second.

In a video posted to social media, the ship’s high-speed minigun fires a prolonged burst of rounds – ready to take on threats from both the sea and the air.

Scott, an onboard weapons engineer who provides a voice-over in the video, says the 15ft weapons unit is the ship’s ‘last line of defence’.

He said: ‘The name phalanx comes from ancient Greece, known as an impenetrable shield formation.

‘Our phalanx is no different.

‘It fires a wall of rounds to form our own impenetrable shield. We can engage air and surface threats at 4,000 yards at a rate of 4,500 rounds a minute, which is enough to smash the hardest of targets. A self-contained radar (can) find and track a golf ball sized target at 10,000 yards.

‘We’re the guardians of the ship, the last line of defence.

‘When all else fails – we do not.’

The defence system is also fitted on a variety of Royal Navy vessels, including Type 45 destroyers – like Portsmouth-based HMS Defender, which was recently buzzed by Russian jets near Crimea.

With a flight deck large enough to accommodate three football pitches, HMS Prince of Wales can carry up to 36 F-35B aircraft and houses a crew of more than 1,600 personnel when aircraft are onboard.

The second Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier is scheduled to enter active service duties around the globe from 2023.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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