to coincide with the introduction of the new , a new aew system was sought – initially a number of proposals were raised, as it was unclear what type of ship the new carrier would be. once it was confirmed that would be a stovl type ship, it was clear that either a new helicopter based system, or a system based around a stovl fixed-wing aircraft, such as the v-22 osprey, would be required. it was eventually decided that a new, palletised system named "crowsnest" would be operated from the royal navy's existing merlin helicopters, to be operational by 2019.