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With the future retirement of the Sea Harriers and Harriers, 3 configurations are considered : STOVL, STOBAR, CTOL.
STOVL (Short Take-Off Vertical Landing): this is the configuration of the Invincible class ships, and of any ship operating aircraft with vectored thrust(Yak-36/-38) or other Harriers (US Marine Corps, Spain, Italy, Thailand, India). The planes take-off on a very short distance (80-100m), sometimes with the help of a ski-jump to save fuel, and simply because the engines are not powerful enough to lift a fully armed and fueled plane. Landing is performed vertically since the plane is lighter, like a helicopter, after a hover above the deck.
This launch and recovery mode allows a faster rate of take-offs, and also eliminates the catapultes, arresting wires and angled deck. Thus ships are shorter and cheaper. On the other hand vectored thrust aircraft are often smaller and less capable than conventionnal planes, due to their special internal propulsion systems.
If the STOVL configuration was chosen, the aircraft likely to be aquired are the JSF and Super Harrier, even if the latter has unofficially been canceled!
STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested landing): This was the solution chosen by the Soviets and their Su-33 Flanker D. It consists in a take-off without a catapulte, on the entire deck length, and a conventionnal landing with arresting wires. If this option eliminates the catapulte, it also limits the load of weapons and fuel each plane can carry. Unlike STOVL, STOBAR ships need an angled deck and and an arresting system. It also means a long time between recovery and launch, the time to reconfigure the deck. The longer the recovery procedure, the more you need fuel and thus refuelling aircraft to fuel planes waiting in the pattern. Should Great Britain retain the STOBAR option, the plane likely to be chosen is the Eurofighter EF 2000 Typhoon (N), navalised version of the Typhoon in service with the RAF.
CTOL (Conventionnal Take-Off and Landing): This is the system adopted by the US Navy, France, Great Britain until 1978, Argentine and Brazil. It is a simple system, very efficient with steam catapultes and arresting wires. These equipments are very heavy and take a lot of (scarce)space, thus CTOL ships are enormous (340m , 5,000 sailors) compared to STOVL ships. On the other hand, there are less weight restrictions, catapults can launch planes weighing up to 30t. CTOL, since they are bigger, can accommodate up to 90 aircraft, compared to 40 (50 in war time) for British HMS Invincible class ships. The CTOL contenders are the Dassault Rafale M and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
4/ CARRIER AIR WING
The choice of the air wing depends entirely from the type of ship chosen. Yet we can already say that the CAW will be composed of 30 multipurpose combat airplanes/FCBA (Future Carrier Borne Aaircraft), 6 helicopters and 4 AEW aicraft/FOAEW (Future Organic Airborne Early Warning). The CVF will thus in times of peace operate 40 aircraft, and up to 50 in wartime. The overall objective is to launch 150 sorties a day.
FCBA :
Requirements for the FCBA are the following: it has to be all-weather, day and night, for Air Superiority and Close Air Support, but also for interception, anti-shipping and tactical reccon. It needs to be supersonic and equipped with internal and external weapon points.
CTOL :
The first plane considered if the CTOL option is chosen is the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. This plane is today entering service in the US Navy; it is globally an upgrade from the F/A-18 A/B/C/D Hornet, plane which is widely combat-proven. This plane was designed from the start to be used on aircraft carriers, and it would be bought ?off the shelf? by the RN, ie. Without any major nalalization modifications. On the other hand, buying this plane would bring nothing to the British industrie because it is likely to be built in the USA. But it remains a cheap and risk-free choice. The airplane makes up for its lack of stealthiness by high performances and weapon loads.
The second CTOL option could be the Dassault Rafale M. This aircraft is not operationnal yet, but its design is more recent than that of the Super Hornet, which is not entirely a 4th generation fighter. Nevertheless the Rafale M is a smaller and less navalized plane. If it were to be chosen, this choice would be less military than political! It is an entirely european plane, and Britain would be less dependant on the USA.
STOBAR
The plane going with the STOBAR version is the Eurofighter EF 2000 Typhoon (N). It is still on the drawing board, but the idea makes sense. Its main flaw is that it is not navalized at all. The choice would, then again, be very economic, since the plane will be operated by the RAF. One could think that building a naval version would not be very complicated. It would be mainly a reinforcement of the structure, and new fly-by-wire controls for carrier landings. Its advantages are its speed and weapon load.
STOVL
With the withdrawal of the Super-Harrier, the main STOVL contender is also the favorite of all, the JSF. The Joint Strike Fighter is indeed supposed to revolutionnize the XXIst century. It will come in 3 versions: conventionnal for the USAF (and Turkey?), navaliezd (catapulte an arresting wires) for the USN, and STOVL for the USMC and the RN. 3,000 airframes are expected to be built. It is meant to replace at least 10 aircraft in all services. The selection for the JSF will take place in 2001. The 2 competitors areBoeing (X-32) and Lockheed-Martin (X-35). The battle between the two is fierce, just like the one between the YF-22 and YF-23. The unlucky loser is likely to have to stop all military activities!"
"Pour ces bâtiments, le MoD a retenu la version à décollage court et atterrissage vertical (STOVL) du chasseur F-35 (JSF/Joint Strike Fighter), le futur avion de combat multirôles développé par Lockheed Martin (USA), pour équiper ses futurs porte-avions.
Les nouveaux porte-avions, dont la durée de vie est estimée à plus de 50 ans, devront être "adaptables", c'est-à-dire capable d'embarquer des appareils de type STVOL mais aussi des appareils classiques.
Il comprendront une sorte de tremplin à la proue, pour optimiser les décollages d'avions à décollage court et atterrissage vertical, mais également un espace pour des catapultes, nécessaires au décollage d'avions "classiques".
Le gouvernement britannique souhaite que ces bâtiments soient à propulsion non nucléaire, contrairement aux porte-avions américains et français.
- Quatre chantiers navals ont été retenus: BAE Systems (Clyde, nord de l'Angleterre), Babcock BES à Rosyth (Ecosse), Swan Hunter à Newcastle (nord de l'Angleterre) et Vosper Thornycroft à Portsmouth (sud de l'Angleterre).
- Rolls-Royce est retenu pour la propulsion
- Thales est chargé du "design" (conception d'ensemble), une part que le groupe français évalue à un tiers du projet total, soit 1,5 milliard d'euros. Avec l'entretien des bâtiments, qui s'étale sur une cinquantaine d'années, Thales compte sur des retombées largement supérieures.
"Nous pensons qu'il y a derrière au moins le double, soit 3 milliards d'euros, ce qui représente un total de près de 5 mds EUR", a estimé François Lureau, directeur du pôle défense de Thales"
Message édité par synth le 26-02-2003 à 05:19:40