WORLDS'S FIRST Anti-Ship Rocket Launcher - Chinese WS-64 Successful Test

Carrier Operation of French Navy

Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale) and the largest western European warship currently in commission. She is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the first and so far only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the United States Navy . She is named after French statesman and general Charles de Gaulle .

The ship carries a complement of Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard, Dassault Rafale M and E‑2C Hawkeye aircraft, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopter for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. It is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two 75 m C13‑3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the U.S. Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, one catapult at the bow and one across the front of the landing area. Thanks to her characteristics,Charles de Gaulle is the only non-American carrier-vessel in the world empowered to operate American aircraft such as the F/A-18E Super Hornet or C-2 Greyhound, which operate from American carrier-vessels.

Russia Plans It Big: The 'Super' Aircraft Carrier

Russia has revealed key details of a new supercarrier it plans to build.

In a new interview with IHS Jane’s, Valery Polyakov, the deputy director of Russia's government-owned Krylov State Research Center, the company designing the new carrier, outlined some new details about the ship, which is being billed as Project 23000E or Shtorm (Storm).

According to Polyakov,, the vessel will displace between 90,000 and 100,000 tons, roughly double the size of any carrier Russia has built to date. It will also be 330 meters in length, 40 meters wide, and have a draft of 11 meters. The carrier will have a cruising speed of 20 knots (kt), with a top speed of 30 kt. The vessel will also have an endurance of 120 days and require a crew of between 4,000-5,000 sailors.

The carrier will be able to carry between 80-90 combat aircraft of various kinds. Jane’s revealed that “the model features a split air wing comprising navalised T-50 PAKFAs and MiG-29Ks, as well as jet-powered naval early warning aircraft, and Ka-27 naval helicopters.”

A mockup of the carrier built by KRSC will be unveiled at the International Maritime Defense Show 2015, Polyakov said. That show will be held July 1-5 in St. Petersburg.

In addition, the carrier mockup KRSC built has four launching positions. Two of the launching positions are of the ski-ramp variant, while the other two are electromagnetic aircraft launch systems (EMALS), which the U.S. Navy itself just tested last week. As the U.S. Navy explained in a press release announcing the test, EMALS offer a number of advantages over the traditional steam-based launch systems.

“Using electromagnetic technology, the system delivers substantial improvements in system maintenance, increased reliability and efficiency, higher-launch energy capacity, and more accurate end-speed control, with a smooth acceleration at both high and low speeds. By allowing linear acceleration over time, electromagnetic catapults also place less stress on the aircraft.”

One of the major shortcomings of the vessel, as currently designed, is that it will be powered by a conventional power plant, rather than a nuclear one. This could be later changed, per the customer’s wishes, Polyakov said.

In the Jane’s interview, Polyakov also detailed some of envisioned missions of the proposed heavy aircraft carrier: "The Project 23000E multipurpose aircraft carrier is designed to conduct operations in remote and oceanic areas, engage land-based and sea-borne enemy targets, ensure the operational stability of naval forces, protect landing troops, and provide the anti-aircraft defense."

Reports that Russia was planning a new aircraft carrier first emerged in local media back in February. Those reports were confirmed by Russia’s naval chief the following month. "The Navy will have an aircraft carrier. The research companies are working on it, and strictly in compliance with the requirements from the Chief Commander," Viktor Chirkov, Russia’s top naval officer, said at the time.

Russia currently operates one carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which was launched by the Soviet Union back in 1985. This should make it easier for Russia to construct a new aircraft carrier than a country like China, which has less experience with naval aviation than Moscow.

That being said, the proposed new carrier will be exponentially more complicated to build than Russian and Soviet carriers of the past. As such, it is extremely likely that the proposed Shtorm carrier will never come to fruition, especially given Russia’s mounting fiscal difficulties. As Jim Holmes wisely counseled, “Let’s not make too much of this.”

Russian "Storm": An Carrier Capable Of Transporting 90 Different Aircraft

"Storm" can carry 90 deck-based aircraft for various combat missions. The carrier has two ramps and two electromagnetic catapults to launch aircraft from its deck.

 

Russia only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov underway in the Mediterranean.

Krylovsky State Research Center (KRSC) came up with a scale model of a new aircraft carrier known as 23000 "Storm," daily newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

In addition to aircraft carriers built for the Russian Navy, the developers created an import version of the ship, which might be extremely interesting to many foreign customers.

The ship's power plant will be either a conventional power plant or a nuclear one, depending on potential customers' requirements, Rossiyskaya Gazeta said.

The new aircraft carrier has a displacement of 100,000 tons, is 330 meters in length, 40 meters in width and has a draft of 11 meters. The ship has a top speed of 30 kt and a sea-keeping performance of up to grade 7.

 
To defend itself from aerial attacks, the aircraft carrier has air-defense missile and anti-torpedo defense systems.

Is The Design Finalized For Chinese Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier (CVN)?

China-Defense Forum members were somewhat astounded today when pictures were released on Chinese internet forums of what is certainly a model of the first Chinese nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) on display at an official event in Zhongshan. While it being just a model might not seem that significant to many, there are telltales about the model in these pics that indicate it's genuine. In fact, it represents a final design for the new CVN has been approved by PLAN for production.

The design clarifies some previous questions: four catapults (presumably EMALS), no ski-jump, three elevators. It also appears to be a very large carrier in the NIMITZ/FORD Class displacement range.

The hull number 18 falls in line with previous expectations that the first "all-indigenous" Chinese carrier design would be nuclear-powered and is expected to be the "002 Class". As the currently in-service CV LIAONING is hull number 16, this seems to imply hull number 17 will be the 001A class, a Chinese-built KUZNETSOV-class CV.

Is Iran building an Aircraft Carrier?!

Iran is building a 1/3rd replica of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to use in a movie called "Airbus", which narrates the story of the ill-fated Iran Air Flight 655.

Iran Building a Mock-Up of US Nimitz Class Super-Carrier

What is interesting about this simple prop is the attention it's getting. More than one news site claimed it's actually built for military propose, primarily to serve as a simulation target. A few went as far as claiming that Iran is building this to gain experience about carrier building.

Whoever producing this movie, probably never anticipated they will get this kind of publicity.

Taking to The Catapult

 

Sailors and Marines guide an EA-18G Growler assigned to the Zappers of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 onto a catapult on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Harry S. Truman, flagship for the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, supporting theater security cooperation efforts and supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

You Have Come a Long Way, Navy

USS-Pennswylvania

Today is Flag Day.

The American Flag we honor today has not changed very much during the last 100 years.

The only changes that have been made to our flag have been ones needed to accommodate additional stars as our Union grew to the 50 states that today make up the United States of America.

Nothing has changed, however, in the ideals and values represented by our flag.

One of those ideals is “Liberty” — preserving freedom and national security.

To be able to do so during the past one hundred years, our military capabilities had to drastically change in order to keep up with those who might be a threat to us.

It would be difficult to describe in a short piece such as this one how our defense technologies and capabilities not only have kept pace with any threat but how we hopefully have achieved superiority over those who might do us harm.

I recently came across some photographs that, I believe, depict our tremendous advancements in this area in a short 101 years — better than a thousand words could do.

It is a set of photographs depicting how, in the words of some, “US Naval aviation was invented.”

The photos show a young pilot, 24-year-old Eugene B. Ely, on January 18, 1911, making the world’s first successful aircraft landing on a ship, the cruiser USS Pennsylvania, in San Francisco Bay.

To accommodate the landing, a temporary, 133-foot wooden landing strip had been built above the Pennsylvania’s afterdeck and gun turret.

On the morning of January 18, 1911, flying a Curtiss Model D “Pusher” biplane fitted with what has come to be known as a tail hook, a device designed to hopefully catch one or two of 22 rope lines on the Pennsylvania and quickly halt the aircraft; Eugene Ely spotted his target through the gray haze.

After some maneuvers, Ely headed straight for the ship, cut his engine when he was only 75 feet from the fantail, and allowed the wind to glide the aircraft onto the landing deck. At a speed of 40 mph Ely landed on the centerline of the Pennsylvania’s deck at 11:01 a.m. The hooks on the undercarriage caught the ropes exactly as planned, which brought the plane to a complete stop.

Landing on Pennsylvania

Ely had successfully demonstrated the possibility of the aircraft carrier and naval history had been made.

After interviews, ceremonies and dinner, the plane-landing platform was cleared, Ely’s airplane was turned around and Ely made a perfect take-off — albeit a little precarious-looking.

 

Taking-off Pennsylvania

Now, 101 years later, compare Ely’s biplane to our F/A-18A (I do realize I am comparing civilian apples to military oranges).

More important, compare the USS Pennsylvania and its improvised landing deck to, for example, the Nimitz class USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77), the newest of the 10 largest aircraft carriers in the world.

USS George H.W. Bush-CVN 771

These are those ships’ “characteristics”:

Propulsion: Two nuclear reactors, four shafts.

Length: 1,092 feet (332.85 meters).

Beam: 134 feet (40.84 meters); Flight Deck Width: 252 feet (76.8 meters).

Displacement: Approximately 97,000 tons (87,996.9 metric tons) full load.

Speed: 30+ knots (34.5+ miles per hour).

Crew: Ship’s Company: 3,000-3,200, air wing: 1,500, other: 500.

Armament: Multiple NATO Sea Sparrow, Phalanx CIWS, and 

Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) mounts.

Aircraft: Approximately 60+.

But those 60+ aircraft still use those tail hooks!

Sadly, Ely did not live to see his dream come true when in 1922 the US Navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley. Ely had died 11 years earlier when he was thrown from his aircraft during a crash at an air show — just a few months after his historic flight.

Ely in his biplane

Photographs: Courtesy U.S. Navy

"Magic Weapon" DF-21D: Chinese "Carrier Killer" for US Aircraft Carriers

IRGC Navy Commander: US Can Well Imagine How Its Warships Sink if It Attacks Iran

TEHRAN (FNA)- The United States is afraid of attacking Iran since it knows that its aircraft carrier with thousands of sailors and crews will easily sink in the Persian Gulf in case it dares to launch a military attack against Iran, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said Sunday.

 “The Americans can sense by all means how their warships will be sunk with 5,000 crews and forces in combat against Iran and how they should find its hulk in the depths of the sea,” Fadavi said, explaining why Washington's war rhetoric against Iran is nothing but empty boastful words.

He said since the very first day that the US warships entered the Persian Gulf, the IRGC Navy has formed and evolved all its capabilities, trainings, structures, organizations and weapons on the basis of Washington’s threats, and added that the IRGC vessels in the region are monitoring the slightest moves made by the Americans.

Fadavi said the Americans might be able to hide themselves in their bases in certain Muslim countries of the region if they are faced with Iran’s crushing response, “but they cannot hide themselves in the sea since the entire Middle-East region, the western Europe, the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz are monitored by us and there is no place for them to hide”.

In relevant remarks in January, Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Salami underlined Iran’s capability to display different initiatives in the battlefield, and said the enemies cannot assess the country’s operational and tactical power.

Salami described the tactics used by the Iranian commanders and soldiers during the 8-year Iraqi-imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) as a proper role model for the new generation, and said during the war Iran used different initiatives and tactics to defeat the enemy despite being faced with an acute shortage of weapons and equipment.

“Therefore, the enemies will never be able to assess our operational and tactical power,” he stressed.

The IRGC is responsible for the security of the Persian Gulf. In 2008, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, former commander of the IRGC and the current military advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, declared that the responsibility for defending the Persian Gulf had been handed over to the IRGC.

He warned that the IRGC would seal the strategic Strait of Hormuz in case the US launches any attack on Iran's nuclear installations.

Iran's naval power has even been acknowledged by foes. In a Sep. 11, 2008 report, the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy said that in the two decades since the Iraqi imposed war on Iran, the IRGC has excelled in naval capabilities and is able to wage unique asymmetric warfare against larger naval forces.

According to the report, the IRGC Navy has been transformed into a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well-financed force and is effectively in control of the world's oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz.

The study says that if Washington takes military action against the Islamic Republic, the scale of Iran's response would likely be proportional to the scale of the damage inflicted on Iranian assets.

Russia to Build Its First Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier by 2023

Russia will complete construction of its first nuclear powered aircraft carrier by 2023, the head of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation said. 

Russian Project 1143.8 class Carrier

“We will start designing the Russian aircraft carrier in 2016, so that by 2018 we can start construction,” company head Roman Trotsenko said. He also said that as the construction period was likely to be five years, the carrier would be put into service in 2023.

The Russian navy has one conventionally powered aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, construction of which began during the Soviet era and finished in the early 1990s. President Dmitry Medvedev said in 2008 that Russia would build new carriers for the navy but did not specify how they would be powered.

by Oleg Lastochkin (RiaNovosti)

Chinese aircraft carrier programme

 

Section of aircraft carrier built last year to attract aircraft carrier contract.

The 2nd session of the 12th Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress is now being held in Shenyang. Wang Min, Liaoning Party secretary and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Congress disclosed in the morning group discussion today that construction of China’s second homegrown aircraft carrier has started at Dalian Shipyard and is expected to be completed in 6 years. In the future, China will at least have 4 aircraft carriers. In addition, the shipyard is responsible for building two new-version 052D Aegis missile destroyers.

That has been the first official disclosure ever of the construction of a China-made aircraft carrier.

However, Wang has given no information about the carrier: whether it is conventional or nuclear powered and whether there will be catapult to help taking off.

Chinese military expert Li Jie believes that the new aircraft carrier will be bigger than the Liaoning with a displacement of 70,000 to 90,000 tons. It will be a conventional one without catapult so that it will be easier to build.

He believes that China’s third aircraft carrier will be bigger to carry more aircrafts and allow the installation of a catapult.

Another expert Du Wenlong also believes that China’s first homegrown aircraft carrier will be a conventional one.

Previously CSIC (China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation) said in December 2013 that it had received two super shipbuilding contracts.

Since 1985, China has acquired four retired aircraft carriers for study, the Australian HMAS Melbourne and the ex-Soviet carriers Minsk, Kiev and Varyag. 

Minsk aircraft carrier (Kiev-class)

Kiev aircraft carrier (Kiev-class)

Liaoning aircraft carrier (Kuznetsov-class)

HMAS Melbourne (Majestic-class)

 Future Carrier:

 

Work under way on China's second aircraft carrier at Dalian yard

China is reportedly building a second aircraft carrier, estimated to be completed by 2018, on its way to expanding its fleet to four of the massive ships.

Media reports - later deleted from the internet - stated Liaoning party chief Wang Min told a panel of the provincial people's congress that the second carrier was being built in the city of Dalian. The reports also quoted Wang as saying the port city was building two advanced 052D destroyers. 

 

Wang Min

Wang told delegates from Dalian yesterday that the shipyard had started building China's second carrier after the first one, Liaoning, was delivered to the navy. The shipyard was responsible for refitting Liaoning, formerly a Ukrainian carrier.

Wang said construction of the new carrier would take six years and China's navy would eventually have four.

While the report did not specify the exact completion date, the new carrier is expected to be completed in 2018, based on the delivery date of Liaoning to the navy in September 2012.

It was the first confirmation by a senior official that China was building a second carrier, as well as the location and the timetable of its construction. The Defence Ministry has been tight-lipped about the progress of the plan.

The South China Morning Post reported in November that China would build four medium carriers by 2020. A country needs three to four carrier battlegroups for combat capability. The United States, by comparison, has 10 active carriers.

The carriers are part of China's push to develop a so-called blue water navy at a time when tension is running high with neighbours including Japan and the Philippines. In December, the USS Cowpens had to change course to avoid a near collision with one of the ships in the Liaoning squadron conducting tests in the South China Sea.

Military experts yesterday were divided about why the report was removed from the internet.

"I am sure Wang Min did say that in the panel meeting. But it seems that it is not proper for him to make the news public," a senior naval colonel said, requesting anonymity.

One retired PLA general said: "There is only one reason for such an important piece of news to come out in this way: the central authorities want to keep it low profile."

Macau-based military expert Wang Dong yesterday said it made sense that Dalian shipyard was responsible for the construction of the new carrier.

"However, it is worth keeping an eye if Dalian also gets the orders to build type 052D destroyers as they are usually built by Shanghai shipyard. If Dalian is building both, it may exceed their capacity,' he said.

A spokesman of Defence Ministry yesterday declined to comment when reached by the Sunday Morning Post.

Sea of Japan, Gulf of Oman, Atlantic Ocean

An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the Swamp Foxes of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 74 flies in front of the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto (CG 56).

PACIFIC OCEAN (Jan. 28, 2014) Sailors spray the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during a wash down exercise in preparation for returning to homeport. Ronald Reagan is underway conducting carrier qualifications. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jacob Estes/Released)

BANGOR, Wash. (Jan. 28, 2014) Sailors from the ballistic-missile submarine USS Louisiana (SSBN 743) blue crew, right, help moor the ballistic-missile submarine USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN 740) as it returns home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor following a strategic deterrent patrol. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Ahron Arendes/Released)

SEA OF JAPAN (Jan. 28, 2014) Sailors assigned to the guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67) participate in a live-fire .50-caliber exercise aboard the ship. Shiloh is on patrol in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman David Flewellyn/Released)

An MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter, assigned to the “Sea Knights” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 22, receives cargo from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) during a replenishment-at-sea in the Gulf of Oman.

YOKOSUKA, Japan (Jan. 30, 2014) Chief Aviation Boatwain's Mate (Handling) Reginald Hopson, a damage control weapons instructor, observes Sailors combat a live fire during high risk shipboard firefighting training at the Yokosuka Firefighting School at Fleet Activities Yokosuka. Fifteen Sailors assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) attended the class to practice damage control techniques in a realistic training environment. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Phillip Pavlovich/Released)