Aircraft In The Vietnam War

Aircraft In The Vietnam War - The Marines took a few M-48s ashore when they landed at Da Nang in March 1965, and throughout the course of the war, hundreds of Patton tanks would be deployed across South Vietnam. Although there were few tank-to-tank battles, the Pattons served well as infantry support vehicles.

With a top speed of around 30 MPH, and a standard 90 mm gun (with some variant using a flamethrower), the Pattons proved capable in Army and Marine Corps service. Despite the often uncooperative and non-ideal terrain, the U.S.

Aircraft In The Vietnam War

military deployed a significant number of tanks, armored personnel carriers (APCs), and other heavy vehicles during the war. APCs provided soldiers with protection, mobility, and increased firepower. Tanks were used in both urban and rural operations, and provided heavy support to many troops.

Perhaps the two most common and most effective armored vehicles to serve in the American military during the war were the M-48 Patton tank and the M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier. The North Vietnamese also made use of Soviet manufactured armor, but their usage of tanks was heavily limited by overwhelming American airpower until the U.S.

withdrew in 1973. The concept behind the SR-71 was simple, yet exceptionally brave and ambitious: build a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft capable of speeds in excess of Mach 3.0, with a reduced radar cross-section to help it evade detection by the enemy.

Designed by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of Lockheed's Skunk Works Division, the SR-71 if anything exceeded expectations. The Vietnam War is typically remembered as a ground conflict with an aerial component—rarely is much thought given to the naval operations around the war.

But they happened, they were important, and the Lockheed P-3 Orion played a significant role in them. The U.S. Navy operated a number of small craft on the rivers and waterways of the Mekong Delta. The most common and most memorialized today were the Patrol Boat, River, or PBRs.

These small boats served in Vietnam from around 1966 until the end of 1971 when U.S. forces were nearing the end of their mission. Patrolling the vast delta, PBR crews were involved in security and patrol operations in addition to broader coordination with land units including the insertion and extraction of special forces.

PBRs typically carried twin forward mounted .50 caliber machine guns, along with a 40 mm grenade launcher and additional machine guns in the rear or on the side. While crews usually numbered around four enlisted men, the boats were a key part of the "brown water navy" that patrolled Vietnam.

Powered by twin General Electric J85 turbojet engines, the Dragonfly could hit fast and hard with a combat radius of 460 miles. Relatively maneuverable, it proved perfect for darting in to hit difficult ground targets ahead of advancing infantry and armor.

While armed with a single .308 caliber GAU-2B/A minigun mounted in the nose, its real punch came from the various gun pods, rocket pods, missiles, and bombs it carried on the eight hard points under its wings.

While it slowly faded from prominence after the war ended, the A-37's role should not be forgotten. What made the aging warbird so successful was in its ability to carry an immense amount of weapons, coupled with its ability to stay over the battlefield for extended periods of time.

The Skyraider provided close-air support to ground forces, attacked enemy supply lines and even protected helicopters during rescue missions by patrolling the skies while being able to quickly strike at enemy units on the ground. M-113s often worked alongside M-48s, and both were often found traveling in convoys down the roads of South Vietnam.

The M-113 proved itself as a reliable workhorse, as upgraded variants of the vehicle remain in active service with the U.S. military. The M-113s were fielded in a number of different variants, including service as anti-aircraft, flamethrower, mortar, medical vehicles.

However, the APC's primary role was to move troops under protection from small-arms fire, with the capacity to carry eleven passengers inside. A two-bladed single-engine attack helicopter, the AH-1 Cobra ushered in a new world of warfare, in which helicopter gunships would provide close support as weapons platforms to obliterate enemy positions and vehicles.

This concept proved powerful—the US military still makes extensive use of attack helicopters, and variants of the AH-1 remain in service with the United States Marine Corps. Cessna is not a name normally associated with military aircraft, but the A-37 Dragonfly filled a role that became increasingly critical over the course of the Vietnam War.

The terrain of Vietnam—hills and jungle—meant that close air support was vital to American and ARVN success. Thus military minds on both sides began to explore ways to make that support faster and more accurate. One of the end results was the creation of light ground attack aircraft like the A-37 Dragonfly.

In conjunction with the engineers at Sikorsky, the CH-53 was designed to meet that need. Powered by twin General Electric T64-GE-413 turboshaft engines, the CH-53 has a top speed of 196 miles per hour and a combat radius of over a hundred miles, depending on the payload and configuration.

Twin door-mounted .50 caliber machine guns provided the armament in order to clear the field for the payload of up to 55 troops. Used most often in Vietnam to recover downed aircraft or evacuate troops from the battlefield, this war bird is an icon of the USMC's part in that war.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 was a supersonic fighter designed and produced in the Soviet Union that entered service at the beginning of the 1960s. The MiG-21 was the most modern fighter used by the North Vietnamese during the war, and its agility made it a threat to heavier American fighter-bombers.

The Vietnam People's Air Force (the air force of North Vietnam) never developed into a serious threat during the war, and was constantly outgunned and outnumbered by the combined American air forces. Nevertheless, the North Vietnamese did make successful attacks on American warplanes throughout the war, using planes like the MiG-17, MiG-19, and MiG-21, and their Chinese variants.

Operating with a crew of three, the CH-47 Chinook can carry up to 55 troops or a total takeoff weight of 50,000 lbs. This is due to its tandem rotor design, as well as its engines.

Two Lycoming T55-GA0714A turboshafts provide nearly 5,000 horsepower each. With a maximum speed of up to 196 miles per hour and a combat radius of 230 miles, the CH-47's transport capabilities were unmatched at the time.

Armed with up to three 7.62 mm machine guns, it could also pack quite a punch if it came under fire. Operational from 1966 through the end of the Vietnam war, the CH-47 Chinook is a highly notable aircraft from the era.

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief made its debut just before full US involvement in the war in Vietnam in 1958. Designed to supplant the aging F-86 Saber fighters then still in service with US and Australian forces, the F-105 was a big step

forward for its day. Introduced at the end of the 1950s, the M60 was a belt-fed light machine gun that fired a 7.62 mm round. The M60's operation was usually a team effort: while one solider carried the weapon, and one solider could operate as an assistant gunner, most other men in a rifle squad could carry ammunition for the M60.

The gun was not without problems, though – the tropical climate of Vietnam took a toll on the weapon, and its bulky design proved troublesome for many soldiers. However, the M60 ultimately proved effective, and was used in infantry units and as a mounted gun on helicopters, patrol boats, and vehicles throughout Vietnam.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have made IEDs part of our common terminology, but improvised explosive devices were just as common in Vietnam. While the Vietnamese did make use of punji spikes and other primitive (yet effective) traps, rigged explosives were incredibly common and were frequent killers of American troops.

Grenades, mines, artillery rounds – all could be adapted for use as a trap through simple tripwires or pressure plates. Frequently, unexploded American ordinance was used to build these traps. Booby traps were a serious danger for many U.S.

soldiers, and wounded or killed thousands. North Vietnam started the war with a number of disadvantages including the lack of sufficient air power to take the fight into enemy airspace. To meet that need, they turned to other Communist nations, chiefly the Soviet Union, for aid.

Part of that aid was the Mikoyen-Gurevich MiG-17, which may have helped them hold on until better aircraft became available. The museum displays six examples of the Skyhawk. An A-4E (Bureau Number 149656) suspended in the Quarterdeck honors Attack Squadrons (VA) 163 and 164. Four examples of the A-4 (Bureau Numbers 150076, 154217, 154983, and 155033) form the diamond formation suspended in the Blue

Angel Atrium. Displayed on the flight line behind the museum, A-4A (Bureau Number 137813) is the first non-prototype Skyhawk delivered to the Navy. Although one gun rarely makes the difference in a battle, for the individual soldier it can often be a matter of life or death.

The Vietnam War saw the deployment of two of the most famous and most produced rifles of all time: the AK-47 and the M16. These assault rifles have continued to play a major part in modern warfare today, decades after their introduction.

Additionally, the M60 machine gun proved an incredibly useful weapon for many American troops during the war and offered soldiers heavier firepower than their standard rifles could provide In 1947, Soviet weapon designer Mikhail Kalashnikov produced a new variant of an automatic assault rifle.

The Automatic Kalashnikov, model year 1947, was readily adopted by the Soviet military and was quickly used by most members of the Warsaw Pact. The AK-47 fires a 7.62 mm cartridge, and has become one of the most widely proliferated weapons in the world, thanks to its reliability under harsh conditions, cheap manufacturing cost, and the ease with which soldiers can be trained on its use.

During the Vietnam War, both the Viet Cong and the People's Army of Vietnam (the North Vietnamese Army) made heavy use of the weapon, thanks to support from the Soviet Union and from the People's Republic of China.

In Vietnam, the P-3 Orion saw extensive action during Operation Market Time, the effort to cut off resupply by sea to the Viet Cong and other enemy forces. While the P-3 Orion spent most of its time flying missions from bases in the Philippines and Vietnam over the coastal waters of the latter nation, it did occasionally participate in "feet-dry" missions over land.

With only one combat loss during this delicate operation, the P-3 Orion is one of the under-sung heroes of the Vietnam war. Nearly 3,000 A-4s were produced between 1956 to 1979, their service including assignment to front line squadrons, duty as aggressor aircraft and the role of advanced trainers, the latter aircraft designated TA-4s and including two-seat cockpits.

During the years 1974-1986, the A-4 also equipped the Blue Angels Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron. All told, over 20 versions of the Skyhawk were delivered to the U.S. military and air forces of foreign nations, including Israel and Argentina, which took the aircraft into combat during the Arab/Israeli Wars and the Falkland Islands War respectively.

The designers built the F-105 around a well-established powerplant: the Pratt & Whitney J75 afterburning turbojet engine. Capable of delivering 24,500 lbf of thrust with the afterburner engaged, the F-105's top speed of Mach 2.08 is still competitive among current fighter aircraft.

The armament was no slouch, either. A 20mm M61A1 Vulcan cannon in the nose supplemented the array of bombs and missiles that could be affixed to any of the 5 hardpoints underneath the aircraft, including the internal bomb bay.

So whether equipped with missiles like the AIM-9 Sidewider or bombs for close ground support, the F-105 was a big step forward in what military aircraft could be. The communist forces in Vietnam weren't the only ones to recognize the advantages of a propeller driven bush plane.

US military and intelligence forces used them as well for accessing the more remote and inhospitable terrain of Southeast Asia. To fill that role, they turned to an old friend, the de Havilland Canada Beaver. First introduced in 1948, the Beaver is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr.

radial engine, which allows it a top speed of 158 miles per hour and a range of over 450 miles. The plane of many names, the Lockheed AC-130 is a kind of military aircraft rarely spotted in the skies anymore: an armored long-range ground-attack gunship.

A variant of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, also designed by Lockheed, the AC-130 was a fearsome sight over any battlefield. Particularly if you were an enemy combatant. A big, ugly, flying fortress, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress was designed and introduced in the early 1950s.

Powered by eight turbojet engines, during the war B-52s were capable of massive aerial bombardment, frequently carrying payloads in the tens of thousands of pounds. Operating out of Guam and Thailand, B-52 strikes were carried out as part of Operations Rolling Thunder, Arc Light, and Linebacker I/II.

Airstrikes by B-52 bombers during Vietnam remain some of the most ferocious aerial bombardments in the history of warfare. The plane itself remains active in the U.S. Air Force today, one of the longest serving aircraft in the U.S.

military. A heavy-lift cargo helicopter, the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion is another iconic military helicopter. In service with US forces from 1966 to the present, there are upgraded and updated variations still in production. The CH-53 Sea Stallion is a product of the Vietnam War, during which the United States Marine Corp saw a need for a heavy-duty transport and cargo helicopter.

Slated for retirement, this Vietnam War aircraft got a new lease on life when its unique capabilities proved perfect for the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems that these mighty war birds may keep flying for some time yet.

Vietnam's long coastline and navigable waterways gave the U.S. Navy plenty of opportunities to contribute to the war effort. The U.S. Navy operated a number of aircraft carriers offshore to provide air support for troops in South Vietnam and to attack targets in the North.

The heavy guns of cruisers and destroyers could provide sustained artillery fire near the shore, and in the Mekong Delta, Navy patrol craft provided security and engaged with Viet Cong forces. The U.S. Navy also provided helicopter support, medical assistance, logistical administration, and a number of other services during the war, but the role of carriers and patrol boats are worth exploring in greater detail.

The air war over Vietnam did lead to a few dogfights but these were relatively few and far between: the skies were dominated by American warplanes, which gave the U.S. a great advantage over the North Vietnamese.

From fighters to heavy bombers, the United States wielded an array of aircraft that rained devastation, but also conducted reconnaissance, transport, medical evacuation, and supply operations. Although many warplanes served in Vietnam, the F-4 Phantom and B-52 Stratofortress remain two of the most prominent.

While the North Vietnamese primarily built air defenses, planes like the MiG-21 occasionally struck at American airmen. During the war, a wide variety of equipment was used, far too much to cover here. Instead, you will find a few of the more important weapons used during the war and a small description of each.

Additionally, the guerilla nature of the Viet Cong troops and the non-uniformity of many North Vietnamese forces makes it difficult to speak of their equipment in comparison to the United States. However, it is important to note that the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong did use advanced weapon systems during the war, even if these weapons were used in a limited way and alongside more traditional weapons.

While China's involvement in the Vietnam War is a complex mess of politics and culture, complicated further by the relationship between Hoa Chi-Minh and Mao Tse-Tung, some Chinese military aid did make it to North Vietnam to play a role in that conflict.

The Shenyang J-6 was part of that. Based on the MiG-19, which the Chinese admired for its agility and turn ability, the Shenyang J-6 went into production in 1958. Described as a “flying anachronism,” the single-seat Douglas A-1 Skyraider–affectionately known as the Spads, after the French wood-and-wire World War I fighter–proved that a piston-powered, propeller-driven attack aircraft still

had a place in the jet age. The aircraft, which entered service in the late 1940s, provided close-air support for American and South Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. Nicknamed the "Balalaika" by its pilots for its odd resemblance to the musical instrument, the MiG-21 straddles the line between second and third generation jet fighters.

So while specs and armament vary, in general the MiG-21s of the Vietnam War were powered by a single Tumansky R25-300 afterburner-capable engine. These delivered a top speed of Mach 2.0 and a service range of 751 miles.

Armed with a 23mm GSH-23 cannon, the MiG-21 could carry either missiles or rocket pods, depending on the configuration and the desired payload range. These aircraft performed so well that the Vietnam People's Air Force did not fully retire them until 2015—a testament to the design and its operators.

The Vought F-8 Crusader was designed to fill an interesting role—a supersonic carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft armed with guns or cannons. It was the final American fighter jet to use these as its primary armament, earning it the nickname "The Last of the Gunfighters".

Although hardpoints were later added for mounting missiles, the name is well earned.

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Aircraft Carrier Obsolete

Aircraft Carrier Obsolete - "As that capability evolves, you could then put missiles on such a ship; for example, you might end up with a destroyer or cruise with a screen of unmanned surface ships in front of it," Cancian said.

China has boasted about its DF-21D and DF-26 anti-ship missiles, which have ranges of 1,100 and 2,500 miles, respectively. Both Russia and China are also developing hypersonic weapons that can fly at five times the speed of sound and evade current air defense systems.

Aircraft Carrier Obsolete

Being enormous and technologically complex pieces of hardware, you will not be surprised to hear that it takes years to build an aircraft carrier. Depending on their size, most aircraft carriers tend to take around 5 to 6 years to build, but some take considerably longer.

Aircraft Carriers Are Costly And Hard To Replace

An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), is a fighter-sized craft capable of landing, and taking off, from an aircraft carrier. It can even be refueled mid-flight. Crafts like this might be on the cards for future aircraft carrier fighter wings.

The brainchild of H. I. Sutton (author of the Covert Shores website), these vessels would require minimal personnel to operate. Deck robots and other autonomous systems could be used to do most of the heavy loading.

Drones could be deployed either by surfacing and launching from short flight decks, or by using launch tubes. Such a capability would offer this new type of "carrier" a much better chance of survival, while also potentially gaining them the element of surprise.

"Our fleet is too small, and our capabilities are stacked on too few ships that are too big," he said. "And that needs to change over time. (But) we have made significant investments in aircraft carriers, and we're going to have those for a long time."

How Long Does An Aircraft Carrier Take To Build?

For a country like the United States, the United Kingdom, or even Russia, an aircraft carrier conveys the appearance of military might and continued global relevance. For China and India, aircraft carriers convey modernity and demonstrate great power status.

While the price these countries are paying may appear very high, such demonstrations have long been part of great power defense statecraft. There are trade-offs between price and firepower. The amphibious ship only costs $3.4 billion per hull while carrying half the number of aircraft a full-size carrier can.

And planes like the Boeing Super Hornet, which can hold more ordnance than F-35s, need a catapult to take off from a ship. They can't deploy from large-deck amphibious ships. It’s hard to say carriers are obsolete because they cannot be protected in a full on war.

Considering 90%+ of a carrier's life is operating in non-war environments, they are purpose built for that 90% non-war purpose. The ability to rapidly establish such a powerful military presence in any part of the world is a massive deterrent, and contributes heavily to any political dialogue occurring with foreign nations.

New Capabilities On Uss Ford

This value must be factored in when looking at the price tag of a new carrier group. It’s probably prevented 10x as many wars than any carrier has ever engaged in directly. Requiring a massive expenditure to build and maintain, and with newer cheaper, and with faster-to-build technologies like anti-ship missiles and drones emerging, does it make sense to keep them afloat?

Let's take a look at what the future of aircraft carriers might be. The contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman, which forms part of the larger DARPA Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node program. Such systems will combine vertical takeoff and landing drones that can fly for long distances equivalent in range, or longer, to conventional fixed-wing planes.

Instead of giving up on aircraft carriers, the Navy needs to develop new concepts for using them, he said at the USNI Defense Forum in Washington on Dec. 6, according to Defense News. Upcoming, large-scale war-games will help flesh out those ideas.

But he indicated the direction of change will be toward spreading out forces, becoming less vulnerable to a single, catastrophic loss. Like most new Pentagon programs, the ship has been plagued with problems with its new high-tech systems.

Are Aircraft Carriers Still Relevant?

An issue with the General Electric (GE) propulsion system sent the ship back to port during testing in 2018. GE and Huntington Ingalls are pushing each other to pay for the fix. But getting rid of them altogether is unlikely.

Earlier this year, the service proposed retiring the Nimitz-class USS Truman 25 years early to save money. Vice President Mike Pence pushed back, and the Navy ditched that idea. A 19FortyFive Contributing Editor, Dr. Robert Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School since 2005. He received his BS from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph.

D. from the University of Washington in 2004. Dr. Farley is the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), the Battleship Book (Wildside, 2016), and Patents for Power: Intellectual Property Law and the Diffusion of Military Technology (University

of Chicago, 2020). He has contributed extensively to a number of journals and magazines, including the National Interest, the Diplomat: APAC, World Politics Review, and the American Prospect. Dr. Farley is also a founder and senior editor of Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Did Aircraft Carriers Replace Battleships?

Any assessment we do must consider cost, survivability, and the critical national requirement to sustain an industrial base that can produce the ships we need — ships that will contribute to a superior, integrated naval force for the 2030s and far beyond."

Huntington Ingalls (HII) christened the second ship of the new Ford-class carriers — the USS John F. Kennedy — on Dec. 7. The Navy said this month that another Ford-class carrier will be named after Doris Miller, an African American hero of Pearl Harbor.

"Because they are big, expensive platforms, they are difficult to replace if one of them is lost — a major defeat," said Mike McMahon, a senior policy researcher at RAND. "So there is a certain amount of risk aversion in using them in some scenarios."

Of course, such myths were soon dispelled with major battleship engagements like the Battle of Jutland, where the British fleet lost several battleships and battlecruisers — one of the Royal Navy's worst losses in an engagement.

Ford Class Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier

But the day would come when these enormous juggernauts would meet their match from a new form of military technology — aircraft. One change in how a carrier's air wing operates may already be in the works.

Boeing is developing the MQ-25-Stingray for the Navy. The carrier-launched drone is meant to refuel Boeing (BA) F/A-18s and Lockheed Martin (LMT) F-35s in midair, extending their range. That also allows aircraft carriers to sail farther away from shore — and beyond the range of new anti-ship missiles.

Future drones could further remake the mix of aircraft for the carrier's air wing. Sutton envisages such a vessel using ballast tanks to raise or lower itself in relation to sea level. These crafts could also be semi-submersible, lowering to surface level when not in combat.

Or, versions of this type of aircraft carrier could also be fully submersible, as with traditional subs. But the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma were not the first battleships in history to be sunk by airborne attackers.

What Will Replace Aircraft Carriers?

Almost 20 years earlier, in 1921, the captured battleship, the German Ostfriesland, was sunk during air trials in a demonstration of the potential benefit of airborne attacks on a battleship. The anti-access/area defense system-of-systems (A2/AD) developed by China may not be nearly as lethal in operation as it is in principle, and in any case, there are many targets softer than the littoral of the PRC

. Aircraft carriers still provide mobile airfields that are arguably more survivable than static facilities. Even if carriers are at risk in specific high-intensity combat scenarios, they remain effective in dozens of other conceivable military operations.

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Authors may own the stocks they discuss. The information and content are subject to change without notice. On the negative side of the ledger, Russia seems likely to opt-out of the naval aviation game for the foreseeable future, as the Admiral Kuznetsov does not appear likely to return to service soon and the cadre of naval aviators capable of operating from carriers is

Could Drones Spell The End Of Aircraft Carriers?

rapidly disappearing. Brazilian naval aviation does not seem to have survived the failed effort to rehabilitate the Sao Paulo (the former French Foch), although Brazil's acquisition of the former HMS Ocean means that a helicopter platform is still available.

Russia and Brazil have determined that the cost of building (or buying) and maintaining an aircraft carrier is too high for the likely return in power and prestige. However, many other countries continue to come to the opposite conclusion, and that should give the analysts who have been predicting the impending demise of the carrier since 1945 some pause.

You may have heard the saying that "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes". From triremes to the mighty battleships of recent times, could the aircraft carrier become the next superpower to be resigned to become a thing for the history books?

Well, to summarize, the bottom line is this: Aircraft carriers have been around for over a century now and are still very formidable war machines indeed. This is for one main reason — aircraft carriers are not just about the ship itself.

Part of the story is the availability of the F-35B, a fifth-generation fighter that can operate from the decks of small, affordable aircraft carriers. While the fighter itself is expensive and has a necessarily limited customer base (due to US technology controls), it does offer a small carrier an unprecedented opportunity to contest air superiority and to conduct medium-range strike operations.

The fighter fleets of British, Italian, and Japanese naval aviation depend entirely on the F-35B. Spain, Turkey, and Australia all operate ships that could carry F-35Bs, although fiscal, legal, and organizational issues respectively have prevented the acquisition of the jets.

In 2016, the Center for a New American Security urged canceling the Ford program after the second ship and boosting drone aircraft and submarines instead. And in December 2018, a Congressional Budget Office report titled "Stop Building Ford Class Aircraft Carriers" weighed canceling the program after three ships.

"Most of the things that people came up with as alternatives have some very significant limitations in the amount of ordnance, amount of time they can stay on station," said Brad Martin, a senior policy researcher at RAND.

Naval Sea Systems Command, a US Navy subsidiary, said it had agreed to sell the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS John F. Kennedy to International Shipbreaking Limited, which is based in Brownsville, Texas, USA Today reported.

The late Sen. John McCain pushed for the development of smaller carriers based on the amphibious assault ship USS America built by Huntington Ingalls. That flat-top ship can hold 34 aircraft, including F-35s and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, which is made by a joint venture between Boeing and Textron's (TXT) Bell unit.

The study will look into various combinations of manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as the cost-benefit of nuclear and more conventional power systems. Concerns around the massive investment needed to build them and rising threats to carriers from long-range, accurate ballistic missiles, air, and seaborne drones, and other low-cost threats, could put the future viability of carriers in serious doubt.

The question goes to the core of modern naval procurement, and not just in the United States. The People's Liberation Army has assembled a vast array of systems designed to destroy aircraft carriers and thus deter them from entering contested waters.

At the same time, the PLAN is in the process of fitting out its third (and largest) carrier, with additional vessels apparently on the way.

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Aircraft Corsair

Aircraft Corsair - The Corsair saw action in post-WWII conflicts such as the Korean War, the Indochina War, among others. Many served with other air forces as surplus or donated aircraft, where it served more than 30 years after WWII was over, when it scored its last air victories and gave an honorable closure to an era past gone.

10 F2G 'Super' Corsair series also served as civilian racers after the war. A total of 12571 Corsairs were built, being in service with the US Navy, the Marines and other air forces from 1942 to 1979, attesting to the good quality of the aircraft and its endurance, being produced until 1953. A total of 15,386 Mustangs were built

Aircraft Corsair

. "We are extremely grateful to the employees and volunteers at Delta Air Lines for restoring this Corsair to its original appearance," said Airbase Leader Joel Perkins. "This will delight the public and aviation fans who come to see the Corsair at airshows, aviation events and our Warbird Museum.

About Mario H Zorro

We plan to showcase our Corsair at a Corsair Reunion scheduled for the EAA Air Venture in July, and for the Navy Legacy Flight Foundation program where it will fly in close flight maneuvers with today's frontline fighters.”

The Corsair was a pretty advanced aircraft for the times, and this characteristic meant that its development would find several problems that required solutions, which in turn, were quite remarkable. Even so, the Corsair required improvements while in service, which does not deny the fact that it was one of the greatest and unique airplanes of the war, let alone a good complement to other aircraft carrier-based fighters and among the best naval fighters in

the war. In 1941, with war on the horizon, Chance Vought lead designer Rex Beisel (a graduate of Seattle's Queen Anne High School and the University of Washington) was directed to design a fighter around the large Pratt & Whitney R-2800 "Double Wasp" 2,250

-horsepower engine and massive propeller. Instead of building long, awkward landing gear needed for propeller clearance, the bent-wing design of Beisel's team allowed for shorter, stronger gear for carrier landings. The unusual wing not only gave the Corsair its distinctive shape but also reduced drag, allowing the "Bent Wing Bird" even greater speed.

However, the long-nosed configuration posed visibility issues for pilots. This and other technical issues delayed the Corsair's deployment in Navy carrier-based squadrons. The type was initially used to great advantage by the Marines beginning in 1943 and eventually, when carrier suitability issues were resolved, by the Navy.

This Corsair is dedicated to the memory of Seattle native Lieutenant Jerome Reese Schuchart, USNR, to serve as a tribute to all military aviators. Jerome died on April 13, 1989 in the service of his country.

The "89" on the landing gear doors represents the year of his death, and the "S" on the vertical fin represents both his last name and NAS Sand Point. Note: Captain Fernando Soto was FAH Corsair pilot who shot down three FAS fighters, a Mustang and two FG-1D Corsairs, on July 17, 1969, while flying F4U-5N FAH 609, which remains in Honduras in running condition.

She may have known my grandfather who was general manager inspection 2nd shift at the Stratford, CT Vought plant, T.F. "Pappy" Soule. I do have a signed photograph of the inspection department. in about 1947/1948. If I can find the photograph I'll look to see if your mother signed it.

The Corsair is a single-seat and single engine fighter/fighter-bomber for day and night-time, featuring a characteristic inverted gull wing (Similar to that of the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka and the Loire-Nieuport 40) and a very long propeller

- blades. The development of the Corsair began following a request by the US Navy for twin and single-engine fighters in 1938, with the single-engine required to obtain the maximum speed possible and a stalling speed of no more than 110 km/h (70 mph

), and a long range. Interestingly, the initial requirements included the aircraft to carry anti-aircraft bombs to be dropped on enemy formations. That same year, Vought – the builder company – was awarded a contract to start with the development of the Corsair.

Note: Warbird Registry notes that the rear fuselage of Bu 96885, FAH 618 was used in the restoration of Bu 97388. Thus Bu 97388 is considered a "components" aircraft. Both of these aircraft were BOC with the FAH on 22 December 1961. Bu 96885 was later rebuilt for static display at the USS Midway Museum.

For a picture of the unrestored tail cone of Bu 96885 before it was incorporated into the restoration, click here. Timing and circumstances prevented the F2G from contributing to the war effort. However, the Super Corsair made its name in the peacetime world of air racing.

Navy pilot Cook Cleland obtained four surplus F2Gs and substantially modified one, clipping six feet off the wingspan. He won the 1947 Thompson Trophy race at 396 mph. Two years later, the Super Corsairs scored a clean sweep with Cleland, Ron Puckett, and Ben McKillen taking the top three spots.

In ten starts over three years, the F2Gs scored two wins, two seconds, and one third-place finish. The Chance Vought F4U Corsair is considered the premier Navy and Marine fighter of World War II. The Corsair, along with the Grumman Hellcat, are credited with turning the tide of the Pacific air war by overwhelming the once-fearsome Japanese Zero fighter.

Besides its role in air-to-air combat, Corsairs were used as night fighters and as fighter-bombers at the tail-end of World War II and throughout the Korean War. Currently an independent researcher. Studies in Political Science with a minor degree in Philosophy.

Master in Public Policy. Interests in History, International Relations and Security with a strong passion for battle tanks and airplanes. Mario blogs at Drakkar Defense. View all posts by Mario H Zorro → The Museum's F2G-1 Corsair, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics number 88454, was delivered in 1945. As the first production F2G-1, it spent most of its active career at the Navy Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland.

In 1948, it went into containerized storage at Norfolk, Virginia, with only 246 hours flight time. In the early 1960s, it was discovered by Captain Walter Ohlrich. The Museum's Corsair is an FG-1D model built under license by Goodyear.

It was delivered to the U.S. Navy in April 1945 and served aboard the USS Intrepid. After the war, it was transferred to the Naval Reserve and eventually stationed at Naval Air Station Sand Point in 1950. That July, Commander Ralph Milleson made a water landing on Lake Washington following a non-fatal midair collision with another Corsair.

After 30 years under 190 feet of water, the aircraft was recovered from the lake in 1983 and eventually restored. The Corsair is a low inverted gull wing fighter, with a single tail and a single engine: Pratt & Whitney R-2800 V-18 Double Wasp of 2250 hp, with a wide propeller fitted as to maximize the power yield.

As a result of the size of the engine, the bow or nose of the Corsair is particularly long, which made the cockpit to be located further aft. The relocation and reconfiguration of the armament – ​​which was placed at the wings – and the resulting relocation of the fuel tank in front of the cockpit contributed to its location in the airframe, which in turn had to be elongated.

The Museum's Corsair is an FG-1D model built under license by Goodyear. It was delivered to the U.S. Navy in April 1945 and served aboard the USS Intrepid. After the war, it was transferred to the Naval Reserve and eventually stationed at Naval Air Station Sand Point in 1950. That July, Commander Ralph Milleson made a water landing on Lake Washington following a non-fatal midair collision with another Corsair.

After 30 years under 190 feet of water, the aircraft was recovered from the lake in 1983 and eventually restored. The Chance Vought F4U Corsair is considered the premier Navy and Marine fighter of World War II.

The Corsair, along with the Grumman Hellcat, are credited with turning the tide of the Pacific air war by overwhelming the once-fearsome Japanese Zero fighter. Besides its role in air-to-air combat, Corsairs were used as night fighters and as fighter-bombers at the tail-end of World War II and throughout the Korean War.

Note: USS Saipan (CVL-48) was laid down on 10 July 1944. Launched on 8 July 1945. Commissioned on 14 July 1946. It displaced 14,500 tons. Operated in the 1950s mainly for training, it was later converted to the communications relay ship USS Arlington, deactivated in January 1970 and scrapped.

Note: Honduran documents include lists of airworthy aircraft with TT on airframe, engines, and props and “Discarded F4U-5 and F4U-4 aircraft” and “Data on stripped F4U-5 and F4U-4 aircraft.” FAH 610 (and FAH 616) are listed on this document with correct Bureau No.

97388 for FAH 610. Navy title then passed to the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico, Virginia. Subsequently, the museum traded the Corsair and a Douglas Skyraider to Doug Champlin in exchange for a Dauntless dive bomber.

Champlin kept the Corsair at Enid, Oklahoma, until he opened his museum in Mesa, Arizona, in 1981, when former Thompson Trophy racer Ron Puckett flew the F2G to Falcon Field. The rare Corsair came to Seattle with the rest of the Champlin Collection in 2003.

The Corsair was the most effective fighter the US Navy and the USMC had from the moment it was introduced and entered combat in the Solomon Islands in 1943. It was appraised by the pilots due to its performance and its capacity to remove the threat posed by the

Mitsubishis A6M Zeros, as well as to break Japanese bombing raids. It was also capable of outfling and outfighting any land-based aircraft. It was capable of performing interception, bombing, ground-attack and fighter missions. The Corsair was a fighter that was also an ace-maker, with Kenneth Walsh (21 kills), Gregory “Pappy” Boyington (28 kills) and Joe Foss (26 kills).

It was under Boyington's leadership that his squadron, the "Black Sheep" were the most effective squadron, scoring 97 kills and 103 damaged airplanes on the ground. Noteworthy to remark, the Corsair was also appraised by Admiral Nimitz giving its performance.

This Corsair is dedicated to the memory of Seattle native Lieutenant Jerome Reese Schuchart, USNR, to serve as a tribute to all military aviators. Jerome died on April 13, 1989 in the service of his country.

The "89" on the landing gear doors represents the year of his death, and the "S" on the vertical fin represents both his last name and NAS Sand Point. This website may use cookies to store information on your computer.

Some help improve user experience and others are essential to site function. By using this website, you consent to the placement of these cookies and accept our privacy policy. The aft section of the Corsair is also full of noticeable characteristics, with a projecting fuselage tip where the vertical stabilizer is placed, which is large.

The horizontal stabilizer is, in turn, placed 'aft' of the tail. Bu 97388 assigned to storage at NAS Tillamook, Oregon, former blimp base for HEDRON 3, and storage facility for surplus FM-2s. By 1947, 433 aircraft were stored at Tillamook.

The field was decommissioned on 1 July 1948. The Corsair was among the few WWII-era aircraft to serve right into the earlier days of the Cold War, as it took part in low altitude attack fighter-bombing and CAS missions in Korea, as well as heckling the enemy in night missions.

It also attacked enemy installations It dropped bombs, Napalms, rockets and cannons the same way as in WWII, being both aircraft and pilots both veterans of that conflict, and operating from WWII aircraft carriers (USS Essex and USS Bon Homme Richard).

As tough as it was, it was able to carry a large payload and remain more time in the combat zone for CAS missions, and even the Corsair even managed to kill a North Korean Mig-15.

The Corsair also had a high rate of availability and hard resistance against enemy fire. Big, robust, and fast, the Goodyear F2G was often referred to as the "Super Corsair" for good reason. Designed and produced by Goodyear rather than Vought, the F2G design was initiated as a late World War II upgrade to the famous F4U Corsair series.

It combined the famous Corsair airframe with Pratt & Whitney's huge R-4360 Wasp Major engine, rated at 3,000 horsepower, the largest piston engine to ever enter production. Other changes included a bubble canopy and a taller vertical stabilizer with auxiliary rudder to compensate for the engine's extra torque.

Some 418 F2Gs were ordered, but only ten were actually produced, with another seven units converted from Goodyear FG-1 models. The Corsair, however, was benefited during its development thanks to the experiences of other air forces when the war sparked in Europe.

As a result, the set of 2 X 7.62mm synchronized engine cowling-mount machine guns, and the 2 X 12.7mm wing machine guns was deemed unsuitable, prompting the armament scheme to be modified. Three 12.7mm machine guns were fitted on each wing, increasing the firepower of the Corsair.

Navy title then passed to the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico, Virginia. Subsequently, the museum traded the Corsair and a Douglas Skyraider to Doug Champlin in exchange for a Dauntless dive bomber. Champlin kept the Corsair at Enid, Oklahoma, until he opened his museum in Mesa, Arizona, in 1981, when former Thompson Trophy racer Ron Puckett flew the F2G to Falcon Field.

The rare Corsair came to Seattle with the rest of the Champlin Collection in 2003. Mr. Zorro, What source was used to explain the purpose of the lower fuselage window? The oval shaped window was designed on the XF4U-1 Corsair Prototype, intended for aerial bombing of enemy bomber formations, in flight.

The XF4U-1 Prototype had 10 internal outer wing bomb compartments, capable of holding 40, 5.2 pound anti aircraft bombs. The pilot would fly above the bomber formations, line up on them using the belly window and release his ordinance.

The bomb compartments were deleted on later prototypes as they were deemed impractical. But the designers kept the belly window through the F4U-1A's. That was the original intent for the window. I was just curious where it was stated the window was used for carrier landings, as well?

The Corsair's armament was originally a set of two 7.62mm machine guns at the frontal section of the nose, and two 12.7mm machine guns, one at each wing. But as the above-mentioned reports from the war in Europe forced the armament to be modified, the final disposition was of 6 X 12.7mm machineguns at the wings, three on each side.

It was the British the ones that solved the operational problems of the Corsair for naval use, as they began to operate with the Corsair in 1944, on-board the HMS Victorious. Those Corsairs saw action as carrier-borne aircraft by suppressing Flaks and providing escorts to aircraft performing raids against the Kriegsmarine battleship DKM Tirpitz in three raid operations: Operation Tungsten, Operation Mascot and Operation Goodwood.

Later on the British Corsairs were deployed in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, attacking Japanese targets on April 1944. This website may use cookies to store information on your computer. Some help improve user experience and others are essential to site function.

By using this website, you consent to the placement of these cookies and accept our privacy policy. Note: During this time Saipan was assigned to the Mediterranean. This deployment lasted until 8 June 1951. Saipan was the flagship of Carrier Division 14, assigned to the Sixth Fleet.

This tour included stops at Gibralter, Italy, Algiers, and Sicily. She returned to Norfolk, VA, on June 8. Note: Litchfield Park, AZ, 20 miles west of Phoenix, had been the Goodyear Aircraft Corp, modification center during WWII.

After the war it became, with Clinton, OK, one of the major USN storage centers. Also stored there were F6F Hellcats, F8F Bearcats, TBM Avengers, and PB4Y-2 Privateers.

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Aircraft Delay Maneuvers Crossword

Aircraft Delay Maneuvers Crossword - Today's crossword puzzle clue is a quick one: Aircraft manoeuvre. We will try to find the right answer to this particular crossword clue. Here are the possible solutions for "Aircraft maneuver" clue. It was last seen in British quick crossword.

We have 1 possible answer in our database. We have the answer for Aircraft's delay maneuvers or what 20-27- and 48-Across are doing? crossword clue in case you've been struggling to solve this one! Crosswords can be an excellent way to stimulate your brain, pass the time, and challenge yourself all at once.

Aircraft Delay Maneuvers Crossword

Of course, sometimes there's a crossword clue that totally stumps us, whether it's because we are unfamiliar with the subject matter entirely or we are just drawing a blank. That should be all the information you need to solve for the crossword clue and fill in more of the grid you're working on!

Aircraft Manoeuvre

Be sure to check out the Crossword section of our website to find more answers and solutions. We provide the most likely answers for every crossword clue. Undoubtedly, there may be other solutions for aircraft manoeuvre.

If you discover one of these, please send it to us, and we'll add it to our database of clues and answers, so others can benefit from your research. A clue can have multiple answers, and we have provided all the ones that we are aware of for Aircraft's delay maneuvers or what 20- 27- and 48-Across are doing?.

This clue last appeared August 3, 2022 in the Universal Crossword. You'll want to cross-reference the length of the answers below with the required length in the crossword puzzle you are working on for the correct answer.

The solution to the Aircraft's delay maneuvers or what 20- 27- and 48-Across are doing? crossword clue should be:

Aircraft’s Delay Maneuvers Or What - - And -Across Are Doing? Crossword Clue Answers

aerial maneuver crossword, sailing maneuver crossword, maneuver with skill crossword, hockey maneuver crossword, basketball maneuver crossword, maneuver a parachute crossword, room to maneuver crossword

Aircraft Delay Maneuvers Crossword

Aircraft Delay Maneuvers Crossword - Today's crossword puzzle clue is a quick one: Aircraft manoeuvre. We will try to find the right answer to this particular crossword clue. Here are the possible solutions for "Aircraft maneuver" clue. It was last seen in British quick crossword.

We have 1 possible answer in our database. We have the answer for Aircraft's delay maneuvers or what 20-27- and 48-Across are doing? crossword clue in case you've been struggling to solve this one! Crosswords can be an excellent way to stimulate your brain, pass the time, and challenge yourself all at once.

Aircraft Delay Maneuvers Crossword

Of course, sometimes there's a crossword clue that totally stumps us, whether it's because we are unfamiliar with the subject matter entirely or we are just drawing a blank. That should be all the information you need to solve for the crossword clue and fill in more of the grid you're working on!

Aircraft Manoeuvre

Be sure to check out the Crossword section of our website to find more answers and solutions. We provide the most likely answers for every crossword clue. Undoubtedly, there may be other solutions for aircraft manoeuvre.

If you discover one of these, please send it to us, and we'll add it to our database of clues and answers, so others can benefit from your research. A clue can have multiple answers, and we have provided all the ones that we are aware of for Aircraft's delay maneuvers or what 20- 27- and 48-Across are doing?.

This clue last appeared August 3, 2022 in the Universal Crossword. You'll want to cross-reference the length of the answers below with the required length in the crossword puzzle you are working on for the correct answer.

The solution to the Aircraft's delay maneuvers or what 20- 27- and 48-Across are doing? crossword clue should be:

Aircraft’s Delay Maneuvers Or What - - And -Across Are Doing? Crossword Clue Answers

aerial maneuver crossword, sailing maneuver crossword, maneuver with skill crossword, hockey maneuver crossword, basketball maneuver crossword, maneuver a parachute crossword, room to maneuver crossword

Aircraft Carrier Obsolete

Aircraft Carrier Obsolete - "As that capability evolves, you could then put missiles on such a ship; for example, you might end up with a destroyer or cruise with a screen of unmanned surface ships in front of it," Cancian said.

China has boasted about its DF-21D and DF-26 anti-ship missiles, which have ranges of 1,100 and 2,500 miles, respectively. Both Russia and China are also developing hypersonic weapons that can fly at five times the speed of sound and evade current air defense systems.

Aircraft Carrier Obsolete

Being enormous and technologically complex pieces of hardware, you will not be surprised to hear that it takes years to build an aircraft carrier. Depending on their size, most aircraft carriers tend to take around 5 to 6 years to build, but some take considerably longer.

Aircraft Carriers Are Costly And Hard To Replace

An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), is a fighter-sized craft capable of landing, and taking off, from an aircraft carrier. It can even be refueled mid-flight. Crafts like this might be on the cards for future aircraft carrier fighter wings.

The brainchild of H. I. Sutton (author of the Covert Shores website), these vessels would require minimal personnel to operate. Deck robots and other autonomous systems could be used to do most of the heavy loading.

Drones could be deployed either by surfacing and launching from short flight decks, or by using launch tubes. Such a capability would offer this new type of "carrier" a much better chance of survival, while also potentially gaining them the element of surprise.

"Our fleet is too small, and our capabilities are stacked on too few ships that are too big," he said. "And that needs to change over time. (But) we have made significant investments in aircraft carriers, and we're going to have those for a long time."

How Long Does An Aircraft Carrier Take To Build?

For a country like the United States, the United Kingdom, or even Russia, an aircraft carrier conveys the appearance of military might and continued global relevance. For China and India, aircraft carriers convey modernity and demonstrate great power status.

While the price these countries are paying may appear very high, such demonstrations have long been part of great power defense statecraft. There are trade-offs between price and firepower. The amphibious ship only costs $3.4 billion per hull while carrying half the number of aircraft a full-size carrier can.

And planes like the Boeing Super Hornet, which can hold more ordnance than F-35s, need a catapult to take off from a ship. They can't deploy from large-deck amphibious ships. It’s hard to say carriers are obsolete because they cannot be protected in a full on war.

Considering 90%+ of a carrier's life is operating in non-war environments, they are purpose built for that 90% non-war purpose. The ability to rapidly establish such a powerful military presence in any part of the world is a massive deterrent, and contributes heavily to any political dialogue occurring with foreign nations.

New Capabilities On Uss Ford

This value must be factored in when looking at the price tag of a new carrier group. It’s probably prevented 10x as many wars than any carrier has ever engaged in directly. Requiring a massive expenditure to build and maintain, and with newer cheaper, and with faster-to-build technologies like anti-ship missiles and drones emerging, does it make sense to keep them afloat?

Let's take a look at what the future of aircraft carriers might be. The contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman, which forms part of the larger DARPA Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node program. Such systems will combine vertical takeoff and landing drones that can fly for long distances equivalent in range, or longer, to conventional fixed-wing planes.

Instead of giving up on aircraft carriers, the Navy needs to develop new concepts for using them, he said at the USNI Defense Forum in Washington on Dec. 6, according to Defense News. Upcoming, large-scale war-games will help flesh out those ideas.

But he indicated the direction of change will be toward spreading out forces, becoming less vulnerable to a single, catastrophic loss. Like most new Pentagon programs, the ship has been plagued with problems with its new high-tech systems.

Are Aircraft Carriers Still Relevant?

An issue with the General Electric (GE) propulsion system sent the ship back to port during testing in 2018. GE and Huntington Ingalls are pushing each other to pay for the fix. But getting rid of them altogether is unlikely.

Earlier this year, the service proposed retiring the Nimitz-class USS Truman 25 years early to save money. Vice President Mike Pence pushed back, and the Navy ditched that idea. A 19FortyFive Contributing Editor, Dr. Robert Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School since 2005. He received his BS from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph.

D. from the University of Washington in 2004. Dr. Farley is the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), the Battleship Book (Wildside, 2016), and Patents for Power: Intellectual Property Law and the Diffusion of Military Technology (University

of Chicago, 2020). He has contributed extensively to a number of journals and magazines, including the National Interest, the Diplomat: APAC, World Politics Review, and the American Prospect. Dr. Farley is also a founder and senior editor of Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Did Aircraft Carriers Replace Battleships?

Any assessment we do must consider cost, survivability, and the critical national requirement to sustain an industrial base that can produce the ships we need — ships that will contribute to a superior, integrated naval force for the 2030s and far beyond."

Huntington Ingalls (HII) christened the second ship of the new Ford-class carriers — the USS John F. Kennedy — on Dec. 7. The Navy said this month that another Ford-class carrier will be named after Doris Miller, an African American hero of Pearl Harbor.

"Because they are big, expensive platforms, they are difficult to replace if one of them is lost — a major defeat," said Mike McMahon, a senior policy researcher at RAND. "So there is a certain amount of risk aversion in using them in some scenarios."

Of course, such myths were soon dispelled with major battleship engagements like the Battle of Jutland, where the British fleet lost several battleships and battlecruisers — one of the Royal Navy's worst losses in an engagement.

Ford Class Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier

But the day would come when these enormous juggernauts would meet their match from a new form of military technology — aircraft. One change in how a carrier's air wing operates may already be in the works.

Boeing is developing the MQ-25-Stingray for the Navy. The carrier-launched drone is meant to refuel Boeing (BA) F/A-18s and Lockheed Martin (LMT) F-35s in midair, extending their range. That also allows aircraft carriers to sail farther away from shore — and beyond the range of new anti-ship missiles.

Future drones could further remake the mix of aircraft for the carrier's air wing. Sutton envisages such a vessel using ballast tanks to raise or lower itself in relation to sea level. These crafts could also be semi-submersible, lowering to surface level when not in combat.

Or, versions of this type of aircraft carrier could also be fully submersible, as with traditional subs. But the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma were not the first battleships in history to be sunk by airborne attackers.

What Will Replace Aircraft Carriers?

Almost 20 years earlier, in 1921, the captured battleship, the German Ostfriesland, was sunk during air trials in a demonstration of the potential benefit of airborne attacks on a battleship. The anti-access/area defense system-of-systems (A2/AD) developed by China may not be nearly as lethal in operation as it is in principle, and in any case, there are many targets softer than the littoral of the PRC

. Aircraft carriers still provide mobile airfields that are arguably more survivable than static facilities. Even if carriers are at risk in specific high-intensity combat scenarios, they remain effective in dozens of other conceivable military operations.

Notice: Information contained herein is not and should not be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell securities. The information has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable; however, no guarantee is made or implied with respect to its accuracy, timeliness, or completeness.

Authors may own the stocks they discuss. The information and content are subject to change without notice. On the negative side of the ledger, Russia seems likely to opt-out of the naval aviation game for the foreseeable future, as the Admiral Kuznetsov does not appear likely to return to service soon and the cadre of naval aviators capable of operating from carriers is

Could Drones Spell The End Of Aircraft Carriers?

rapidly disappearing. Brazilian naval aviation does not seem to have survived the failed effort to rehabilitate the Sao Paulo (the former French Foch), although Brazil's acquisition of the former HMS Ocean means that a helicopter platform is still available.

Russia and Brazil have determined that the cost of building (or buying) and maintaining an aircraft carrier is too high for the likely return in power and prestige. However, many other countries continue to come to the opposite conclusion, and that should give the analysts who have been predicting the impending demise of the carrier since 1945 some pause.

You may have heard the saying that "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes". From triremes to the mighty battleships of recent times, could the aircraft carrier become the next superpower to be resigned to become a thing for the history books?

Well, to summarize, the bottom line is this: Aircraft carriers have been around for over a century now and are still very formidable war machines indeed. This is for one main reason — aircraft carriers are not just about the ship itself.

Part of the story is the availability of the F-35B, a fifth-generation fighter that can operate from the decks of small, affordable aircraft carriers. While the fighter itself is expensive and has a necessarily limited customer base (due to US technology controls), it does offer a small carrier an unprecedented opportunity to contest air superiority and to conduct medium-range strike operations.

The fighter fleets of British, Italian, and Japanese naval aviation depend entirely on the F-35B. Spain, Turkey, and Australia all operate ships that could carry F-35Bs, although fiscal, legal, and organizational issues respectively have prevented the acquisition of the jets.

In 2016, the Center for a New American Security urged canceling the Ford program after the second ship and boosting drone aircraft and submarines instead. And in December 2018, a Congressional Budget Office report titled "Stop Building Ford Class Aircraft Carriers" weighed canceling the program after three ships.

"Most of the things that people came up with as alternatives have some very significant limitations in the amount of ordnance, amount of time they can stay on station," said Brad Martin, a senior policy researcher at RAND.

Naval Sea Systems Command, a US Navy subsidiary, said it had agreed to sell the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS John F. Kennedy to International Shipbreaking Limited, which is based in Brownsville, Texas, USA Today reported.

The late Sen. John McCain pushed for the development of smaller carriers based on the amphibious assault ship USS America built by Huntington Ingalls. That flat-top ship can hold 34 aircraft, including F-35s and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, which is made by a joint venture between Boeing and Textron's (TXT) Bell unit.

The study will look into various combinations of manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as the cost-benefit of nuclear and more conventional power systems. Concerns around the massive investment needed to build them and rising threats to carriers from long-range, accurate ballistic missiles, air, and seaborne drones, and other low-cost threats, could put the future viability of carriers in serious doubt.

The question goes to the core of modern naval procurement, and not just in the United States. The People's Liberation Army has assembled a vast array of systems designed to destroy aircraft carriers and thus deter them from entering contested waters.

At the same time, the PLAN is in the process of fitting out its third (and largest) carrier, with additional vessels apparently on the way.

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Aircraft Control Surfaces

Aircraft Control Surfaces - There is an additional increment due to the downward component of the momentum of the jet. Experiments with such a device have produced very high lift coefficients. Some aircraft designs incorporate combinations of the fowler and slotted flaps to greatly increase the lift and drag of the wing. When the flap is initially extended, it moves aft on its track. Once past a certain point on the track, further aft movement is accompanied by a downward deflection which opens up the slot between the flap and the wing. Many jet transport aircraft use this basic design with several slot openings being used to improve the airflow over the wing and flap surfaces.

Aileron control systems operated by the pilot through mechanical connections require the use of balancing mechanisms so that the pilot can overcome the air loads imposed on the ailerons during flight. Balancing of the ailerons can be achieved by extending part of the aileron structure ahead of the hinge line and shaping this area so

Aircraft Control Surfaces

Other surfaces fall in a group termed high-lift devices which includes flaps, slats and slots. These allow the lift and drag characteristics of the aircraft wing to be changed to allow-slow speed flight for takeoff and landing and high-speed flight for cruising.

Spoilers And Air Brakes

Elevators are the control surfaces which govern the movement (pitch) of the aircraft around the lateral axis. They are normally attached to hinges on the rear spar of the horizontal stabilizer. The construction of an elevator is similary to that of other control surfaces, and the design of the elevator may be unbalanced or balanced aerodynamically and/or statically.

Slots are openings between the different segments of the flaps. They are aerodynamic features that allow air to flow from beneath the wing to its upper surface. The bigger the surface of the trailing-edge flaps deployed, the more slots are needed.

The construction of the control surfaces is similar to that of the stabilizers; however, the movable surfaces usually are somewhat lighter in construction. They often have a spar at the forward edge to provide rigidity and to this spar are attached the ribs and the covering. Hinges for attachment are also secured to the spar. Where it is necessary to attach tabs to the trailing edges of control surfaces, additional structure is added to provide for transmission of the tab loads to the surface.

Trailing edge flaps extend and move downwards on the back of the wing. Leading-edge flaps move out and forward on the front of the wing. However, the leading-edge flaps and slats are not individually controlled but respond to the movement of the trailing edge flaps.

Primary And Secondary Surfaces

Controls Too Sensitive? Many a builder is dismayed to learn how sensitive the controls are in his homebuilt. The embarrassing consequence being that the pilot over-controls in spite of himself and causes the airplane to behave more like a porpoise than an arrow in flight.

Another method which may be used is to place a weight ahead of the hinge line to counteract the flight loads. This is known as static balancing. Some aircraft may use a combination of these techniques. Aircraft such as jet transports use hydraulically operated ailerons and may not employ these forms of balancing. If the transport control system is designed to allow the pilot to operate the ailerons without hydraulic assistance, then some method of balancing or control by control tabs is used.

Flaps are located on the trailing edge of each wing, usually between the fuselage and the ailerons, and extend downward (and often outward) from the wing when put into use. The purpose of the flaps is to generate more lift at slower airsp … more

Spoilers and air brakes are used to reduce the lift and slow down the aircraft. They are used on approach and after landing. Spoilers are small panels hinged on the upper surface of the wing and decrease lift by disrupting the airflow.

Did You Know

Spoilers, also called “lift dumpers” are control surfaces which are used to reduce or “spoil” the lift on a wing. Spoilers are located on the upper surface of wings and are one of two basic configurations. The more common configuration on jet transports, is to have a flat panel spoiler laying flush with the surface of the wing and hinged at the forward edge.

The control surfaces are all the dynamic parts on an aircraft that can be manipulated to steer the plane during flight. They are divided into primary and secondary control surfaces. The primary ones on a fixed-wing aircraft include the ailerons, elevators, and rudder. These are responsible for directing the aircraft.

The fundamental reason for the breakaway is that the boundary layer becomes sluggish over the rear part of the wing section, flowing as it is against the pressure gradient. The formation of a shock wave makes matters worse; the speed in the boundary layer is still subsonic which means that pressure can be transmitted up stream, causing the boundary layer to thicken and, if the pressure rise is too steep, to break away from the surface. Now vortex generators are small plates or wedges, projecting an inch or so from the top surface of the wing, i.e. three or four times the thickness of the boundary layer.

In the early days experiments were made which revealed that, if left to itself, the slat would move forward of its own accord. So automatic slots came into their own; in these the slat is moved by the action of air pressure, i.e. by making use of that forward and upward suction near the leading edge. The opening of the slot may be delayed or hastened by ‘vents’ at the trailing or leading edge of the slat respectively, and there may be some kind of spring or tensioning device to prevent juddering, which may be otherwise likely to occur.

Trim Tab

Other aircraft have the ailerons operating asymmetrically; that is, the upward-moving aileron moves further than the downward moving aileron. This asymmetrical operation is used in some aircraft designs to reduce the amount of rudder pressure required when making turns.

The value of the slot in maintaining a smooth airflow over the top surface of the wing can be materially enhanced by blowing air through the gap between slat and wing; this may be called a blown slot.

It is also used in order to 'slip' and direct the trajectory of the plane before landing during a heavy crosswind approach. The rudder is usually controlled by the left and right rudder pedals in the cockpit.

Elevator: The elevator is the small moving section on the trailing edge of the horizontal tail surface that controls pitch.  Moving the elevator up decreases the amount of lift generated by the horizontal tail surface and pitches the nose up, causing the airplane to climb.  Moving the elevator down increases the amount of lift generated by the horizontal tail surface and pitches the nose down, causing the airplane to dive.

Krueger Flap

One of the major breakthroughs of the Wright brothers was their ability to control roll in their aircraft. The 1903 Wright Flyer didn’t have ailerons, so roll control was provided by a unique idea they called wing warping. Wilbur hit upon this idea while twisting a cardboard box from a bicycle inner tube as he chatted with a customer in the brothers’ shop. The tips of the wings were twisted (warped) like the box by a series of pulleys and cables.

Flight spoilers are used in flight to reduce the amount of lift that the wing is generating to allow controlled descents without gaining excessive air speed. Depending on the aircraft design, the spoilers may also be operated by the pilot’s control wheel or stick. When the pilot moves the control left or right for a roll movement, the spoilers on the wing toward the centre of the turn (upward-moving aileron) move upward and aid in rolling the aircraft into the turn. In some aircraft designs, the spoilers are the primary flight control for roll.

Use The Correct Hardware A separated control connection in flight can result in frightening if not disastrous consequences. Having controllable trim tabs but lacking the skill and luck needed to effect some control with them, in such an emergency, may only prolong the inevitable.

This provides aft-section displacement proportional to forward-section displacement, thus increasing the aerodynamic efficiency of the rudders. Trim and control tabs are not required with this type of rudder design because their functions are performed by the aft sections of the rudder.

Balance Tab

A wing flap is defined as hinged, pivoted, or sliding airfoil, usually attached near the trailing edge of the wing. The purpose of wing flaps is to change the camber of the wing and in some cases to increase the area of the wing, thus permitting the aircraft to operate at lower flight speeds for landing and takeoff. The flaps effectively increase the lift of the wings and, in some cases, greatly increase the drag, particularly when fully extended.

Just the mere fact that an aircraft can get off the ground and stay in the air is an engineering miracle that we often take for granted. While the fixed parts of the fuselage, wings, and stabilizers are essential, the real finesse in maneuvering a jetliner comes from the dynamic parts attached to them - the flight control surfaces. Let's take a look at what they are and how they work.

The term trim tabs describes small secondary flight-control surfaces set into the trailing edges of the primary control surfaces. Tabs are used to reduce the work load required to hold the aircraft in some constant attitude by “loading” the control surface to a neutral or trimmed-center position.

Another method for providing a leading-edge flap is to design an extendable surface known as the Krueger flap that ordinarily fits smoothly into the lower part of the leading edge. When the flap is required, the surface extends forward and downward.

Hydraulic Circuit

Their purpose is to put new life into a sluggish boundary layer; this they do by shedding small lively vortices which act as scavengers, making the boundary layer turbulent and causing it to mix with and acquire extra energy from the surrounding faster air, thus helping it to go farther along the surface before being slowed up and separating from the surface.

If you only install control stops at the flight control surfaces you may, during some exciting moment, apply so much pressure to the rudder pedals or control stick that you might overstress and fail the linkage or one of the control surfaces.

The Falco I built had one of the longest control sticks (sort of like a brake lever on a buckboard) ever to grace a homebuilt . . . consequently, there never was any risk in my overcontrolling that beauty. Even so, there were some folks who thought it was too sensitive. Maybe so, compared to a sedate Wichita "Chug-a-long," but not compared to most any high performance homebuilt.

Blown and jet flaps are in a class of their own since they depend on power to produce the blowing, and this may be a serious disadvantage in the event of power failure. The true jet flap isn’t a flap at all, but simply an efflux of air, or a jet stream in the form of a sheet of air ejected under pressure at or near the trailing edge of the aerofoil. This helps to control the boundary layer, and if the sheet of air can be deflected the reaction of the jet will also contribute directly to the lift.

The Ailerons

Ailerons for light aircraft are usually constructed with a single spar to which ribs are attached. The majority of currently manufactured aircraft are of all-metal construction with aluminium alloy skin riveted or bonded to the internal structure.

Hitherto the conventional explanation was that, since the slot connects the high-pressure region on the lower surface of a wing to the relatively low-pressure region on the top surface, it therefore acts as a blowing type of boundary-layer control. This explanation is to be found in a large number of technical reports and textbooks, and as such is one of the most widespread misconceptions in aerodynamics.

About Those Flaps The beneficial gain in lift coefficient realized with the deployment of flaps appears to peak when flaps are lowered as much as 40 degrees. A maximum flap travel of 45 degrees, therefore, should be the set limit for full flaps because flap drag increases rapidly beyond that recommended 40 degree deflection.

While flaps are generally located on the trailing edge of a wing, they can also be placed on the leading edge. Leading edge flaps are normally used only on large transport-category aircraft that need large amounts of additional lift for landing. A leading-edge flap is a high-lift device which reduces the severity of the pressure peak above the wing at high angles of attack. This enables the wing to operate at higher angles of attack than would be possible without the flap.

Slats And Slots

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