Aircraft Carriers III

Published on Mar 20, 2018
PACIFIC OCEAN (March 17, 2018) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Ise (DDH 182) participate in a bilateral exercise in the Pacific Ocean. The Carl Vinson Strike Group is operating in the Western Pacific as part of a regularly scheduled deployment (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan M. Kinee/Released) 180317-N-MT837-0001

Click to expand...

Obi Wan Russell said:

Just for fun 'Top Gun' meets 'Sailor (1976)'. Enjoy!

Click to expand...

Air Force Brat said:

Phantom 001 and 002 and I'm going to say those are "Buccaneers",,, WOO HOO! da da da da! Highway to the Dangerzone! Right in too the Dangerzooone!

Click to expand...

Obi Wan Russell said:

The Blackburn (later Hawker Siddeley, later British Aerospace) Buccaneer S mk2. Same size as an Intruder, better performance and a DAMNED sight better looking! Test flights aboard the USS Lexington CV-16 in 1966:View attachment 45938 809NAS Bucc taking flight from Ark Royal's waist Cat in the 70s:View attachment 45939 Another 809 bird visiting The USS Franklin D Roosevelt CV-42:View attachment 45940 Powered by two Rolls Royce Spey turbofans, engines so good the US built them under licence as the TF-41, and found their at into a number of distinguished aircraft (A-7 for example). The US helped fund the development of the Buccaneer in the late 50s, so it's a shame they never acquired any for the USN...View attachment 45941

Click to expand...

Air Force Brat said:

thanks for the Buccaneer history, yes the Buccaneer is quite a "voluptuous" babe! awesome and sweet.

Click to expand...

Obi Wan Russell said:

The Blackburn (later Hawker Siddeley, later British Aerospace) Buccaneer S mk2. Same size as an Intruder, better performance and a DAMNED sight better looking! Test flights aboard the USS Lexington CV-16 in 1966:View attachment 45938 809NAS Bucc taking flight from Ark Royal's waist Cat in the 70s:View attachment 45939 Another 809 bird visiting The USS Franklin D Roosevelt CV-42:View attachment 45940 Powered by two Rolls Royce Spey turbofans, engines so good the US built them under licence as the TF-41, and found their at into a number of distinguished aircraft (A-7 for example). The US helped fund the development of the Buccaneer in the late 50s, so it's a shame they never acquired any for the USN...View attachment 45941

Click to expand...

Jura said:

just pictures as I have to go now (source is
This Is Boeing’s Play For MQ-25 ‘Stingray’

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

):

Click to expand...

Lockheed Martin unveiled its concept for the Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial tanker in a series of images provided to USNI News on Monday by the company.

Skunk Works’ answer to the service’s requirement for a new carrier-based tanker is a tailless flying wing design that sets it apart from the other competitors in the program.

The series of four images shows the Lockheed Martin Stingray equipped with what appears to be a single D-704 buddy tank just to the left of the centerline of the airframe and a collection of sensors in the nose of the aircraft.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

first reported on the concept imagery on Monday.

A flying wing concept is a break from the other competitors. Boeing and General Atomics Stingray designs – both revealed late last year – feature a wing-body-tail design for the MQ-25A.

Last year, then-Skunk Works head Rob Weiss told reporters the Navy’s revision of the requirements were pushing competitors away from flying wing designs that weren’t as inherently efficient for a long-distance tanking mission as wing-body-tail platforms. And yet, the company has chosen to retain its flying wing design anyway, possibly indicating the company could foresee additional growth in the MQ-25A concept of operations to include missions that could benefit from the inherent low observability of a tailless design.

The service’s basic requirements will have the Stingray deliver about 15,000 pounds of fuel 500 nautical miles from the carrier, and Weiss

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

that “the requirements have been defined to be a tanker, so you really don’t want to go with a tailless design if your primary requirement is associated tanking,”

After the Navy focused its requirement to be solely on tanking, Northrop Grumman, who was expected to offer a bid for Stingray based on its X-47B tailless cranked kite design, dropped out of the competition.

In 2016, Weiss told reporters that if the Navy was interested in growing the capabilities of the Stingray to more than just a tanker, it would need to start with a basic design that could grow into more missions that would require low observable characteristics.

“If you start with a vehicle shape that will allow it to penetrate into a contested environment, you can get a low-cost tanking capability upfront without putting all the capability into that vehicle. … You can do it at low cost but stay on that same path to use that vehicle design to operate in a penetrating environment,”

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.

The current competition for Stingray is the latest in a 12-year effort for the Navy to develop its first fixed-wing carrier unmanned aerial vehicle since the service broke with the Air Force in developing a joint UAV in 2006.

Instead of creating a deep-strike stealth platform – at the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s direction – the Navy crafted requirements to have the unmanned system act as a carrier tanker. Currently, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets fill the carrier air wing’s tanking requirements. Up to 20 to 30 percent of in-demand Super Hornet sorties are tanking missions. The service would rather use that service life for strike and other missions.

The Navy set aside $719 million for Stingray in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget and plans on buying the first four in 2023

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.

Click to expand...

US Navy completes fleet carrier qualifications for F-35C

• 
  

• 26 MARCH, 2018
  
• SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
  
• BY: GARRETT REIM
  
• LOS ANGELES

The US has completed carrier qualifications for the Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II aboard the Nimitz-class USS Abraham Lincoln on the Atlantic Ocean from 17 March to 21 March.

Two squadrons -- VFA-125 and VFA-101 -- accomplished day and night qualifications with 140 "traps", each denoting a successful landing on the carrier deck. The milestone clears the F-35C to begin operational testing on the carrier later this year, which will determine if the US Navy can obtain their initial operational capability target for the aircraft in fiscal year 2019.

F-35C performs touch and go during fleet carrier qualifications: Image courtesy US Navy

The F-35C was qualified alongside other carrier-borne aircraft, said Rear Adm Dale Horan, director of the navy's F-35C Fleet Integration Office.

"It's personally interesting for me, but also professionally, it's really neat to see this aircraft out there with other aircraft; we haven't done that before,” he said. “Previously, all the (carrier qualification) evolutions have just been F-35s."

The qualification event tested the operation of the F-35C's folding-wing feature, as the aircraft manoeuvred on the deck and in the hangar with Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers.

The navy's F-35C has a longer wingspan than the US Air Force’s F-35A and the US Marine Corps’ F-35B because it needs the additional lift to fly at slower speeds without stalling as it approaches an aircraft carrier to land.

Click to expand...