🚀 go-pugleaf

From Urban F <urf@ki.icl.se>

In rec.aviation.military l115130@lehtori.cc.tut.fi (Lehtonen Tero) writes:

>How are the French doing with their new carriers, then? I think Rafale M just
>finished its carrier landing/take off testing program so they obviously have  
>a suitable type of airplane, but what about the ships (two of them, wasn't it?)
>themselves? They were supposed to be nuclear powered and bigger than current
>Clemenceau-class, but what will they actually be like - or is the whole program
>already cancelled?

No, it is not cancelled, but I don't think the second ship
has been funded yet, but I think it will, since even at
FF 15 billion it is not the most expensive French defence
project currently.

The Rafale M prototype has completed the first of three
series of catapult and arrest trials in USA, all on land. The
reason they don't do it at home is that Rafale is the first
French aircraft to have nose gear catapult attachment, and
Charles de Gaulle the first carrier to have such equipment.
(Does this mean that Crusaders in US service didn't have nose
gear catapult gear too? Incidently, the first one recently
returned from Dassault after refurbishing.)

She will enter service in 1998, and a sister ship (which I have
forgotten the name of) ten years later. The carriers they will
replace, Clemenceau and Foch, which entered servide in 1961-63,
have a displacement of 32 000 tons. The nuclear carriers will be
slightly larger at 35 000 tons, but in most respects have about
50% greater capacity, and a speed of 27 kt. Personell aboard 
will be 1950 including pilots.

Normal complement will be 35-40 aircraft of 20-24 tons. Typically
20+ Rafale M, 2 Hawkeye and 10-15+ helicopters. The flight deck
will be 260 x 65 m in size, which is enough for 20 aircraft,
which can be launched in the space of 10 min.

The two catapults are 75 m and the same as US ones, only 15 m
shorter. Both the one on the angled deck and the one on bow
intrude on the angled deck, so it's not possible to launch and
recover aircraft at the same time. Rafale M has an extensible
nose gear strut, which pushes the nose up powerfully at the end
of the take off run. The three arresting cables are also variants
of US designs. They'll stop a 23 ton aircraft landing at 130 kt
in 100 m.

With 20 aircraft on the deck, they have to be moved between bow
and stern to make way for operations. Two lifts with a capacity
of 36 tons can each take two aircraft at a time. There is a
separate ammunition lift.

The ship has an interesting stabilizing system, which can be
optimized either to keep the bow or stern stabilized. It predicts
large movements that cannot be compensated for, and can thus
several seconds in advance give the signal to abort landings.
--
 Urban Fredriksson  urf@icl.se  

And to that I can add that there are 2 x 6 SADRAL missile
launchers and 32 vertical SAAM launchers.