Can U.S. carriers ski jump off in India? Expert response

[Global Times reporter chapter] US aircraft carriers have been equipped with carrier based aircraft with ejection take-off mode, and recent news shows that Boeing is carrying out the takeoff test of ski jump deck for F / A-18E / F, which is considered as the prelude to selling “super Bumblebee” to India. Boeing has been using an F / A-18E / F “super Bumblebee” for a ski jump test flight at Paterson River naval air station, Maryland, recently, according to the theater channel report on the 19th. This is part of a demonstration to the Indian Navy to show that the aircraft is suitable for aircraft carriers using “short take-off, block and landing”, such as the Indian Navy’s vikramatia and the future domestic Vikram. Boeing confirmed that the ski jump take-off verification project is currently in the Paterson River, but it is not clear when the project started, according to the report. The Paterson River naval air station has a ground ski jump take-off facility to test F-35B fighters in a short take-off vertical landing mode. < p > < p > Boeing spokesman Justin Gibson said Boeing and the U.S. Navy are testing the F / A-18 “super Bumblebee” on the Paterson River ski jump to prove that it meets the Indian Navy aircraft carrier standards. Boeing has completed a comprehensive analysis of the compatibility between F / A-18 and Indian aircraft carriers and conducted more than 150 flight simulations. According to the report, the assessment shows that the latest f / a18e / F Block III is very suitable for takeoff on the ski jump deck, but this will be the next step. < / P > < p > in fact, early versions of the Bumblebee fighter have carried out similar tests for a long time. McDonald Douglas, which developed the basic f / A-18 and was later acquired by Boeing, also conducted ski jump takeoff tests on the aircraft in the late cold war. Tests have shown that with a deck angle of 9 degrees, the required take-off distance of Bumblebee can be reduced by half, although it is not clear what the total takeoff weight is to achieve this performance. Zhang Xuefeng, a Chinese military expert, said that the take-off and landing performance of the F / A-18E / F series fighters is much better than that of the basic “Bumblebee”. The former does not even need to turn on the afterburner when ejecting and taking off from the ship, and it can also leave the afterburner off when landing and touching the ship. This is not what the traditional Bumblebee can do. So there should be no big problem with “super Bumblebee” changing to ski jump take-off. But the maximum take-off weight may be limited. < p > < p > Zhang Xuefeng said that the carrier based aircraft with ejection take-off mode is equivalent to the catapult pulling the front landing gear of the carrier based aircraft to move at a high speed, which requires higher strength of the front landing gear and adjacent structures. If ski jump take-off is changed to catapult take-off, the front landing gear of aircraft needs to be redesigned. However, it may not be necessary to make major changes from ejection to ski jump. However, the successful verification of F / A-18E / F does not mean that it will be able to enter the Indian Navy soon. It will also be challenged by competitors. “Theater” reports that the “super Bumblebee” will compete with mig-29k, French Navy version of Rafale and Sweden’s “Griffin” shipborne models. The Indian Navy has previously rejected the domestic “glory” carrier type, but the development of the aircraft is still continuing. Zhang Xuefeng believes that each of these aircraft has its own advantages, and it is still difficult to make a conclusion. If mig-29k is upgraded to a certain extent, it is not useless. It is beneficial to the logistics support of Indian Navy. If the defects exposed before can be corrected, the avionics system of MiG-35 will still be competitive. The advantage of Rafale lies in that the Indian Air Force has purchased land-based aircraft and received the first batch of land-based Rafale aircraft last month. The two have certain commonalities, which are conducive to India’s self-assembly. The shipborne Gryphon has the lowest maturity, and it may only exist in the drawing stage at present. But the Gryphon is smaller and may be more suitable for India’s small aircraft carrier. On the whole, the F / A-18E / F and Rafale fighters have great technical advantages.