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| F/A-18 Hornet /Eurasian Times |
International Military - India will test the US F/A-18E Super Hornet as a new aircraft carrier of the future. Later, the fighter aircraft will be produced nationally by INS Vikrant. According to local press, the Indian Navy has actually requested two F/A-18E Super Hornet fighters from the United States for a series of tests.
In late May, two Super Hornets will arrive at the ground test complex for the Indian Navy's takeoff and landing in the state of Goa. Reporting from Bulgarian Military, in this regard, the new Indian aircraft carrier is actually of the STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) type. This means halfway between STOVL and CATOBAR [Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery], just like America's main carrier.
On the other hand, American warplanes have so far operated precisely from American CATOBAR, but not from STOBAR. Therefore, it must be demonstrated in India that it can do so easily up to the maximum allowable takeoff weight. Technically decent work, but operationally everything needs to be checked.
Reporting from defenseexp.com, both STOBAR and CATOBAR are assistance systems for aircraft to take off from aircraft carriers. Basically the runways on the carrier deck are very small compared to ground based runways. Thus the plane cannot take off using only the thrust generated by its own engine. They needed extra help getting airborne from such a short runway.
STOBAR stands for Short Take-off But Arrested Recovery. In this type of carrier, the front of the deck is raised in a curve. This is called a 'ski jump'. So when an airplane leaves the deck at the end of the runway, it's not moving in a straight line on the same plane.
Instead, it is thrown upwards because of this curve. This helps the aircraft in gaining altitude during the initial period. Meanwhile, CATOBAR stands for Catapult Assisted Take-off But Arrested Recovery. In this system, the carrier deck is completely flat.
Thus they are also called 'Flat-topped' carriers. The catapults were under deck and the front wheels of the aircraft were placed on the moving parts of the catapults that were above deck. Once the energy is released, it moves and reaches high speeds in a short distance and time. So the Plane is launched from the deck at the speed required to be airborne.