Spanish Carrier Idea

[H_K]

I am hoping of a modern revival auf BSAC 220 ;-)

For Spain's needs I would lean towards a cheaper STOBAR carrier.

That would eliminate the headache of sourcing and installing catapults (EMALS in particular being cost prohibitive and having a huge ship impact). Whereas installing old-school hydraulic or water-braked arrestor gear shouldn't be too complicated, even if that requires buying the license from the US (MK 7) or UK (DAX) and paying someone to produce a shipset + spares.

About ~35,000 tonnes displacement would be a good compromise between cost and capability. About the same size as LHD Trieste, which only cost €900 million for the platform + €300 million for the full combat suite (including CMS, radars, comms, self-defense weapons, decoy launchers etc). Basically the price of 2 frigates. This would be about the minimum size given the need for a long ~180m take-off run and ~185m angled deck to allow for the 80-90m pullout needed from the 4th arrestor wire.

To illustrate, here's a sketch of a 35,000t STOBAR design with up to 24x FCAS/NGF (though 18-20 would probably be the more normal loadout). This should be able to achieve 40-50 sorties/day.

(Note - not a real design! Though inspired from 1990s CVF concept studies)

 

[shiplover]

For Spain's needs I would lean towards a cheaper STOBAR carrier.

That would eliminate the headache of sourcing and installing catapults (EMALS in particular being cost prohibitive and having a huge ship impact). Whereas installing old-school hydraulic or water-braked arrestor gear shouldn't be too complicated, even if that requires buying the license from the US (MK 7) or UK (DAX) and paying someone to produce a shipset + spares.

About ~35,000 tonnes displacement would be a good compromise between cost and capability. About the same size as LHD Trieste, which only cost €900 million for the platform + €300 million for the full combat suite (including CMS, radars, comms, self-defense weapons, decoy launchers etc). Basically the price of 2 frigates. This would be about the minimum size given the need for a long ~180m take-off run and ~185m angled deck to allow for the 80-90m pullout needed from the 4th arrestor wire.

To illustrate, here's a sketch of a 35,000t STOBAR design with up to 24x FCAS/NGF (though 18-20 would probably be the more normal loadout). This should be able to achieve 40-50 sorties/day.

(Note - not a real design! Though inspired from 1990s CVF concept studies)View attachment 786718

I like this design if the FCAS don't need a catapult. I always assumed that these aircraft need catapults.

 

[Scott Kenny]

If Spain would be okay with used (and refurbished) arresting gear, I bet there's a set or three in storage at one of the shipyards taking carriers apart. Say, the set off Enterprise?

I think I'd also only do 3 wires instead of 4. Just deleting the #4 wire from the design, no rearranging. Gives you a little more runout for landing heavy aircraft.

I'm not convinced that SCAF will be smaller than a Tomcat, so trying to ski-jump a Tomcat in 180m would be interesting, to say the least. Even with 30 knots wind over deck.