There is a discussion on soviet carriers but it deals mostly with western reactions.
I'm very interested in what possible Mach 2 carrier fighters the soviets would have built, the missing link between the MiG-19K Tigr planned for Pr. 85 carriers, and the MiG-23K and others such as Su-24K, T-10 projects etc. planned for the late 1960s- 1970s carrier project such as Pr. 1160/1153 or the smaller 1968 AVL design.
For the purposes of this timeline, let's assume that the soviets build a few Pr. 85 ships from about 1956, followed by something akin to a 30,000 ton PBIA (which will be Project something-something) from about 1961-62, followed by something like the 45,000-50,000 ton AVL from 1968 or so (which seems to look like a mini-Forrestal), then finally getting to designs like the 70,000-80,000 tons 1160/1153 in the 1970s, for which we have a good idea of the aircraft.
It seems that for economic/design burden reasons the soviets much prefered adapting existing types for carrier use. So with this in mind, which of the mostly MiG and Sukhoi prototypes/series production fighters could have been adapted for carrier use around 1960? MiG-21/Ye-8, or maybe the larger I-75 series, or Sukhoi designs such as the P-1, or T-49, or even T-58 derivatives etc.? What modifications would be feasible with the soviet technology of the day to reduce their landing and take-off speed? Blown flaps of larger size, perhaps double delta wing with LE slats?
For support aircraft, perhaps the Tu-91 would be still useful for ASW and AEW variants like Alize or Gannet? Though for the 1960s to equip the bigger AVL perhaps they would build something like a turboprop E-1 (with two Tu-91 engines), or even an E-2 like plane (sort-of like a much earlier Yak-44)?
There is the option of a clean sheet design, but this, like i said above, raises the issue of design/economic resources. Perhaps they can build a soviet equivalent to F-11F or F-8U, but it seems only Yakovlev would have design capacity to spare (MiG an Sukhoi were busy with lots of projects at this time), and not sure i would trust Yakovlev to design such a plane given their track record with the useless Yak-38, or the absymal Yak-28-64. And maybe i'm wrong, but their twins Yak-25/27/28 etc. weren't terribly good either.
PS: And while at it, could a decent carrier fighter be made out of the MiG-19? What kind of modifications would be feasible with the technology of the day? Would a bigger wing with larger flaps and LE slats be enough to improve take-off/landing speeds?
I'm very interested in what possible Mach 2 carrier fighters the soviets would have built, the missing link between the MiG-19K Tigr planned for Pr. 85 carriers, and the MiG-23K and others such as Su-24K, T-10 projects etc. planned for the late 1960s- 1970s carrier project such as Pr. 1160/1153 or the smaller 1968 AVL design.
For the purposes of this timeline, let's assume that the soviets build a few Pr. 85 ships from about 1956, followed by something akin to a 30,000 ton PBIA (which will be Project something-something) from about 1961-62, followed by something like the 45,000-50,000 ton AVL from 1968 or so (which seems to look like a mini-Forrestal), then finally getting to designs like the 70,000-80,000 tons 1160/1153 in the 1970s, for which we have a good idea of the aircraft.
It seems that for economic/design burden reasons the soviets much prefered adapting existing types for carrier use. So with this in mind, which of the mostly MiG and Sukhoi prototypes/series production fighters could have been adapted for carrier use around 1960? MiG-21/Ye-8, or maybe the larger I-75 series, or Sukhoi designs such as the P-1, or T-49, or even T-58 derivatives etc.? What modifications would be feasible with the soviet technology of the day to reduce their landing and take-off speed? Blown flaps of larger size, perhaps double delta wing with LE slats?
For support aircraft, perhaps the Tu-91 would be still useful for ASW and AEW variants like Alize or Gannet? Though for the 1960s to equip the bigger AVL perhaps they would build something like a turboprop E-1 (with two Tu-91 engines), or even an E-2 like plane (sort-of like a much earlier Yak-44)?
There is the option of a clean sheet design, but this, like i said above, raises the issue of design/economic resources. Perhaps they can build a soviet equivalent to F-11F or F-8U, but it seems only Yakovlev would have design capacity to spare (MiG an Sukhoi were busy with lots of projects at this time), and not sure i would trust Yakovlev to design such a plane given their track record with the useless Yak-38, or the absymal Yak-28-64. And maybe i'm wrong, but their twins Yak-25/27/28 etc. weren't terribly good either.
PS: And while at it, could a decent carrier fighter be made out of the MiG-19? What kind of modifications would be feasible with the technology of the day? Would a bigger wing with larger flaps and LE slats be enough to improve take-off/landing speeds?
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