Do aircraft carriers carry stealth planes?

[Hygro]

Since over here in off topic, people seem pretty knowledgeable in military facts, I was wondering if stealth fighters/bombers are ever launched off aircraft carriers. I would assume definitely not for the bombers, as they are just too huge, but what about stealth fighters?

I heard the paints and stuff used for stealth corrode massively in moisture or something like that, which dissalows such strategy, but I'm curious because for my civ3 mod (I am allowed to talk about civ3 in off topic? ) I'm only making certain planes allowed on carriers, and I want to know if allowing stealth fighters is realistic.

 

[trevor]

Not that I know of, but the JSF-Navy will be operating off carriers and they're stealthy. Of course, this won't be happening for another couple years.

 

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by Hygro
Since over here in off topic, people seem pretty knowledgeable in military facts, I was wondering if stealth fighters/bombers are ever launched off aircraft carriers. I would assume definitely not for the bombers, as they are just too huge, but what about stealth fighters?

Well, stealth fighters, just like most planes require certain modifications and maintenance issues which would prevent them from "operating" from carriers. Note that "operating" implies lengthened service from carriers. Put an arrester hook on any aircraft and it will fly and land from a carrier. Making it serviceable for 1 month in another matter. Things to take into account, water corrosiveness, airframe structure, etc.

As for your mod, how are you planning to do this? I thought bombers to be unrealistic to launch from carriers so I took out the load/unload properties but the damn things still could be placed on carriers. What are you doing to get around this?

 

[Master Zen]

BTW, I remember an old flight simulator, F-117 which had many missions launching from carriers

 

[Hygro]

I make bombers tactical missiles . I think I'm going to keep it from allowing stealth fighters, since the mod is designed for more accuracy.

 

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by Hygro
I make bombers tactical missiles . I think I'm going to keep it from allowing stealth fighters, since the mod is designed for more accuracy.

Hmm... have you actually tried your mod in action to see if the AI uses them correctly?

 

[Hygro]

The AI should use this correctly. Since fighter planes now have the A.I. strategy of being built as bombers, they should produce enough of these, and use them to board carriers. They might want to use the bombers on carriers, but I've tested all that and they can't board them.

Trevor, the JSF-Navy in civ3 would translate to a jet fighter, right?

 

[Cantankerous]

The two aircraft in the US military that are considered to be "stealth" aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk (stealth "fighter") and the B-2 Spirit (stealth bomber) are both Air Force planes and neither could operate from an aircraft carrier.

In fact only a handful of aircraft are capable of operating from carriers. As raguil_79 was alluding to, there's more to it than just putting a tailhook on the plane. And while an F-14 and an F-15 may look similar, there are significant differences in the landing gear and other structural items.

Landing on an aircraft carrier is generally regarded as a "controlled crash". The aircraft's landing gear hits the deck of the carrier hard because the plane is at full throttle when it "lands". This is necessary in case the tailhook misses the arresting wire, because if this happens the plane MUST have enough speed to immediately get airborne again or else it would go over the flight deck and into the drink.

And that would ruin the day of both the pilot and the ship's captain.

So US Navy aircraft that are to be carrier-based must be able to withstand the forces involved in carrier-landings. (A feature not necessary on Air Force planes.) There are other factors as well, not the least of which is that the plane needs to have wings that fold when stored (to conserve deck space) AND it can't be bigger than the elevator lifts that take the planes to and from the flight deck to the hanger (which is directly below the flight deck).

Typical (active) non-VTOL US Navy aircraft that are capable of operating from an aircraft carrier:

F-14 Tomcat
F/A-18 Hornet
S-3 Viking
E-2 Hawkeye
EA-6B Prowler
C-2 Greyhound

Note that the Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier typically only operates from amphibious assault ships, not carriers.

 

[Hygro]

Canterkous, thank you VERY much for that info.

All of that was very useful in reinforcing my orrigenal beliefs

 

[Simon Darkshade]

The A-12 Avenger II, cancelled in 1991 by Cheney, was to be the first stealthy carrier aircraft, designed to succeed the A-6 Intruder. It didn't, and carrier airwings lost their all weather bombing capability, and their ability to deliver ordnance was quite reduced (in amounts), with the Super Hornet only partially ameliorating this.
It seems there was more of a need to hastily turn the A-6s into artificial reefs than to properly arm the US Navy.

And thus, until the JSF eventually enters service, that was the last we will see of stealth aircraft on the high seas. Even though, other aircraft can be theoretically launched from a carrier...the Doolittle Raid, and experiments done launching C-130s from the Forrestal. And the A-3 Skywarrior launched from carriers for many, many years.

 

[trevor]

Hygro, I'd say that the JSF would be a step or two above the Jet Fighter in Civ3, but does the Stealth Fighter represent an F-117 or all of the new stealthy planes that are in service or coming into service soon?

 

[Hygro]

I can't answer that considering my knowledge on warplanes is very limited.

 

[Case]

Originally posted by Simon Darkshade
The A-12 Avenger II, cancelled in 1991 by Cheney, was to be the first stealthy carrier aircraft, designed to succeed the A-6 Intruder. It didn't, and carrier airwings lost their all weather bombing capability, and their ability to deliver ordnance was quite reduced (in amounts), with the Super Hornet only partially ameliorating this.
It seems there was more of a need to hastily turn the A-6s into artificial reefs than to properly arm the US Navy.

From what I've read, the A-12 program was a total disarster, and was cancelled because it was belived that it would never produce an affordable and effective plane.

 

[SunTzu]

I do believe the F-22 Raptor, which is a true stealth fighter, and it also has thrust vectoring will be able to operate from a carrier.

 

[trevor]

SunTzu: the F-22 is a Air Force fighter, therefore it will never operate off of a carrier deck. The Navy F-35 (JSF) is also a stealth plane, and will have the ability to operate off of a carrier. It will be filling the F/A-18's role as a ground attack plane.

 

[Case]

Originally posted by trevor
SunTzu: the F-22 is a Air Force fighter, therefore it will never operate off of a carrier deck.

Why not? There's a long history of the various US armed services belatedly adopting each others aircraft (eg; the USAF adopting the F-4 after it proved to be a sucessful naval fighter), and AFAIK a naval version of the F-22 was seriously considered during the aircrafts design process.

 

[SunTzu]

yes they are considering a naval version, the F-22N is its name i do believe.

 

[trevor]

You sure? I haven't heard a word about it; of course I could have missed it. All the news about the F-22 that I've heard of is its use by the Air Force. Besides, the F-22 is an air superiority fighter, and that slot will be filled with the Super Hornet. To solve all doubt, I ran a search for the "F-22N" on www.defenselink.mil. No entries came up.

Case, you are correct that just because a plane is used by one service doesn't mean that it won't be used by a different service. But, the F-22 is meant to replace the F-15 and is only being procured by the USAF; the F/A-18 E/F is being bought by the USN to fill the same role. Also the F-22 is made for airbases on the ground not carrier decks, it would require expensive modification to replace a plane that was just finished and is now entering service.

 

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by trevor
Hygro, I'd say that the JSF would be a step or two above the Jet Fighter in Civ3, but does the Stealth Fighter represent an F-117 or all of the new stealthy planes that are in service or coming into service soon?

By the icon I'd say the Stealth Fighter represents the F-117 also note that like the F-117 the Stealth Fighter has no air combat capability.

I would believe there is no true equivalent in Civ3 to the new generation of aircraft coming out

 

[Master Zen]

Adding to what cantankerous was saying, there's the example of the F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft before they entered service. Both had been selected to compete for the Air Force's new multi-role light fighter. The F/A-18 (known then as the Northrop F-17) lost out to the F-16 but was revived by McDonnell Douglas since the Navy preferred a 2-engine aircraft.