wcsswag@ccs.carleton.ca (Alex Klaus) (04/18/91)
From: wcsswag@ccs.carleton.ca (Alex Klaus) Some quick quesions about the new French nuclear carriers? Is the deGaulle proceding on schedule, will it be commissioned on time? What will the air wing consist of? Will they still fly Super Etendards, and Crusaders of them? Will they still fly the Alize or will they be replaced? Thanks for any info Alex
tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude)) (04/20/91)
From: tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude)) wcsswag@ccs.carleton.ca (Alex Klaus) writes: >What will the air wing consist of? Will they still fly Super >Etendards, and Crusaders of them? The new carrier will fly the Rafale multi-role aircraft. The Crusaders are being fixed up once again so they can last until the Rafale arrives. The fix up doesn't aim to do much except keep them flying. >Will they still fly the Alize or will they be replaced? According to the USNI Proceedings March 1991, the new carrier will probably fly rebuilt Grumman S-2s with the French Vigil K-band radar. However, they are envisioned as filling a primarily AEW role. Certainly, though, there will be helicopters available for carrier ASW. The Alize is being modernized again with some increase in capability and to extend its life. Presumably, they will retire once the rebuilt S-2s appear. -- Ted Kim Internet: tek@penzance.cs.ucla.edu UCLA Computer Science Department UUCP: ...!{uunet|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!tek
bureau@math.arizona.edu (Pierre Bureau) (04/20/91)
From: bureau@math.arizona.edu (Pierre Bureau) >From: wcsswag@ccs.carleton.ca (Alex Klaus) >Some quick quesions about the new French nuclear carriers? >Is the deGaulle proceding on schedule, will it be commissioned on time? Yes, it is. Should be completed and commissioned in 1999 (but this is already 4 years later than the initial 1984 schedule.) According to an article recently published in the french news magazin "EXPRESS", provisions for a second carrier have been deposed and parliement sould vote next year for the construction of that 2nd CV. Both will be 50,000 t. >What will the air wing consist of? Will they still fly Super Etendards, >and Crusaders of them? Will they still fly the Alize or will they be replaced? The air wing should include at least 35 "Navy" version of the Rafale advance fighter. There's a debate on wheter buying 2 or only one wing for both. Plane maker, Dassault is lobbying for the French Navy to order 80 planes. There's been quite a controversy on the "Navy" Rafale. The French Navy had been looking forward to replace their obsolete crusaders since the early 80s. The french admirals were interested in buying F-18 and even starting a joint venture through Dassault and Aerospatiale to develop special avionics for the F18. After Dassault's failure to get the bulk of the contract for the european advanced fighter (around 86), Dassault and the top french air force generals lobbied in order to have the Navy to adopt the Rafale as their fighter [evocating the need of a numerous series to cut costs]. The navy admirals opposed this scheme, since the Rafale wont be ready before 1996 at the soonest. They intended to get F-18 for 1990 but Dassault's lobby won the decision. Until 96 the french navy will be using ageing crusaders (BTW Dassault also won a $300 millions to retrofit the F8 w/ new avionics) that need 30 hours maintenance for 1 light hour... Besides, there aint that many remaining crusaders, bought in 84. A french commission recently came to DM-AFB in Tucson to get the last remaining crusaders that had been stored there for 14 years. Pierre
swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams) (04/23/91)
From: swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams) >Is the deGaulle proceding on schedule, will it be commissioned on time? CHARLES DE GAULLE was laid down 24 April 1989, and is scheduled to be launched in 1996 and commissioned in 1998. >What will the air wing consist of? Will they still fly Super Etendards, and Cru >saders of them? Will they still fly the Alize or will they be replaced? The Super Etendards are included in the plans. Other than that, I think no one really knows what types of aircrafts will be utilized since the commissioning date is still 7 years away. Steve Williams