Historically, the development of the Soviet Union's aircraft carrier is also embarrassing. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In 67, the Yakovlev Design Bureau successfully developed the Yak-36 vertical take-off and landing aircraft, which the Soviet Air Force and Air Defense Forces were not interested in, but the Navy loved it. Since at this time the British were already working on a "Changsheng" class medium-sized aircraft carrier that could carry "Sea Harrier" vertical take-off and landing aircraft and "Sea King" anti-submarine helicopters, the Soviet Navy could also take such a path, and Gorshkov proposed that the technical scheme of the third "Moskva" class helicopter carrier should be considered to put the Yak-36 on board.

This is not a simple matter, the Nevsky Design Bureau and the Design Bureau of the Moscow Machine-Building Plant "Speed" have jointly completed an assessment of the possibility of deploying and using the Yak-36 aircraft on the "Moscow" class aircraft carrier, and believe that the Yak-36 aircraft on board the ship is feasible, but it will be modified. As a result, the construction of the third "Moskva" class helicopter carrier was stopped. Construction of new Project 1143 heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers of the "Kiev" class began.

In 72, the Ministry of Navy, Air Force and Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR concluded through research that it was meaningless to build an ocean-going fleet without the cover of carrier-based fighters, and carrier-based aircraft should be ordinary aircraft and not vertical take-off and landing aircraft. In accordance with this conclusion, the Nevsky Design Bureau began to implement the development program of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier codenamed "Eagle". The design displacement is 80,000 tons, 70 carrier-based aircraft, and 4 steam catapults, which is almost the same as the US aircraft carrier plan.

At this time, the commander-in-chief of the Navy, Gorshkov, agreed to this plan, but suggested a smaller tonnage and the addition of anti-ship missiles. The following year, Defense Minister Grechko also supported the plan. But at this time********** secretary Ustinov suddenly proposed: before implementing the program, a catapult should be installed on the third ship of the "Kiev" class, "Novorossiysk", and the fleet should be supplemented with MiG-23A fighters.

That's it. The supercarrier, which could have come out in the seventies, postponed the implementation of the plan, built the "Novorossiysk" as originally planned, and considered the construction of an aircraft carrier of the same size using catapults and capable of carrying 36 aircraft.

It was not until 76 that the ********** and the Council of Ministers re-established a resolution approving the construction of two "large aviation weapons cruisers" with a displacement of 60,000 tons each. It uses a nuclear power plant, 2 catapults are installed, and 50 airplanes and helicopters are on board.

However, Admiral Amelico, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Navy, surprisingly became an opponent of the standard aircraft carrier, proposing to enrich the fleet with the conversion of commercial dry cargo ships of the Atlantic-class into anti-submarine helicopter carriers. This is simply a idea, and in the end, of course, it was refuted, but a few more years passed, to 80 years. The top management finally approved the tactical and technical mission of the 40,000-ton conventionally powered aircraft carrier, but the catapult was eliminated, the slip-jump deck was adopted, and finally, it was expanded to 55,000 tons.

In this way, the standard displacement ranged from 80,000 tons to 55,000 tons, from nuclear power units to steam turbines, from 4 catapults to none. In this way, the fate of the navy was arbitrarily controlled by these powerful people who knew little about the navy but were self-righteous, and they were mistaken again and again.

Right now. Andrei's proposal was deeply approved by Gorshkov, and there was no way to put the Yak-36 on the ship, after all, the Navy was not valued by the top brass. It is impossible to develop a fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft specifically, like the US Navy. Even the Yak-36M can only be picked up off-the-shelf, and it is impossible to develop an engine specifically for one's own use.

But. Andrei's words still reveal a different point of view from Gorshkov, Andrei's meaning, as an aircraft carrier, carrier-based aircraft are the most important, and those huge weapons that occupy space should be equipped by other warships escorting the escort!

"Andrey, are you saying that our existing Yak-36M carrier-based aircraft are not capable of meeting operational needs?" Admiral Durt, commander of the Pacific Fleet, asked.

"On this question, we can ask the carrier-based aircraft pilots of our current aircraft carrier USS Kyiv." "They are the ones who have the most say," Andrei said. ”

"Tell me, Arthur." Soon, a pilot was called, and it was the pilot Arthur who had performed a third-class meritorious service on this flight.

Being stared at by so many leaders, Assef was very apprehensive, but when he heard the performance of the Yak-36M, Assef quickly mustered up his courage: "Report, I think that our kind of fighter cannot meet the requirements in terms of performance at all, vertical take-off and landing consumes a lot of fuel, resulting in a short space time, and we almost after takeoff, we have to calculate the fuel consumption at any time, so as not to be unable to return to the deck due to insufficient fuel." Due to the limited weight, it was not possible to carry more weapons. Moreover, the vertical take-off and landing process is complicated, there are many possibilities for mechanical failure, and we already have a Yak-36M wrecked, which happened during take-off and landing. ”

No one likes the Yak-36M, and later generations have proven that this kind of aircraft is chicken ribs, even if the United States has alien-like technology and has come up with a perverted engine like the F119, it will not be able to solve a series of problems of the F-35 vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

Arthur's courage is commendable, Andrei watched the pilot leave, Gorshkov's face was a little unpleasant, he was the one who let the Yak-36 on the ship at the beginning, and now, the reaction of the troops below is not good.

"The Americans' thinking is right, and using catapults to take off fixed-wing fighters is the right direction." Andrey said: "If our aircraft carriers can also take off and land fixed-wing aircraft, we will be able to more effectively contain the American aircraft carriers, and our Yak-36M, in front of the American Tomcat fighters, is a live target." And if we are unable to fight for air supremacy with Tomcat fighters, our aircraft carriers will not be able to truly realize our combat effectiveness, and the Americans' aircraft carrier formations, relying on carrier-based aircraft, can attack us from a distance of 500 kilometers from the formation, but what about us? Even if our anti-ship missiles can attack targets at such a distance, they will not work without relay guidance, and with the US Navy in the hands of air supremacy, our guided helicopters are vulnerable to attack. ”

VTOL aircraft are an appetizer in front of conventional fighters, that is, the goods like Argentina, which can only do a few Sea Harriers, and if they run into the Soviets, the Sea Harriers will take off, and they will not want to fall back again.

"Andrey, you're right." "However, if we want to make the top management aware of the benefits of fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft, we still need to do it," Gorshkov said. ”

The ideas of the top management are not yet unified, and there is a long way to go to build a new aircraft carrier.

"I have a solution." "We can make our senior leaders aware of the role that fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft can play in carrier operations," Andrei said. In this way, our fourth Kiev-class aircraft carrier can stop construction and transform into a new one. (To be continued.) )