Chapter 200 Carrier-Based MiG-25

A jump deck is a ramp built in front of the deck, which allows the fighter to gain an upward angle of pitch the moment it takes off from the deck, increasing the fighter's lift but not its speed.

Therefore, although the British proposed the theory of the leap deck and began to use these theories to build the Invincible-class aircraft carrier, it was only used to take off and land the Sea Harrier. At present, there is no experience in the world that shows that heavy fighters can take off using the leap deck!

But now, the Soviets have done it! The Soviets' narrow deck, that nondescript heavy aircraft carrier cruiser, can actually take off and land fighters like the MiG-25!

The Americans were quite surprised. The Soviet MiG-25 put a lot of pressure on the Americans. In the past, it only put pressure on the U.S. Air Force, but now the U.S. Navy has also discovered that the Soviet Navy also has the ability to operate the MiG-25 to take off and land at sea!

Almost everyone's first reaction was, how could this be possible? Grumman, which received the news, conducted a special analysis, but the result was hard for them to accept. They used the Tomcat fighter as a prototype and found that the use of the jump deck could allow the Tomcat fighter to take off in an air superiority mount mode!

If the Tomcat can take off from the leapfrog deck, then the Soviet MiG-25 must also be able to take off and land on an aircraft carrier!

Damn it, will the US Navy have to take a detour when seeing the Soviet Navy in the future? Otherwise, the other side will do this and fly over their heads to show off their power!

Just as the American aircraft carrier formation was retreating, the Soviet Pacific Fleet formation also ended this exploratory contact, sent a speedboat to pick up the helicopter pilots who fell into the water, and then turned back to its home port.

"Andrei, your action plan is brilliant!" In the combat command room on the bridge, Admiral Gorshkov praised Andrei highly.

No one thought that the Soviet Navy Commander was also on this aircraft carrier!

After hearing Andrei's plan, Gorshkov could no longer control his emotions and insisted on staying on the aircraft carrier to participate in the operation. As an absolute supporter of aircraft carriers, Gorshkov obviously also wanted to have some fun.

In this way, he occupied the cabin on the aircraft carrier that was originally reserved for Admiral Durte, commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Durte, who was also very excited to come along, could only squeeze into the first mate's cabin.

Andre stood nearby, looking at the empty deck through the glass, and said, "In future naval battles, we will also need to fight for air superiority. If we cannot gain air superiority, our warship formation will not be able to perform at its due level, and we will not be able to compete with the US aircraft carrier formation, and we will not be able to protect our nuclear submarines."

"Yes, we will quickly write up the case study and submit it to the Supreme Committee, hoping to get the approval of the Supreme Committee." Gorshkov said: "Only when we build a real aircraft carrier with fixed-wing fighters can we compete with the United States. At the same time, we will suggest that the Mikoyan Design Bureau start research on the installation of MiG-25 on ships."

MiG-25 on board? Andre shook his head immediately.

The take-off weight of the MiG-25 exceeds 37 tons, and its take-off distance exceeds one thousand meters. It is absolutely impossible for it to take off and land on an aircraft carrier relying on its own power!

The Tomcat, the most powerful carrier-based aircraft in the U.S. aircraft carrier fleet, weighs only 33 tons when fully loaded. It requires the catapult to be fully powered and to sail at full speed against the wind in order to be launched. Moreover, they rarely reach a take-off weight of 33 tons, and generally have a normal take-off weight of 25 tons.

Although Andre has always recommended the use of catapults, the research on this thing is not so smooth. It will soon be installed on aircraft carriers. Even if the higher-ups agree to the development of a new aircraft carrier, the first one will probably still be based on the leaping deck. Let the MiG-25 take off from the leaping deck? Just thinking about it is enough to give you a headache.

The Kuznetsov aircraft carrier of later generations is equipped with the Su-33 carrier-based aircraft. This heavy air superiority fighter takes off from the aircraft carrier by ski jumping. In order to allow the Su-33 to take off with a full load, in addition to the short take-off line, the Kuznetsov also has a long-distance take-off line of 185 meters, which allows the Su-33 to take off with a weight of 32 tons.

However, this long take-off line will seriously affect deck operations, and most importantly, it limits the use of high sea conditions. After all, carrier-based aircraft take off on their own power. If the left and right swaying exceeds the limit or the side wind on the deck exceeds the limit, the aircraft will deviate laterally during takeoff and fall into the sea before it even takes off.

Take off a 37-ton MiG-25? Absolutely impossible. Even if the MiG-25 is made of steel and can withstand the overload of takeoff and landing, it cannot do this. The MiG-25 carrier-based aircraft is not feasible!

"Our MiG-25 is an interceptor, not a fighter. It over-focuses on high altitude and high speed performance, and its actual combat performance is poor. Now we can fly recklessly over the U.S. aircraft carrier formation because the Americans can't reach us. I guess the Americans must be working hard to develop new air defense missiles. When the U.S. Navy's ship-borne air defense missiles can reach a height of 30,000 meters, our current actions must be stopped." Andre said, "So, it's not appropriate for us to spend so much effort to get the MiG-25 on board now."

Andre's words made everyone nod their heads. It was true. The MiG-25 was not omnipotent. It paid too much attention to its high-altitude and high-speed performance. In a real fight with the American Tomcat fighter, only a superb pilot could play an advantage. Interceptors and fighters have different responsibilities.

"Then what kind of fighter jet should we use?" Gorshkov asked.

"In the long run, if we successfully develop a new generation of fighter jets that can compete with the US F-15 fighter jets, it would be most appropriate to use them to transform them into carrier-based aircraft," Andre said. "Now, for emergency purposes, we can improve the MiG-23 into a carrier-based aircraft to temporarily meet the needs."

After all, Andrei's rank is not high enough. If Andrei says something like T-10 now, it will definitely arouse the vigilance of many people. How did Andrei know it? Even if Andrei has a good relationship with Sukhoi's chief designer Simonov and others, Andrei can't know these, let alone the MiG-23 of the Mikoyan Design Bureau.

In fact, the work of improving the MiG-23 into a carrier-based aircraft began as early as 1972. At that time, as a supporting project for the Eagle aircraft carrier, the Mikoyan Design Bureau carried out large-scale improvements on the MiG-23 in its hands.