Chapter 256 MiG-23K

"How many carrier-based aircraft can our second ship carry? By the way, what type of carrier-based aircraft are they?" Andre asked questions one after another.

After all, the Minsk is about to serve in the Pacific Fleet and is Andrei's subordinate. Andrei needs to know how powerful this aircraft carrier is and how much role it will play in the confrontation.

"It's the MiG-23K. The Minsk can carry 10 MiG-23Ks and 20 ship-borne helicopters. If all of them are used to carry MiG-23Ks, it can carry 24."

The Kiev-class aircraft carrier originally had this kind of loadout, 12 Yak-36Ms and 20 Ka-25s. Now the Yak-36s have simply been replaced with MiG-23s. Since the MiG-23 is larger, the number of aircraft carried is reduced.

24 MiG-23Ks, this is equivalent to the size of a flying regiment, enough to handle a medium-intensity air battle. Andre nodded: "Not bad, not bad, here, Comrade Marshal, can we go and see the MiG-23K?"

The MiG-23K, the finalized model of the MiG-23A, is a carrier-based aircraft designed for use on aircraft carriers. In later generations, this aircraft was not put into use and was only a flash in the pan. However, it has now become the most suitable fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft choice for the Soviet Union.

Advanced fighter jets such as the MiG-29 and Su-27 had not yet been finalized and would take several years to be put into service. It was impossible for the Soviet aircraft carriers to wait for carrier-based aircraft, and now it was most appropriate for the MiG-23 to be deployed on board.

When Andre heard about the MiG-23K, he was immediately interested and couldn't wait to see the real appearance of this aircraft.

"We don't have this type of aircraft on the Minsk right now. The pilots of the carrier-based aircraft are receiving training in Nitka," Makarov explained.

The modification of the Minsk has been completed, but the take-off and landing of this fixed-wing aircraft is not so simple and requires special and rigorous training. All of this training is received in Nitka, the integrated land flight training system for aircraft carriers.

In fact, as early as the 1940s, before the outbreak of World War II, the Soviet Navy's top brass began to pay attention to the take-off and landing training of carrier-based aircraft pilots while drafting the aircraft carrier design draft at the Neva Ship Design Bureau, and came up with the idea of ​​building a carrier-based aircraft test and training base. However, World War II temporarily prevented the Red Navy from building its own aircraft carrier.

In 1955, the then Navy Commander Kuznetsov submitted a draft resolution on the design of a light aircraft carrier to the Soviet Military Committee, pointing out that in order to test the aviation technology equipment for carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing, including catapults, arresting devices, emergency arresting nets, optical and radio landing systems, etc., to study the characteristics of aircraft carriers and train carrier-based aircraft pilots, a ground-based aircraft carrier test and training base was needed. However, it was not until 1975 that Gorshkov began to include the content of "building a land-based experimental training base for carrier-based aircraft" in the Soviet Navy development plan after inspecting the USS Lexington training aircraft carrier and the Lakehurst land-based training center.

According to the historical process, it would take until the 1980s to perfect this system, conduct take-off and landing of MiG-29K and Su-27K, and test catapults. However, the conflict in the Far East made the navy more important, and Gorshkov's report was finally approved. As a result, this training system was established in full swing, and now normal take-off and landing training has begun!

As an outsider to aircraft carriers, Andrei only went to the Black Sea to see Minsk and could not offer more opinions. However, as a pilot, Andrei was more interested in the carrier-based aircraft that were equipped with the aircraft carrier.

So, after finishing the inspection at the Black Sea Shipyard, Andrei, accompanied by Gorshkov, came to the Saki Air Force Base on the Crimean Peninsula.

From a distance, you can see the newly established Nitka system on one side of the base.

Below is the ground. More than one meter above the ground is the same deck layout as the Minsk, with a leaping deck on the side and a flat angled deck at the rear.

Not far away is the deck with the bow of the ship leaping into the sky. It is still under construction and seems to be used to simulate the third ship.

It seems that this training system that was quickly put into service is still different from the large-scale system in later generations. It should be a simplified model. In order to quickly build it and train pilots, this is the only way.

"It took us six months to build this system, including the take-off ski-jump deck, the Svetlana arresting system, and the optical and radio landing guidance systems. In addition to what you see on the ground, there are hydraulic devices underneath our system that can tilt the deck at a certain angle to simulate the roll of an aircraft carrier sailing at sea. The ski-jump take-off runway is also equipped with a hydraulic blocker to prevent the aircraft from moving before the engine reaches the take-off thrust state." Tukhasky, the head of the base, introduced to senior officials in Moscow: "Now, we are using this system to train our carrier-based aircraft pilots."

At this moment, a unique roar of an engine came from the distance. Andre looked up and saw a fighter plane flying in the distance. It was painted in the navy's unique ocean blue.

The air intakes on both sides, the flat belly, and the main wings almost fully opened, Andre recognized it almost instantly. Judging from the nose, this should be a MiG-23.

However, as the plane flew closer, Andre felt something different. Compared with the common MiG-23, the rear fuselage of this MiG-23 was very different.

Starting from the middle of the fuselage, the rear fuselage becomes wider, and the two flames at the tail indicate that this aircraft has two engines!

At this time, the fighter plane was swaying back and forth, swaying left and right, along the glide path, approaching the Nitka system.

Watching the fighter plane landing, Andre couldn't help but sweat. After all, based on Andre's understanding of the MiG-23, it would require a runway of about 800 meters for landing!

But now, this system only has a landing runway of more than 100 meters!

Then he saw a special device, a landing hook, appear at the tail of the MiG-23!

Under the gaze of everyone, the main wheel of the MiG-23 successfully contacted the deck, and then continued to slide forward. When the fuselage of the aircraft was seen to shake violently, an arresting cable on the deck had been hooked by the landing hook.

pretty!