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From: wyse!stevew@uunet.UU.NET (Steve Wilson x2580 dept303)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: PS-890 radar
Message-ID: <1991Apr17.055507.13632@amd.com>
Date: 16 Apr 91 21:24:34 GMT
References: <1991Apr11.033318.3949@amd.com>
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From: wyse!stevew@uunet.UU.NET (Steve Wilson x2580 dept303)


drn@pinet.aip.org (donald_newcomb) writes:
>If the Brits were able to mount the PS-890 on a VTOL aircraft such
>as the  V-22 Osprey and operate them from the "ski-jump" carriers
>could they not reclaim much of the blue ocean capability lost in
>the seventies?

I don't think so...certainly not in the same sense as what a U.S.
Supercarrier is capable.  For instance, can these carriers deploy any
aircraft capable of refueling other aircraft?  Though the Harrier is
truly a remarkable aircraft, is it capable of air defense of a carrier
task force at 200 miles out?  (Mid air refueling would come in handy
here ;-)  Do the Harriers have the capability of doing bombing runs in
all-weather conditions?  In the U.S.  configurations these missions
have different aircraft types typically assigned to fill that
nitch(also implying that the nitch will be better filled by a
specialist aircraft...) This to me is the big difference between a U.S.
carrier operation and the British carriers.  Also, just being bigger,
the U.S. carriers can carry more aircraft.  Consequently, the combat
power of a U.S. Carrier is significantly larger.

Steve Wilson