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| Next Navy Carrier to use Electromagnetic Launcher |
| 2004-04-06 |
| EFL - from my local SD paper San Diego-based General Atomics was awarded a $145.6 million contract yesterday to deliver an electromagnetic aircraft launcher for the next aircraft carrier to be built by the Navy. The launcher, which uses electromagnets to accelerate aircraft to flight speeds, represents a significant advance over steam-driven catapults that have been used aboard Navy aircraft carriers for decades. The underlying technology is similar in concept to Disneyland’s "Rocket Rods," a discontinued ride that gave park visitors a three-minute tour of Tomorrowland. The ride used a sequence of electrically powered magnets installed along the track to pull a fleet of five-passenger cars. Under the five-year contract, General Atomics will install the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System on CVN-21, the Navy’s next-generation aircraft carrier. Preliminary development and design of the unnamed carrier, for which construction is scheduled to begin in 2007, are under way at Northrop Grumman’s shipyard in Newport News, Va. "Basically we have to provide enough energy to provide the end speed needed to launch any given aircraft," said Tony Kopacz, program manager for General Atomics’ electromagnetic launch system. The end speed needed to launch an aircraft from a carrier ranges from almost 60 mph to well more than 200 mph, depending on the size of the aircraft, Kopacz said. A steam catapult, which is powered by a boiler system aboard an aircraft carrier, expends energy with each launch. An electromagnetic system operates much differently, by running electrical energy in sequence through a series of powerful magnets. "The claim to fame is that it’s easier on the airplane," Kopacz said. "We also can handle a bigger spread of different types of airplanes well into the 21st century." |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #8 Another savings is water usage - a big concern on comventional ships especially in warm water where evaps don't work as efficiently. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-06 11:05:43 PM |
| #7 Holy Crap,a Rail Gun Catapult. What the hell are they going to do launch an F-22 into orbit! |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-04-06 7:40:33 PM |
| #6 Holy Crap,a Rail Gun Catapult. What the hell are they going to do launch an F-22 into orbit! |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-04-06 7:40:32 PM |
| #5 you'll always be Big Daddy to me, Don |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-06 4:57:36 PM |
| #4 Hmmm, I'm ready for another comeback. |
| Posted by: Don Garlits 2004-04-06 3:47:54 PM |
| #3 A shipboard accelerator will merely move a large grappling sled to which the plane is attached. There will be all sorts of below deck shielding to protect the carrier based electronics. Plus, an aircraft catapult accelerator's EMP is nothing like that of a nuclear detonation, which most avionics is made to withstand. SNAP diodes solved a lot of the IC fan-in pulse loading problems almost 20 years ago. I want to know when they're going to bring this sort of rail gun technology over to weapons. It can motivate large metal masses so quickly that payloads suddenly seem to "appear" at their destination. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-06 3:44:27 PM |
| #2 OS, I would think that most carrier aircraft would have semi-shielded electronics to prevent being jammed. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-06 3:15:05 PM |
| #1 (home on lunch) Question is... How does all the strong and (relatively) sustained EM pulse affect the electronics around it? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-04-06 3:09:39 PM |