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All of a sudden, aircraft carriers are back in fashion. Over in Russia, they're drawing up plans to build the world's biggest aircraft carrier, a 100,000-ton beast that can carry 100 combat aircraft. China's building one, two, or maybe even four aircraft carriers. And here in the United States, we're busy building our second ­Ford-class supercarrier. Around the world and across the seas, aircraft carriers are popping up in the unlikeliest of places -- in Korea, in Thailand, in India, Japan, and maybe soon in Singapore, as well. But you'll never guess the latest country to announce plans to acquire...

A Merlin helicopter will be fitted with a new on-board system to deliver essential anti-snooping watch and send early warnings if security threats are detected. The Merlin Mk2 helicopter will act as the Royal Navy’s eyes and ears for its next generation carriers, replacing the Sea King’s helicopter’s surveillance capabilities. Philip Dunne, Minister of State for Defence Procurement, said: “It is essential that our ships and particularly our future aircraft carriers will have the best possible protection. “The Crowsnest system on board our new Merlin Mk2 helicopter will deliver an essential surveillance and intelligence capability, providing early warnings to our...

A Russian naval design bureau will unveil a new design for a massive aircraft carrier at an upcoming maritime defense industry show in St. Petersburg amid a major Russian arms buildup, magazine IHS Jane's reported Friday. Known as the Project 23000E, or Shtorm-class, super-carrier, the design by the Krylov State Research Center appears similar to one teased by Russian Defense Ministry television channel TV Zvezda earlier this year. The unveiling, which is planned for the International Maritime Defense Show 2015 in early July according to IHS Jane's, will come as Russia pushes forward with a 20 trillion ruble ($400 billion)...

NEW DELHI: India has finally set the ball rolling for the eventual construction of its largest-ever warship, the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vishal. The defence acquisitions council (DAC) has sanctioned an initial Rs 30 crore as seed money for the project. Just before PM Narendra Modi left for China on Wednesday night, the Manohar Parrikar-led DAC cleared a flurry of long-pending projects for ultra-light howitzers, medium-transport aircraft, light utility helicopters and the like worth over Rs 25,000 crore, as reported by TOI. But tucked away in the approvals was the relatively minor amount of Rs 30 crore for the indigenous...

BAE Systems Maritime rolled out the bridge module of the Royal Navy’s second Queen Elizabeth Class carrier, the HMS Prince Of Wales yesterday, and it looks more like it should be orbiting a planet in the Outer Rim and launching Tie Fighters than sailing the high seas. The 70,000 displacement ton carrier will be commissioned in 2020, and like her sister, the Queen Elizabeth, she will carry around 40 aircraft. The mainstay of which will be the Royal Navy’s F-35Bs, along with pretty much every helicopter asset in service with UK forces, including Merlins, Apaches, Lynx Wildcats and Chinooks. Top...

n the not-too-distant future, drivers in Washington state could cross the Sinclair Inlet on a bridge made of two or three decommissioned aircraft carriers. ... No aircraft carrier is available for the project—not yet, at least. Currently, the backers of the project have their eyes on the USS Independence, which was commissioned in the 1960s and could go to the salvage yard later this year, and the USS Kitty Hawk, a carrier that sailed in the Vietnam War after its 1958 commission.

Jeremy Bender March 10, 2015Chinese officials have confirmed that the country is currently building a second aircraft carrier, according to a number of Chinese and Taiwanese media sources. The former political commissar of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Liu Xioajiang told the Hong Kong Commercial Daily that a second aircraft carrier's construction is now in the hands of governmental agencies, according to news translations by Focus Taiwan. Liu also hinted that Beijing's second carrier, which would be China's first indigenously produced carrier, was only the start of the nation's maritime ambitions.(snip)

Russia's government-owned Krylov State Research Center is on its way towards developing Russia's latest aircraft carrier, according to Russian media. The aircraft carrier is in a very rudimentary stage of its development. It's still under conceptual testing in Krylov's laboratory. But if the tests prove successful and the carrier's design is deemed plausible, the research center will follow through with a 1:1 scale metal mock-up of the carrier (China may have just constructed its own mock-up of a new carrier). According to Russia's TV Vezda, the carrier would be able to stow 100 aircraft onboard. The body of the carrier...

Navy photographer Ignacio Perez likes to shoot landscapes but never dreamed he'd shoot an amazing one on the deck of an aircraft carrier. But on Tuesday around 10:30 a.m., as the USS John C. Stennis cruised in the Pacific Ocean, he got the shot of a lifetime: the 115,000-ton, 1,100-foot-long warship steaming through a rainbow. "As a photographer I am used to documenting operational events like aircraft launches and recoveries," Perez, a 21-year-old mass communications specialist third class, said in an email. "But when I saw the rainbow I was excited because it was different. I knew the odds of...

It was a mission like no other. In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse, one businessman armed with cash and a casino cover story scooped the world to buy the unfinished hulk of a Ukrainian aircraft carrier that would become the centrepiece of the PLA Navy. Speaking to the media for the first time, the Hong Kong-based businessman at the heart of the undertaking reveals in a two-part series the details of the little-known, behind-the-scenes odyssey to realise China's long-held dream of owning such a warship. Xu Zengping disclosed that the militarily sensitive original engines of the carrier were...

'The Royal Navy may ask US squadrons to fly off its new aircraft carrier following delays to its new F35B fighters, BBC Newsnight has learned. MoD insiders said the US Marine Corps would be offered the use of HMS Queen Elizabeth II for flight operations. The UK plans to have its first F35 squadron operational by 2018, but Newsnight has learned that there may be further delays.'

Work has begun on scrapping the country's first aircraft carrier, Vikrant. Built for the British Royal Navy as HMS Hercules in 1943, it was acquired by India in 1957 and saw action during the India-Pakistan war in 1971, playing a key role. When the electric saws were pressed upon the ship, it essentially put an end to a movement by activists to save her. Vikrant was auctioned to a ship-breaker for Rs 63 crore this year. Mumbai's IB Commercials Pvt Ltd won the bid on January 29 and bought the vessel on April 9. Since then, the company faced hurdles...

The Indian Navy's young and potent MiG-29K fleet gives their long-awaited aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, a serious punch. India remains committed to simpler ski-jump instead of catapult configured carriers, and what is not great for a fighter's range and payload is fantastic for visuals, as you can see in the video below. In many ways, the MiG-29K is the ultimate comeback kid. The earliest version of this MiG-29 Fulcrum derivative first flew in 1988. After the fall of the Soviet Union there were no funds available to field two carrier fighters for what was then Russia's rusting navy. Mikoyan...

A model of China's J-15 carrier-based fighter displayed by an unknown ship design & research institute indicates has revealed that the PLA Navy is modifying the landing gear of the fighter for future aircraft carriers designed with catapults, reports the state-run Global Times. The landing gear retraction jack of the new J-15 seems to be thicker compared to earlier models, said the report. The nose gear seems to be designed for catapults and arresting gear. Since the Liaoning, China's only carrier in service, is not equipped with a catapult, all J-15 fighters have to be pulled to the afterdeck for...

Work on China's second locally designed and built aircraft carrier will soon get under way at Jiangnan Shipyard, overseas reports says China will soon start building its second locally designed aircraft carrier in Shanghai, according to a Canadian report. Kanwa Asian Defence, an English-language monthly defence review produced in Toronto, said Shanghai's Jiangnan Shipyard was preparing to start work on the carrier. When completed, the carrier and another under construction in Dalian will give the PLA Navy two fully functioning, battle-ready aircraft carriers. The recently completed Liaoning, the refitted former Soviet carrier Varyag, is classed as a training platform, not...

n artist’s conception of INS Vikrant, India’s first domestically-built carrier India is weighing constructing its second carrier with nuclear power. Indian Navy Image India is considering powering its second domestically built aircraft carrier with a nuclear propulsion plant, according to a Tuesday report by news agency Press Trust of India. The design of the carrier is ongoing and nuclear power is still an option for the carrier, said Director General of Naval Design Bureau, Rear Admiral Atul Saxena, in response to questions from reporters. India’s first domestically built carrier — the 40,000-ton INS Vikrant currently under construction in Cochin Shipyard...

India learned the hard way with INS ‘Vikramaditya’ Like a lot of countries, India wants the best weapons it can afford. But ideological and financial concerns mean there are a lot of things it won’t buy from the United States or Europe. That pretty much leaves, well, Russia. India has been a big buyer of Russian weapons for 50 years. Those haven’t been easy years for New Delhi. India’s defense contracts with Russia have consistently suffered delays and cost overruns. And the resulting hardware doesn’t always work. Of all India’s Russian procurement woes, none speak more to the dysfunctional relationship...

WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- Two F/A-18 Hornets from Carrier Air Wing 17 embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) crashed at 5:40 p.m. local time, today, while operating at sea in the western Pacific Ocean. The initial report is that the two aircraft are assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 94 (VFA-94) and Strike Fighter Squadron 113 (VFA-113). One pilot was rapidly located and returned to Carl Vinson, and is currently receiving medical attention. Search efforts continue for the second pilot. The search for the second pilot includes guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) and guided-missile...

BEIJING (AFP) - Two pilots in a squadron conducting fighter jet take-off and landing tests for China's lone aircraft carrier were killed during trials, state media reported, offering a rare glimpse into the secretive project. The revelation of the deaths came in a report last week on the signing of an order of commendation for the crew of China's first carrier-based jet fighter, the J-15. "Two test pilots of the squadron sacrificed their lives during the tests," the official Xinhua news agency reported on August 27. No details were given on exactly how or when the pilots were killed or...

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday that a second aircraft carrier, currently being built, would be brought into service, ending speculation about its future. "This will ensure that we will always have one carrier available, 100 percent of the time," Cameron said in a speech at a NATO summit in Wales. The fate of the carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, was not due to be decided until a defence spending review in the second half of next year after a national election, and defence experts had said it could be mothballed or sold. In July, Queen...