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For the first time, the size and specifications of the Indian Navy's future aircraft carrier have been officially acknowledged. The navy has written to at least four major global shipbuilders, asking for proposals to help in designing a 65,000 tonne carrier that would be about 300 metres long. The letter of request, issued by the Indian Navy on Wednesday, specifies the carrier should be capable of speeds greater than 30 knots (56 km per hour). However, it is silent on whether it prefers nuclear propulsion, or conventional diesel or gas turbines. The navy's letter states the carrier will embark 30-35...

Review raises doubts about launch capacity, other vital systems in new vessel WASHINGTON — The US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, a multibillion-dollar behemoth that is the first in a next generation of carriers, is beset with a number of performance problems, even failing tests of its ability to launch and recover combat jets, according to an internal assessment by the Pentagon. The early tests are raising worries that the USS Gerald R. Ford, christened in honor of the 38th president in November, may not meet the Navy’s goal of significantly increasing the number of warplanes it can quickly launch —...

Surveillance video appears to show drug smugglers using a catapult to transport narcotics over the border between Mexico and Arizona near Naco. (Video courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Super Hornet Could Launch From Electromagnet Catapult By Christmas The U.S. Navy might achieve the biggest breakthrough in catapult design in more than 50 years this month if it can launch an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet from its new magnetic catapult system. According to Chris Cavas at Defense News, the sea service is prepping a Super Hornet to be launched from the electromagnetic launch system (EMALS) before Christmas. “The shot should take place within a couple of weeks,” said Rob Koon, a spokesman for Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). Asked if the engineers were trying to make the launch before Christmas,...

Recent tests at NAS Lakehurst, N.J., should have builders of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) sleeping more easily. The Navy’s risky bet in the design of the Ford—its reliance on an all-electric replacement for the steam catapult—appears to be paying off. Problems and delays with the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (Emals) last year were a threat to the carrier, because its design and construction reached a point where reverting to steam would have been difficult and expensive. With Emals in mind, the Ford-class features a much more powerful electrical generation and distribution system than the predecessor Nimitz-class ships, along...

Radical plans by the US Navy to equip its next aircraft carrier with electromagnetic mass-drivers for launching aircraft instead of the traditional steam catapults have hit technical snags. The so-called Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, is now under development in a shore-based test facility at Lakehurst naval air station in New Jersey. However, according to reports, the test mass-driver installation suffered serious damage earlier this year in a mishap blamed on a "software malfunction". Apparently the "shuttle" - which moves along the catapult track to accelerate a plane to flying speed - went the wrong way in a test...

HUGO, Minn.- Four Minnesota friends fashioned a medieval catapult to fling a variety of objects -- such as wheelchairs and obsolete appliances -- into the sky, they said. The men, all in their 30s, built a trebuchet -- a catapult originally designed in the Middle Ages to hurl objects at castle walls -- the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported Sunday. The trebuchet was built by Kurt Modert, of Hugo; Roger Bacon, of White Bear Lake; Ryan Krueger, of Maple Grove; and David Proehl, of New Hope -- all municipalities in Minnesota -- the newspaper said. They're catapulting items like...

Losing steam: US Navy carriers go electric By Rebecca Christie 27 February 2008 Half a century after the introduction of steam-driven catapults, the US Navy (USN) aircraft carrier community is entering an era that trades steam and hydraulics for advanced electronic circuitry. Construction of the first in a new line of carriers, Gerald R Ford (CVN 78), is due to begin in 2008 and the USD10.5 billion ship will use electricity instead of steam for launching combat aircraft, cooking meals and heating sailors' living quarters. Its nuclear reactors will produce more electricity than any other warship, powering a maintenance revolution...

A UNIVERSITY student died after being hurled 100ft through the air by a medieval-style "trebuchet" catapult, an inquest heard yesterday. Kostydin Yankov, 19, an Oxford University student, suffered multiple injuries and serious spinal damage when he fell short of the safety net. He was on a day trip with the extreme sports club, The Oxford Stunt Factory, to Bridgwater, Somerset, in November 2002 when tragedy struck.

Catapult-makers were once ye olde celebrities July 05 2004 at 08:24AM London - Catapult designers were the celebrity scientists of the ancient world, according to a British expert. Until the discovery of gunpowder, the catapult was the most powerful weapon in existence, said historian Serafina Cuomo. The machines, capable of hurling large projectiles long distances, were in high demand during the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans - and so were their makers. But the construction of catapults was no easy task, requiring great mathematical and engineering skill. It became a science in itself, known as "belopoietics" from the...

For the benefit of the rest of the world, in 1986 the UK saw its most violent storm for over 350 years. Wind speeds in some parts exceeded 90 mph and an incredible amounts of damage were done to property and people up and down the UK. This story made several of the Kent newspapers at the time and - like most sane, rational beings I too found it dificult to believe - but it is absolutely true. In Margate in the county of Kent, there are many tall Poplar trees and it's not uncommon for residents in the more...

Two Charged After Human Catapult Death Jul 15, 7:11 am ET LONDON (Reuters) - British police charged two men with manslaughter Tuesday following the death of an Oxford University student who was flung from a giant catapult. Bulgarian Konstadin Yankov, 19, died last November when the stunt near the West Country town of Bridgewater went wrong. "He had been thrown by a replica medieval catapult and failed to reach the landing net," said a police spokeswoman. Yankov was on an outing with the Oxford Stunt Factory, an unofficial club at Oxford University where he was studying biochemistry. He had been...