NationStates Jolt Archive

As I have recently decomissioned my F-5K's and F87's on my Carrier Groups in favour of F35-JSF's and F22's. I was wondering - What exactly can I do with these old aircraft? Selling them seems like such as waste so... Could I refit them from Carrier based to Land Based, and would this be worth it?

There wouldn't be any need for refitting, because carrier based planes can land on the ground(just not vice versa). If you wanted to make them exclusively land based, you would have to remove stuff.

Sileetris is correct. The main difference between carrier and land based aircraft is essentially that an equivalent carrier aircraft tends to be heavier, stronger airframe, more expensive, and more suited to the elements (remember that saltwater is effective at corrosion).

Adejaani frequently buys one airframe and cross uses them. We use F-14s, F/A-18s and A-6s, both on land on carriers as they're totally interchangeable.

One question I do ask, point out... An F-22 is not a carrier aircraft... It never was designed that way... Just so you know, I'm not nitpicking, I'm just telling you...

Hmmm, don't worry I'm not accusing you of nitpicking :)

The storefront I bought it from said it was The F22A or F23, or something along those lines. And it also said it was Carrier based... Thoughts?

They might have meant the JSF

Well I really don't know about this "Naval F-22". Let me give you a real life precedent:

The US Navy, in around 1975 or so, wanted a program which could replace the F-4 Phantom II and the A-7 Corsair II. So they had a competition, between the YF-16 Fighting Falcon (which is being used by the Air Force still) and the YF-17. They found that neither were good enough and they had to literally start from scratch because an Air Force fighter, if it landed on a carrier deck, would have its lower structure crushed and the plane no longer useable.

That's probably why there's a specific reason the F-35 JSF has an "A" model, for the Air Force and a specific "C" model for the Navy. While they may be the same airframe, from memory, the "C" is a lot stronger and heavier.

I don't know, I guess any "Naval F-22" has to be a basically new plane... Sorry, I'm rambling. :p

Yeh, I think I remember it was a custom design now. Anyways - Does anyone recommend the F/A-18 "Super Hornet", to work in coordinance with my F35-JSF's on Carriers?

It really depends what you want to use the carriers "for". An aircraft carrier is the most versatile weapon because of its aircraft. If an aircraft can fit aboard, be taken below for repairs and maintenance and get off and back on without wrecking itself, then the carrier can do anything.

That said... It's really your choice what you want to do with it. A lot of people use Super Hornets (or Super Hornet derivatives or even "Super, Super Hornets" in the Nationstates notion of "I must be better than everything currently in existence!"), because it is cheap and fast and can do almost anything.

Which is why you must remember, "A jack of all trades is a master of none." The Super Hornet (or, for that matter, the F-35) doesn't have the reach of the F-14 (the Interceptor role with the AWG-9/Phoenix), nor the heavy bombing capabilities of say, the A-6. The Super Hornet is, in essence, a medium range, heavy fighter and standoff bomber.

I actually (but this is a personal preference), have one squadron of F-14s for Interceptor, Recon and Medium Strike, three squadrons of A-6s for heavy attack and two squadrons of F-35s for "swing" roles, namely to do the job of both in a pinch, strike escort and so on.

And don't ever forget the value of Airborne Radar (the E-2 Hawkeye) or Electronic Jamming. Most people in NS skim over it, but if you get even thirty seconds' more notice something's coming your way, or you keep them from knowing where you are for thirty seconds, that's a lot of benefit.

That said, you have to ask yourself: How many planes can my carrier carry? What role do I want to use it for? Can I afford to skimp on some areas? Could I build smaller carriers and have them pure fighter carriers (and/or support), leaving my big one to carry all attack/strike?

Who was the guy who sold you the Navalized F-22. Their is no way they could ever be navalized because of the light polymer skin that is used to deflect radar and make the aircraft less detectable. If you mean the JSF than that would be right but if this guy sold you a Naval F-22 you better complain because you got screwed out of your money. While you could always put those aircraft on land bases or you could use them on smaller escort carriers or a third option if you have any colonies you could send them to your colonies to be used as a Homeland Defense Force. So what I'm saying is that their are tons of ways to use older aircraft. I still have some F-104s and F-4 Phantom IIs in my air force in reserve and second tier roles.

Hmmm, don't worry I'm not accusing you of nitpicking :)

The storefront I bought it from said it was The F22A or F23, or something along those lines. And it also said it was Carrier based... Thoughts?

The F-22A which you speack of is the one being created today.

[This is from a USAF Website on Raptor Development, in my own understanding]

The F-22B, or the F/B-22 woudl be a longer-winged bomber version. As this maybe built for land based operations, there is talk fo a F-22D Striking Raptor which would perform carrier operations. It would have smaller wings, and allow for foldability. As for ordanance, it would stay the same as the F-22A.

However, I suggest you purchase a TF-55 (I ahve to give myself Promotion). it was deisgnned for both land/carrier operations, along with VTOL. It was origanaly built to be the Tomcat's sucessor, btu it soon found power over the JSF in the first three created. Since I am only sellign the TF-55A, it does nto look too good by my modern standerds (Truitt's, not the worlds) but soon my now ins ervice TF-55D will be realsed, new engine and better ordanance selection. If you are interested (it is also fairly cheap compaired to the JSF and Tomcat) than TM me.

Oh thanks for that. I didn't know they were making other versions of the Raptor. I geuss they found a way to make it stealthy and able to take off from a carrier. Well I take by what I said before. Although these variants are probably a few years away they're probably exceptable for Modern Tech.

I use Harrier's and modified Tornado Mk 3's. All British equipment, but its good stuff.

Harriers are good for Marine Units and escort carriers but really they can't stand up to F-14s and F/A-18s that can go almost Mach 2 and are more powerfully armed.

Alright, I did some reference work, and here is the Raptor Information (I was slightly off on my last post, sorry).

Since the Raptor's origanal prototype was ested, the wonder came: "Why not make a carrier and bomber based Raptor?" So, just as the JSF is set for producion, it is said that the bomber version would also be in light production, while the naval version would come a little later.

F/A-22A Raptor
This si the great little lightweight stealth fighter we all know and love. It is under production now, and is the only Raptor to get off of the deisgnner's table. It is mainly for the Eagle Replacement Role (F-15A-F). It however was thoguht of in the Cold War for battle agenst Russians. However, the Soviet threat is gone, but the Raptor and JSF ideas are still being thought through (just as the Seawolf SSN is, and the new Abram MBT).

F/B-22 Striking Raptor
The Striking Raptor would have much longer wings, about rougly 5 mroe inches, and its ordanance would be larger (fuselage and emmpanage). As so is the wing-pylons for heavy bombs which can not be added to the already larger ordanance hoisters in the fuselage.
This very well could be the stealth answer to the A-10.

F/A-22D Packing Raptor
The Packing Raptor would be a more heavier version fo the F/A-22A. It would have the F/B-22's fuselage, and a slightly long wingspan, roughly 3 inches. Other than that, thsi is going to replace the Hornet (as the JSF is also planned to do) and Fighting Falcon.

F/B-22F Velocity Raptor
The exact name is unknown as of now (so I made one up), but the B-22F would be a heavy bomber variant. The wings would be longer, and the fuselage and emmpanage would also be larger, somewhat of a x1.6 fo the F/A-22A. This woudl also be used for the nuclear role.

F/A-22C Fighting Raptor
Once agian, thsi is just an diea, no name is there, just the idea. The F/A-22C would be a C variant (navy) of the Raptor. It would have a slightly thicker, but still Stealth-Friendly, fuselage, however, the emmpanage will have little to no modifications. it's wings will have a folding mechanism such as the F/A-18B Hornet on its wings (the wings will also somehow to be shapped even folded, it will be stealthy). This however is the less of projects, and will probably never get out of the drawing board becouse of the F/A-35(A & D) and F/B-35 (A, whcih si all I know of a.t.m.).

Hope guys learnned somethign from that, I searched around for the stuff (not too hard sicne my uncle works in the windtunnel at Norfolk's NASA Building, so it wasn't hard, just had to ask him where to look.)

Enjoy something else brought to you ether in Submarine Warfare or Aircraft Warfare, form your friendly Truitt, go to Screamin Monkeys Productions StoreFront for more things to buy for your fleets today! http://s3.invisionfree.com/SMP/ (Sorry, had to do it)

Keep them in your reserves or in the air force