aircraftcarrier
Latest
Sonar drone discovers long-lost WWII aircraft carrier USS Hornet
The late Paul Allen's research vessel, the Petrel, has found another historic warship at the bottom of the ocean. In the wake of an initial discovery in late January, the expedition crew has confirmed that it found the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier that played a pivotal role in WWII through moments like the Doolittle Raid on Japan and the pivotal Battle of Midway. It was considered lost when it sank at the Battle of Santa Cruz in October 1943, but modern technology spotted it nearly 17,500 feet below the surface of the South Pacific Ocean, near the Solomon Islands.
Watch the US Navy’s electromagnetic catapult launch a fighter jet
The US Navy's next-gen Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) has already shown it can hurl weighty dead-loads. Now, after months of trials, it just propelled its first actual aircraft. A jet fighter performed the first EMALS launch and recovery from the USS Gerald R. Ford on Friday.
US Navy decommissions the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
It's the end of an era for the US sea power, in more ways than one: the Navy has decommissioned the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The vessel launched in 1961 and is mainly known for playing a pivotal role in several major incidents and conflicts, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War and the 2003 Iraq War. However, it also served as the quintessential showcase for what nuclear ships could do. Its eight reactors let it run for years at a time, all the while making more room for the aircraft and their fuel.
Watch a drone take off from a flying aircraft carrier
The Avengers would be proud. Not content with simply flying drones, enthusiasts at Flite Test have built a remote-controlled helicarrier that can serve as a runway for smaller unmanned aircraft -- yes, it's a drone launching other drones. The example you see in the brief video below is crude and won't handle more than modestly-sized vehicles, but it's enough to show that the concept works. It's easy to see well-heeled hobbyists (and the military, for that matter) refining the concept to boost the maximum altitudes and ranges of robotic vehicles that would normally have to take off from terra firma.
Navy sailor pleads guilty to hacking from an aircraft carrier
You may think that the US Navy's biggest digital threats come from the outside, but that's not always the case. Former Navy serviceman (and leader of the hacking group Team Digi7al) Nicholas Paul Knight has pleaded guilty to charges that he and co-defendant Daniel Kreuger conspired to steal identities from numerous internet sites, including a Navy personnel relocation system. Knight was caught after investigators realized that someone in Digi7al was posting on Twitter from the Navy's internal network -- as it turns out, the sailor was breaking into databases while he was a system administrator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
US Navy's X-47B unmanned jet successfully lands on an aircraft carrier
The US Navy's unmanned plane, the X-47B, has been in development for years. It first flew in 2011, began testing aboard an aircraft carrier in late 2012, and finally took off from a floating airstrip earlier this year. Taking off from a moving ship is easier than landing on one, of course, but the X-47B accomplished that task today when it successfully landed on the USS George H.W. Bush. And, just to show off, shortly thereafter the X-47B was launched from carrier via catapult and, once again, landed successfully. So, it looks to be only a matter of time before our Top Guns look more like Watson, and less like Tom Cruise.
US Navy's Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System launches first fighter jet (update: video!)
For more than 50 years, the on-ramp to the highway to the danger zone was a steam catapult that launched fighter jets from an aircraft carrier, but it looks like that could soon be set to change. The U.S. Navy just announced yesterday that its Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, has passed a key test by launching a manned F/A-18E Super Hornet for the first time (several more successful launches then followed). Among other advantages, that system promises to allow the Navy to launch a wider range of aircraft from a carrier -- including everything from lightweight unmanned aircraft to heavy strike fighters -- and do so while also bringing "substantial improvements" to weight, maintenance, and efficiency. Head on past the break for the official announcement (sorry no video). Update: We spoke too soon, video is now after the break! You'll have to supply your own Kenny Loggins soundtrack, though. [Thanks, Fionn]
