ITALY'S CAVOUR
The image above depicts one of the newest aircraft carriers in the world, the Italian navy's Cavour (550). Cavour can be seen at Muggiano during fitting out and is scheduled to enter service with the Italian Navy later this year. Cavour will initially operate the AV-8B Harrier II, but will receive the Lockheed F-35B in the future. While the Cavour will not be able to serve as a serious power projection platform along the lines of Russia's Kuznetsov or America's CVNs due to her much smaller air wing and lack of serious surface-to-surface weapon systems, she will serve alongside the Giuseppi Garibaldi (551) to provide Italy with a modern naval air arm capable of performing small-scale operations. As the F-35 program begins to accelerate, it will be interesting to observe the potential development of smaller STOVL carriers such as the Cavour in the world's navies. While Italy and the Uk are the only current export customers for the F-35B, the aircraft could become an interesting option for other navies desiring a fast jet capability. Nations such as Spain and Thailand could become interested in the aircraft should they desire to replace their naval Harriers.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION
Feel free to discuss the current Image of the Week at the IMINT & Analysis Forum Image of the Week discussion thread found here.
SOURCES
-Overhead imagery provided courtesy of Google Earth
The image above depicts one of the newest aircraft carriers in the world, the Italian navy's Cavour (550). Cavour can be seen at Muggiano during fitting out and is scheduled to enter service with the Italian Navy later this year. Cavour will initially operate the AV-8B Harrier II, but will receive the Lockheed F-35B in the future. While the Cavour will not be able to serve as a serious power projection platform along the lines of Russia's Kuznetsov or America's CVNs due to her much smaller air wing and lack of serious surface-to-surface weapon systems, she will serve alongside the Giuseppi Garibaldi (551) to provide Italy with a modern naval air arm capable of performing small-scale operations. As the F-35 program begins to accelerate, it will be interesting to observe the potential development of smaller STOVL carriers such as the Cavour in the world's navies. While Italy and the Uk are the only current export customers for the F-35B, the aircraft could become an interesting option for other navies desiring a fast jet capability. Nations such as Spain and Thailand could become interested in the aircraft should they desire to replace their naval Harriers.ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION
Feel free to discuss the current Image of the Week at the IMINT & Analysis Forum Image of the Week discussion thread found here.
SOURCES
-Overhead imagery provided courtesy of Google Earth
3 comments:
It is quite an interesting concept, a sort of "multipurpose pocket aircraft carrier" designed to combine fixed wing V/STOL and helicopter air operations, command and control operations and the transport of military or civil personnel and heavy vehicles.
Will follow this development for sure...
I'm pretty skeptical. The thing an aircraft carrier can do, the thing that justifies its size and cost, is its ability to operate fixed-wing aircraft. It seems to me that whenever you have it doing something else, you're wasting the asset.
Heavy vehicles can be carried by much cheaper ships designed for that purpose. Why use your hugely expensive and precious carrier as a cargo ship?
They would have done better to let the carrier focus on being a carrier and build a RO/RO ferry to haul around their assault force. Trying to fit both missions into one ship is false economy...both missions will suffer for it.
SOC, Just because Kuznetzov is big it does not make her a powerful power projection asset, in fact she is quite useless for that role. Her airwing is also small and has only very limited land attack capability partly due to her mode of aircraft operation. Furthermore her AShM armament whilst heavy has little utility beyond peer rival surface naval engagements. Kuznetzov is a very different animal to the current family of western carriers, she is a defensive ship designed to defend herself and a task group whilst firing heavy AShM's at attacking carriers and little else. Cavour on the other hand was designed from the outset as a power projection vessel and is much more useful.
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