Which Came First, The Aircraft or the Aircraft Carrier? Challenges in Designing Aircraft Carriers for the Future

Abstract

The US Navy's Next Generation Aircraft Carrier Program (CVNX) is currently in the early elements of design and the first of the class is scheduled for delivery in 2013. Each ship of the design is expected to have a service life of over 50 years. Current requirements definition processes for the aviation functions tie ship's performance parameters to past, current and near future airframes yet the class will fly multiple generations of aircraft during its expected life span. Are there requirements definitions strategies that will enable less costly upgrade paths for the class than those currently implemented? We examine, from a historical perspective, the traditional upgrade process that aircraft carriers have taken and propose alternative methods based on a different perspective applied while defining "requirements".

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 26, 2002
Accession Number
ADA399984

Entities

People

  • Craig A. Smith
  • Richard W. Johnson

Organizations

  • Northrop Grumman

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircraft Carriers
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Flight Decks
  • Jet Engines
  • Liquid Oxygen
  • Naval Aviation
  • Naval Operations
  • Navy
  • Nimitz-Class
  • Second World War
  • Systems Engineering
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design