Thought experiment, non-USN carrier for Indian Ocean in the late 70's.

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

Yes, I'm a dirty whiffer. Mods I don't mind being asked to take this someplace else but I used to haunt this place a decade back and it slightly feels like home.

I have an alternative timeline I want to start building some hypothetical models from. Without delving too deep, lets say...a nation with theological and political leanings similar to Israel was close to the ocean and started getting their cargo ships harassed by Soviet naval power in the late 70's. Reductively, technological theocrats who hate the Soviets as much as the American govt. of the era. Lets say they were sold the decommissioned FDR and needed aircraft to put on it. Lets say technology can be fudged and the F-14 could be operated off a Midway-class. Would the United States Govt. have approved the sale of the F-14 to a foreign nation after the Shah's overthrow if these technocrats had their own radar and engines to put in the airframe?

Because for this little thought experiment, I'm trying to come up with something better than the F-4 to:
-Patrol a radius around the carrier up to 750mi
-Carry a mixture of AGM-65s, an internal cannon*, and potentially early ASMs between 2000-3000lb each
-Defend the carrier and its two picket destroyers with long range guided munitions should radar pick-up Blackfires burning the reheat over India in their direction.

 

All I can think of is F-14 or F-4. Nothing else in the era is remotely capable of fulfilling all these roles. Vought A-7 could be altered to fit the first two roles, but I would still need a F-4 or F-14 to take care of fleet defense and both are plenty capable of toting a couple small missiles or a big one around with it.

*Yes, naval F-4s didn't have a cannon and F-4E had CoG issues worse than the C/J/S but I'm...working around that.

[GreyGhost]

Since you're dealing in the "what-if" realm, why not have F/A-5 Vigilantes on deck ..?

Or maybe navalized Viggens ..?

Have some fun, you have a good imagination with your background story hypothesis...

 

Also, I'm a fellow GitS fan myself ... 

 

-Gregg

Edited February 28, 2022 by GreyGhost

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

I hadn't considered the Viggen, as much a fan as I am of the thrust reverser. But I'm trying to keep things semi-realistic and it would probably have been cost-prohibitive to make a version of the AS-37 capable of withstanding landings on carriers. The Vigilante certainly ticks all the boxes; big radar, heavy ordnance carriage potential to carry long range AAMs. But 1.) Vigilante kits are expensive, 2.) its huge, and 3.)For political reasons I'd wager the United States would be nervous about rocking the boat so to speak and selling a nation with access to uranium ore and the knowledge on constructing fission bombs an aircraft that was developed from the outset to be a strategic bomber. Fighters are..."safer" in my humble opinion. 

And yes, I remember way back when Maj. Kusanagi was your pfp. 🙃

[tomthegrom]

Good news for you, the midway did trap and cat f14s. A vf114 ans 213 jet I believe. So it was doable.

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

1 hour ago, tomthegrom said:

Good news for you, the midway did trap and cat f14s. A vf114 ans 213 jet I believe. So it was doable.

I don't have doubts about that, but from what I understand the F-14 was too tall for the hangar decks on the Midways.
 

[GreyGhost]

I believe the area between the catapults and the Jet Blast Deflectors was to short for F-14s on Midway/Coral Sea ...

 

-Gregg

[roym]

An export version of the RN FG.1 Phantom perhaps?

Navalised Tornado? Both F.3 for air/ Fleet defence and GR.1 for strike?

Actually the F.3 idea is a good one, internal gun, good radar (not the concrete block version) bvr missiles.

GR1 good range of underwing stores options.

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

@ Roym

I'll have to think about that, thats not a terrible idea all things considered, but if that were the case then all of the Tornados would have needed to be heavier as a common airframe was one of the parts of the program. Tornado fits the bill though in terms of range, speed, and ordnance carriage.

[Dutch]

What about F-8Q or A-7Q? We sold Crusaders to the French because it could operate from their Foch class carriers. While admittedly long in the tooth, they operated them until 2000. The Philippines also operated F-8Ps, but from land bases and retiired them in 1988. The US sold A-7s as a ground and maritime attack platform to the Portuguese, Greeks, and Thais. Perhaps a mix of the two types could fit on your carrier also?

Kind regards, 

Dutch 

Edited March 14, 2022 by Dutch

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

17 hours ago, Dutch said:

What about F-8Q or A-7Q? We sold Crusaders to the French because it could operate from their Foch class carriers. While admittedly long in the tooth, they operated them until 2000. The Philippines also operated F-8Ps, but from land bases and retiired them in 1988. The US sold A-7s as a ground and maritime attack platform to the Portuguese, Greeks, and Thais. Perhaps a mix of the two types could fit on your carrier also?

Kind regards, 

Dutch 

 

Funnily enough, after learning about the early F-8's rocket pack bay, I'm planning to include that in this AU as a potential locally-produced variant of the LTV V-100 project. The F-8 certainly has the ordnance capacity, but the more I think about it, the more I think the F-4 just in general fits the bill best. If I could believe that a F-15B could be built strong enough to survive carrier life, and still be built on the same line, that would be a good fit, but I doubt thats the case.