A short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft carrier (S-CVX)

Abstract

This report documents a systems engineering and design capstone project, directed by the Total Ship Systems Engineering (TSSE) faculty and undertaken by students in the TSSE program at the Naval Postgraduate School and performed over two academic quarters. It takes a fresh look at the basic design and operation of the modem aircraft carrier, assuming availability of short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft, employing gas turbine ship propulsion and providing significant capability to support humanitarian operations. In the design study reported here, the authors take a systems engineering approach to a totally new carrier design which may best suit the requirements for the next generation aircraft carrier. The central goal was to provide a ship to meet all of the current mission requirements of the existing Nimitz class carriers but in a platform that is significantly lower in life cycle costs. The outcome is a ship based on a concept called "super-island"; a large island structure that can provides drive-through "pit- stops" for aircraft refueling and rearming as well as other major functions. Other areas of major innovation include: weapons handling, information processing and distribution, engineering layout and manning. The report provides an overview of the major ship systems as well as detailed discussions of selected design areas chosen to illustrate those systems that had the most impact on meeting design goals.