how powerful is the italian aircraft carrier its kvor
the kante decavor 550 is one of two actively serving italian navy aircraft carriers alongside
the smaller giuseppe garibaldi 551 the garibaldi was commissioned in 1985 and has since served as
a straight deck with ski jump ramp managing a fleet of harrier two jump jets and various navy
helicopter types the newer kvor was commissioned in 2008 and was completed with a straight deck
design featuring a ski jump ramp offset to port side for supporting its air wing of harrier twos
and augusta westland eh-101 merlin helicopters approximately 20 total aircraft the cavor
currently serves as the flagship of the italian navy and received her first mission call in
january 2010 in support of operation white crane during the haitian earthquake relief operation
she bears the name of camilo benso kante d cavor 1810 to 1861 italy's first prime minister though
she was initially named the luigi einaudi and then later the andrea doria prior to becoming the cavor
the cavor was not intended as a replacement
for the older garibaldi carrier but instead serves as a complement to it
the cavor was developed in the 1990s to which her keel was laid down on july 17
2001 she was launched out to sea on july 20th 2004 and underwent the
requisite sea trials before seeing her formal commissioning on march
27 2008 she currently births at la spezia and fights under the motto of in arduous
surveillance roughly translating to in hard times keep a level head under active status
as with many european designed aircraft carriers the kvor is intended to host a limited variety
of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft as needed this principally includes the av-8b harrier 2 jump
jet family of vertical takeoff and landing vtol aircraft which do not require runway space for
launching and recovery behaving in much the same way that a helicopter does helicopters also play
a major role in cavor operations and as such the air wing of the kevor stocks both aircraft types
in this fashion the vessel can be called upon for air defense search and rescue strike humanitarian
assistance andy ship sorties and reconnaissance as required the flight deck is divided into two
areas the primary launch and recovery section set to the port side and secondary launch section held
at the starboard bow the island superstructure is offset to the starboard side in the usual fashion
and contains the sensors and systems processing center as well as the bridge and flight command
the superstructure is also home to twin double funnels exhausting the conventional engine
arrangement a large crane is situated ahead of the superstructure with a smaller one aft
there are two masts atop the superstructure the forward most one housing and empar air search
and missile guidance system in a spherical assembly and the aft most one containing a
pole mass type arrangement there are two hanger elevators one offset to the starboard side aft
of the superstructure serving the primary runaway and the second also offset to starboard ahead of
the superstructure serving the forward flight deck the ski jump ramp is angled at 12 degrees
the kvor is a conventionally powered vessel fitted with six diesel engines coupled with
four general electric avio lm 2500 plus series gas turbines to develop 88 000 horsepower the
ship is therefore able to make 28 knots in ideal conditions with ranges out to 7000 nautical miles
overall length is 244 meters with a beam of 39 meters and a draft of 8.7 meters
displacement is 27 000 tons on a standard load and 30 000 tons under full load
the crew complement consists of one thousand one hundred twenty personnel made up of officers
sailors logistics personnel airmen mechanics and marines
the cavore is defensed by 4x8 cell a43 silver surface-to-air missile launchers firing the mbda
aster 15-series missile this is backed by 2x automalara 76 millimeters 62 caliber super
rapido rapid fire cannons and three by twenty five millimeters eighty caliber orlicon contraves close
in weapon system ciws anti-aircraft guns the air wing typically consists of eight xav8b harrier 2
jump jets and 12x augusta westland eh 101 merlin helicopters the latter configured for the airborne
early warning role up to 30 aircraft can be stored aboard the vessel in extreme wartime circumstances
the hanger deck can also be used to stop cargo and vehicles for when
in support of humanitarian relief or amphibious assault operations
the italian navy expects to replace its fleet of aging av-8b harrier 2
vtol jets with the upcoming lockheed f-35b lightning 2 series of vtol aircraft currently
the kvor will be slightly modified to suit the new american fighter
so
you