CATOBAR ("Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery" or "Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery") is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft launch using a

catapult A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of store ...

- assisted take-off and land on the ship (the recovery phase) using arrestor wires. Although this system is costlier than alternative methods, it provides greater flexibility in carrier operations, since it imposes less onerous design elements on fixed wing aircraft than alternative methods of launch and recovery such as

STOVL A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The ...

STOBAR STOBAR ("short take-off but arrested recovery" or "short take-off, barrier-arrested recovery") is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of "short take-off and vertical land ...

, allowing for a greater payload for more ordnance and/or fuel. CATOBAR can launch aircraft that lack a high

thrust to weight ratio Thrust-to-weight ratio is a dimensionless ratio of thrust to weight of a rocket, jet engine, propeller engine, or a vehicle propelled by such an engine that is an indicator of the performance of the engine or vehicle. The instantaneous thrust-to-w ...

, including heavier non-fighter aircraft such as the

E-2 Hawkeye The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Grumman Aircraft ...

and Grumman C-2 Greyhound.

Types

The catapult system in use in modern CATOBAR carriers is the steam catapult. Its primary advantage is the amount of power and control it can provide. During World War II the US Navy used a hydraulic catapult. The United States Navy is developing a system to launch carrier-based aircraft from catapults using a linear motor drive instead of steam, called the EMALS.

Current users

Only two states currently operate carriers that use the CATOBAR system following the decommissioning of Brazil's ''

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'' in February 2017; the U.S. with its ''Nimitz''-class and ''Gerald R. Ford''-class and France with its '' Charles De Gaulle''. U.S. Navy ''Gerald R. Ford''-class carriers will use the EMALS electromagnetic aircraft launch system in place of steam catapults.

Active CATOBAR aircraft carrier classes

CATOBAR carriers under construction

Potential users

The Chinese

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its c ...

(Type 003), currently under construction at the Jiangnan Shipyard, will feature an

integrated electric propulsion Integrated electric propulsion (IEP) or full electric propulsion (FEP) or integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) is an arrangement of marine propulsion systems such that gas turbines or diesel generators or both generate three-phase electr ...

system that will allow the operation of

electromagnetic catapult An electromagnetic catapult, also called EMALS ("electromagnetic aircraft launch system") after the specific US system, is a type of aircraft launching system. Currently, only the United States and China have successfully developed it, and it i ...

s, similar to the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. INS Vishal, India's second indigenous aircraft carrier of the ''Vikrant''-class, is planned to be of 65,000 ton displacement and to utilize the EMALS catapults developed by

General Atomics General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. Th ...

, as it supports heavier fighters, AEW aircraft and UCAVs that cannot launch using a STOBAR ski jump ramps.

References