FSX(A) Soviet MERKUR CVL and Battlegroup
Of a number of CV/CVL’s studied under the 1145 projects were the MERKUR light fleet catobar(Catapult Take Off But Arrested Landing) designs. Displacing 45000 tons, these 950 ft ships would have beed classed ‘Light Fleet Carriers’ by virtue of their modestly sized airgroups. Of the same design lineage as the Kiev class Aviation Cruisers, the Kiev’s were preferred due to inexperience with steam catapults and deck edge elevators, uncertainties as to aircraft development( various navalized SU-7 and MiG-21-23 were mooted) and Soviet Naval doctrine of the day resulted in selection of the ASW optimized Kiev class. As a beta release, and in deference to the authors modest modeling abilities, there are some warts, but its easy on the FPS, and a fun platform for Mig-29K’s and SeaFlankers ops. Fully acceleration enabled (2 cats, 4 wires, meatball) with escorting Kirov CGN, SLAVA CG, UDALLOY I and II DDG’s, KA-25 and Ka-27 plane guard Helio’s. The UDALLOY II is a updated model(previously released with the Delfin SWATH CVL) with some of the annoying snags fixed and flight deck corrected. All with running lights, hard decks, internal lighting and lighted flight decks. An updated config file for the IRIS MiG-29K is included, which fixed the tip vortices hanging out in space, and activates differential braking for improved deck handling.
