Cavour aircraft carrier

Giovanni Maduli sent me this picture of the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour (550) he took recently in Fincantieri’s shipyards in Muggiano, near Genoa.  The ship, that will be delivered to the Marina Militare (Italian Navy) in 2008, has an overall length of 244 meters and a runway  180m x 14m with a 12° ski jump that will be able to serve 8 V/STOL (Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft such as AV-8B+ Harrier or 12 helicopters, such as the EH-101, NH- 90 or SH-3D. The ship will be fully compatible with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter VTOL variant and will most probably accomodate a mixed force composed by both aircraft and helos.

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David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.