CATOBAR

CATOBAR (acronym for catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery or catapult-assisted take-off, barrier arrested recovery) is a naval aviation system used for the takeoff and landing of fixed-wing aircraft from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Under the CATOBAR system, carrier-based aircraft are launched via assisted take-off with additional acceleration from an aircraft catapult, and land on the ship (the recovery phase) with assisted deceleration from an arresting gear.

Although the CATOBAR system is costlier and more technologically complex than alternative launch and recovery methods, it provides greater flexibility in carrier operations, since it imposes less onerous design requirements on fixed-wing aircraft than alternative methods such as STOVL or STOBAR, allowing for a greater maximum takeoff weight and thus more payload for ordnance and/or fuel. CATOBAR systems enable jet aircraft (which are much heavier than the propeller-powered naval fighters used during the Second World War) to be launched from only half of the carrier's deck length (leaving the aft-half as an angled flight deck dedicated to landing), and can launch heavy propeller aircraft that lack a high thrust-to-weight ratio such as the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye and C-2 Greyhound.

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