MADEX 2023: Hyundai displays latest CVX design iteration

A model of HHI's latest CVX aircraft carrier design. (Janes/Mike Plunkett)

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) displayed the latest iteration of its CVX aircraft carrier concept at the MADEX 2023 exhibition in Busan, which concludes on 9 June.

Previous versions of the CVX programme have featured short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) designs. However, HHI's new CVX design features a catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) capability enabling it to operate a wide range of naval fixed-wing aircraft.

An HHI representative told Janes that the new CVX concept would also feature a gas turbine powerplant feeding a fully integrated electric drive. This would provide power for a pair of electromagnetic catapults, one at the bow and one at the waist.

The KF-21N, a carrierborne version of Korea Aerospace Industries' (KAI's) under-development KF-21 fighter aircraft, is envisaged to operate from the CVX. HHI also said the Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) has outlined a requirement for the CVX to support airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. In the CVX model displayed at MADEX 2023, this capability was represented by a model of a Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye aircraft.

The HHI representative said that while the CVX has been designed to meet RoKN requirements, a formal programme to procure the capability had not been initiated yet.