Can we use them on an aircraft carrier?

Can we ever take off or land an F15 or an F16 on an aircraft carrier?





They are Air Force planes.|||You got a bunch of great answers, with Jim giving you the best.





Either could do a full burner takeoff from a carrier in the right conditions with the correct aircraft weight. (without the catapult)





Can they be modified? Sure. If someone wants to pay a gazillion dollars to do it. That won't happen.





F-15 and F-16 airframes and landing gear aren't built to take the punishment of the landings. Even if you modified the nose gear with a launch bar and hold back, the cat would simply yank the nose gear out from under the jet and throw it half-way across the pond.





Look at the difference between the massive nose gear on an F-18 and the spindly gear on an F-15.





Here's the Hornet's nose gear. You can see the huge drag brace that keeps it attached to the plane during launch and you can see the launch bar.





http://www.planet.fi/~mohman/model/f18fl鈥?/a>





The Eagle's scrawny, (but perfect for an F-15) nose gear:





http://www.fortogden.com/hill-39-f15.jpg





One other reason they can't be operated from a carrier is that both Air Force jets you mention have a single nose wheel. Navy jets have two and are designed to pass over the 'mouse' or shuttle on the catapult.





They would have to be launched like the F-4's using a bridle.





Bridle attached to F-4 Phantom on the cat:





http://members.chello.nl/m.waterloo/imag鈥?/a>|||Nope. The landing gear is not designed for carrier landing, and they do not possess the attachments for the catapults.





The arresting gear they do have, is designed for emergency use if their brakes fail as they land on a normal runway.





The entire airframe would have to be redesigned and rebuilt to be able to take carrier landings.





Sorry. Never going to happen.|||It is possable for a an F-16 and F-15 to take off from an aircraft carrier. All you have to do is attach a launch bar on the nose wheel and the another part that stop the plane from taking off until the catapult launches. (Used for when the plane goes to military power waiting to get launched)


Now landing is a different story. Although both the F-15 and F-16 have tail hooks, the landing gear can't take the blow of landing on a carrier. Not to say it can't be done. It has been done in an F-16 but that was because someone in Heaven REALLY liked the pilot.|||The landing gear is not designed for attaching to the catapult, nor taking the impact of that controlled crash the Navy calls a landing. Eagles and Vipers DO have arresting hooks btw.


The only AF aircraft that could do this would be the C130 (tested during Vietnam era), the CV22, and my old jet the F4 which of course was originally a Navy interceptor.|||The navy does operate the F-16, but not for carrier operations. It is not equipped for carrier traps or cats.





Here's a photo of a Navy F-16


http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Nav鈥?/a>|||they could if the planes are modified for carrier landing and takeoffs%26lt;