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CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Aircraft launch using a catapult assisted take-off. However, these are conventional, rather than STOVL aircraft, and thus require arrestor wires to land on the ship. Only three countries still operate carriers that use the CATOBAR system; the U.S. Nimitz class, USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), France's Charles De Gaulle, and Brazil's NAeL São Paulo. The joint British and French Future Aircraft Carrier program will be built as CATOBAR for the French ship but Royal Navy ships will initaily equipped for STOVL operations. The British ships will be "future proofed" by being designed for easy conversion to CATOBAR.
