PLAN Carrier Operations..News, Videos & Photos

Originally Posted by PanAsian

Nice graphic but with some mistakes. The most glaring one is the diagram of the J-10B being used as that of the J-15. The FL-3000N is also incorrectly depicted as the old 18-missile launcher rather than the 16-missile one that's most recently observed. A minor point would be the Z-8 in army colors but that's just nitpicking. Good call on the TBD name though!

Actually the fl-3000n picture they have is a 24 cell launcher. The one on the varyag has 18 I believe.

a video of Varyag before it sat sail, skip to 2:00 to see something interesting

http://p.you.video.sina.com.cn/swf/q...taryphotos.net

uncovering the weapon systems?
http://p.you.video.sina.com.cn/swf/q...taryphotos.net

The authoritie actually went as far as to detain journalists and prominant fans (ie. those who supplied the majority of pics in all this time) around the time of launch, thus there were almost no pic at all.

Originally Posted by no_name

Leaked photo of varyag at 2:30 AM the day she went out for her first test trial. Can see tugboats around the carrier.



3:10 AM when she began moving out with assitance of tugboats



This was also the last pic taken. Afterwards security personnel entered the room and the reporters were ordered to stop filming.

As far as i can see, the ship still hasnt move in this pictures. Its in the same spot. One photo has higher resolution than the other

Originally Posted by bd popeye

So they got underway under the cover of darkness...Why? For what reason? Do they have some secret technique for getting underway in the middle of the night? I know they upset a lot of sailors getting underway at zero dark thirty. Sailors can get very grumpy..jeez..what's the big secret? There isn't one.

The reason for this is political. China doesnt want its the sea trial of its first carrier to provide ammo to its many critics abroad, in the region and beyond. The lack of images/video about it helps explain why varyag´s sea trial got so little coverage. Thats what china wants. Low profile.

There was already a storm of alarm because of j-20. I think that they have been learning since then that low profile is better than high profile, thanks to the critics abroad.

The Charles de Gualle CV took 5 years from sea tials to finish outfitting ,wow.

Q. and A. on aircraft carrier "Varyag"

This one says the maritime exclusion zone is for Aug 10th - 14th

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english201..._131043148.htm

Originally Posted by zoom

The Charles de Gualle CV took 5 years from sea tials to finish outfitting ,wow.

Q. and A. on aircraft carrier "Varyag"

Don't forget that she had a lot of issues, including major rework of the angled deck for E-2C and funding issues (funds were cut at some point).

Originally Posted by zoom

The Charles de Gualle CV took 5 years from sea tials to finish outfitting ,wow.

The Charles de Gaulle had an unbelievable amount of problems for funding during construction, and then technical problems after she was launched and went on trials. Some began to say that she was a lesson in how NOT to build an aircraft carrier. Quite frankly, it was a severe embarassement to France.

She was laid down in 1989, expecting to be completed in 1995. But, funding for her was completely stopped on four occassions in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1995. As a result, the ship was not launched until 1999.

Then, during her trials, all of the following occurred, causing major fixes and refits to make her operational:

1. The flight deck was found to not be long enough to accomodate one of the major capabilities required. the E2-C Hawkeye could not use the deck. it had to be lengthened. How this major issue could have slipped through the entire construction and launch phase mystified everyone.

2. The nuclear reactor trial tirggered the combustion of additional isolation elements and a radioactive smoke event ensued. This had to be fixed.

3. En route to the U.S. to show her off during later trials, one of the new propellers broke and had to be replaced. She had to return to port. Investigations showed that both propellers were faulty, as well as all of the spares. The company that had built them was bankrupt and out of business...and all of its drawing for the propellers had been lost in a fire. They had to use spare Foch and Clemceau propellers and the speed was reduced by 3 knts as a result.

4. During later trials, the noise levels on the aft starboard side were so loud that that aft portion on the starboard side was unihabitable and had to be vacated until the problem was found and fixed.

5. Finally, later a sailor performing routine maintenance lost consiousness due to a toxic gas leak. An officer attempted to rescue the sailor and was himself overcome. A team with proper apparatus rescured them both and they survived, but this leak also had to be repaired.

The ship was finally commissioned on 18 May 2001, over five years behind schedule. Thereafter, however, she did participate with the US in operation Enduring Freedom in 2002, 2005 and 2010. She also helped in the fight against Somali pirates, and of course, is currently involved in the operations against Lybia. She had a major refit in 2007.

Most carriers do not have such difficulties in getting started and hopefully the new PLAN carrier will avoid those types of major issues. To the French's credit, they fought through those issues and now have an operational and effective nuclear powered aircraft carrier. Outside of the US, they are the only country to have been able to do that.

Perhaps China will be the third.

FRENCH CHARLES DE GAULLE CVN

The Charles de Gaulle operating with the USS Abraham Lincoln in opertions against the Taliban in Afghanistan. I count 17 aircraft on the de Gaulle's deck and 42 on the Lincolns. Gives some idea in the difference in size and scale of operations.

Thanks Jeff, it's a successful outcome from challenging beginnings that many new projects can have. I hope China's high speed rail is another example of this.The article i posted also suggests that the norm for US carriers from sea trials to completed outfitting is 3 years. Do you agree with that and can it be compared to the Varyag?

Do you agree with that and can it be compared to the Varyag?

Well..humm....here's my thoughts.. The tempo of operations on an USN CVN is very high. The USN has seasoned NCOs and officers training the new sailors aboard the ship. China does not have that advantage. Perhaps in a few years they will.

Long ago back in 2007 I predicted that it would take the Chinese 3-5 years to be able to deploy a safe operation carrier. I stand by that. But she will not be able to operate at the tempo of an Nimitz class.

Originally Posted by zoom

Thanks Jeff, it's a successful outcome from challenging beginnings that many new projects can have. I hope China's high speed rail is another example of this.The article i posted also suggests that the norm for US carriers from sea trials to completed outfitting is 3 years. Do you agree with that and can it be compared to the Varyag?

The average for all of the Nimitz class is 3 years from launch to commission. Four of those happened in two years. Some took longer. It depends on what new innovations they build into them (meaning more new tests), the state of the economy, warfooting, etc., etc.

I believe the US is capable of doing it in 2 years once they have the tests down and are into the 2nd, 3rd, 4th vessel of a class. But when they add new stuff, new technologies, etc. it takes longer.

For example, the new Ford with all the new techs it is bringing on line will probably take all three years...maybe more.

We shall see how it goes for the former Varyag.

Also depends on whether at commissioning they expect full operational capability or not. For example, with the Chinese carrier they may commission her before the air wing is completely outfitted and completely trained...continuing that training afterwards. In that case they may be able to get it done sooner than one thinks...but still have work to do afterwards. You just cannot short cut the training and experience needed. My guess is that it will be five years at least before the new Chinese carrier will be considered fully operational with a fully trained air-wing, fully trained operational crew and policy and practice for battle group operations.

Now, she will be out there and conducting operations throughout that time once she is commissioned and we just do not know the PLANs or the PRCs military and political needs as to when in that process she will actually be commissioned. I expetct she will be commissioned nno later than two years from now...maybe sooner...but fully operational in five.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts.

Originally Posted by Bltizo

Does anyone know if the admiral k's elevators can hold two su-33s at one time? From pictures of the elevators and the aircraft I think they should be able to do (length isn't a problem -- the rear of the aircraft can hang over the side, it's the width which will be a challenge)

[IMG][/IMG]

I believe this picture answered your question.

I think Shi Lang has been extensively modifed internally to carry more aircraft, heres some info from PDF claiming that hanger area is >5000 sqaure metres

Below is the old and simplified deck plan for the original Varyag.

Varyag (old) Deck Plan:


Section “7” was the old ~4000 Square Meter Hangar. It has a Max capacity to hold 22 Su-33s with a low utilization rate of ~60%!

Varyag (old) Hangar with 22 * Su-33s.


Section “3” – “6” are the SS-N-19 Weapon Clusters. Since China never got any weapons with her at all, and needed a real carrier.
PLAN removed Section “3” – “6” completely, and extend the hangar all the way to the end of Section “3”.
Adding ~1500 Square meters of Hangar space, to a total of ~5000 Square Meters in area.

Old Hangar in relation to the main hull.

Varyag (old) Hangar in relation to the Hull.


The New Hangar extends all the way to the Missile Silos. The Number of total Su-33Ms/J-15s that I have stated above is the Engineering MAX number.

so its seems that maximum J15 Shi Lang can take is more than 40!

Does PLAN has offensive ASW capability? Having aircraft carrier with ASW protection is rather useless IMO.