CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
You cannot counter a carrier with a SSN or DDG simple

Soviet’s tried it and failed

you need a carrier

What does an aircraft carrier do? It launches airplanes. And those airplanes control the sky, perform surveillance and launch weapons.

So it's more accurate to say that that to counter an aircraft carrier, you need your own airplanes.
But China's situation is that its core objectives are close by in the 1st Island Chain, so can be better covered by airbases on mainland China.

Plus a carrier and its air wing is really expensive and vulnerable.
In comparison, land-based airplanes are cheaper, longer-ranged, and higher performance than their carrier counterparts.

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But I agree for blue-water operations in the Western Pacific, where there is a lot less land-based air support, you do need your own carriers.
 

Intrepid

Major
China need aircraft carriers in about twenty years. They need them with long experience in carrier aviation. The experience is the reason, why they have a small number of carriers already now.
 

Rettam Stacf

Junior Member
Registered Member
Not a good start to 2020

delays due to virus and no 4th carrier has been spotted which to be honest I was hoping for

no batch 3 of J15 and no further new helicopters

constrained air wing for both CV-16 and CV-17

add to that the the news that there will be no 5th and 6th CVN

after a short sprint looks like Chinese carrier ambitions have been somewhat dented

carrier programmes are expensive and even china can’t splash out on a CVN

USN has 11 x CVN

China at most with have 2 x STOBAR and 2 x CATOBAR which will not bee nuclear powered

overall a rather dull picture and steam seems to have gassed out on the Chinese carrier programme in this new decade

He seems to have a fixation on matching the US ship for ship, plane for plane, and feature for feature as the criteria for a successful program.

May be, just may be, the PLA military planners and decision makers believe that meeting the strategic objective and tactical need should be paramount.
 

vesicles

Colonel
Not a good start to 2020

delays due to virus and no 4th carrier has been spotted which to be honest I was hoping for

no batch 3 of J15 and no further new helicopters

constrained air wing for both CV-16 and CV-17

add to that the the news that there will be no 5th and 6th CVN

after a short sprint looks like Chinese carrier ambitions have been somewhat dented

carrier programmes are expensive and even china can’t splash out on a CVN

USN has 11 x CVN

China at most with have 2 x STOBAR and 2 x CATOBAR which will not bee nuclear powered

overall a rather dull picture and steam seems to have gassed out on the Chinese carrier programme in this new decade

I still can’t understand why all of a sudden you have become so impatient all the time. You have been complaining about their supposedly slow progress on everything.

You got to let them take one step at a time. You are an experienced Chinese weapons watcher and should know how they operate. They are slow and methodical. You should realize that they have no one, but themselves, to help them. And they must figure everything out on their own. That’s why they need to test and retest everything. Even when they are absolutely sure, they need to test it again. Every mistake means loss of money, time and even human lives. They must take things slow and steady.

They have made huge progress on all fronts of their weapons programs. They just spent billions and decades on their first 3 carriers. That means not only money, but also countless scientists and engineers working days and nights and sacrificing their vacation and holidays with their families.

It’s unfair to demand unrealistic goals that no human living on this planet can possible achieve in the time frame that you give them.

I believe you are in the biomedical field too and have published in PNAS? I’m sure you are very proud of your high impact publication. What If I say to you “l’m disappointed at you because you are not publishing 20 Science papers a year. As such, you have failed miserably as a scientist!” Sounds unreasonable? This is what you are demanding of the Chinese...
 

Biscuits

Major
Registered Member
The "source" about only 4 carriers being planned is from a western mouthpieces with no source at all behind that statement. Its just placating to their home audience.

It does not merit discussion on a serious board.

China doesn't even have public standing plans on a 3rd or 4th carrier. All of that are just guesses from observers. Same for additional carriers. The only thing we can do is to wait and see, the final number is only known to the navy itself.

All we can say is that with the economy booming, the military will also be something that matches it. But the exact size depends on whether spending will be larger or smaller which is a political decision
 
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