Rumoured Type 076 LHD/LHA discussion

longmarch

Junior Member
Registered Member
If not genius maybe ingenious?

British wouldn't mind much but sour grapes from two of China's neighbors are not hard to imagine.

Don't Tell me China doesn't have the resources to design her own VTOL aircraft, it's by choice and China has taken her own path. Time will tell which one end up superior.
 

daifo

Captain
Registered Member
If China has the EMALS working well and until China becomes a global arms dealer, it doesn't make financial sense for China to invest into the s/vtol type aircraft.. Also China is behind in jet engine tech and vtol engines are prob even more complex.
 

lcloo

Captain
Unless there is a need for large number of S/VTOL fighter jets (some figure like 200 or more), the lack of economy of scales means this jet will be very expensive to be researched/developed and manufactured (98 Japanese Mitsubishi F-2 were built based on F-16, and each cost US$127 million at 2009 value; compare F-16C/D cost US$18.8 million at 1998 value).

Using EMALS for many different types of manned and unmanned aircraft would be more cost effective. Moreover EMALS launched fighter jets would have longer range and better payload than S/VTOL one. (check up difference in range and payload of F-35A, F-35C and that of F-35B S/VTOL.)
 
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Austin Powers

Junior Member
Registered Member
Catapult is nothing new. Russian Karakurt class corvette launches UAV into air by catapult due to the fact it is too small to have a helipad.

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Amur_Shipyard_laid_third_Karakurt-class_missile_corvette_of_project_22800_for_Russian_Navy_925_001.jpg
 

galvatron

Junior Member
Registered Member
If China has the EMALS working well and until China becomes a global arms dealer, it doesn't make financial sense for China to invest into the s/vtol type aircraft.. Also China is behind in jet engine tech and vtol engines are prob even more complex.
VTOL engines are probably more complicated and more expensive to maintain. The buyers will be feeling stupid if not right now.
 

Gatekeeper

Brigadier
Registered Member
If China has the EMALS working well and until China becomes a global arms dealer, it doesn't make financial sense for China to invest into the s/vtol type aircraft.. Also China is behind in jet engine tech and vtol engines are prob even more complex.

Maybe China is behind in engine, but not 50 years behind! For crying out loud, VTOL tech is 50 years old!
 

sheogorath

Major
Registered Member
Maybe China is behind in engine, but not 50 years behind! For crying out loud, VTOL tech is 50 years old!
Not all VTOLs are created equal.

Harriers were one way to do it, with the nozzles, then you had projects like the Yak-38 or Mirage IIIV which used smaller lift jets which were "simpler" but took more fuel and you ended up hauling dead weight on horizontal flight, then the F-35B which uses a shaft connected to the main engine to power said "lift fan", which still is dead weight when not in use, and so on.
 
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