supercat
Major
No amount of copium can change the fact that the U.S. has exactly one carrier with EMALS, same as China.
CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
It's actually great that people continue to downplay China's military advancements. It's a lot better to have the U.S. public underestimate China's capabilities than overestimate/exaggerate them like they did with the USSR.
Imagine if this triggered something like the bomber gap where U.S. policy makers decided to double down on military procurement in response.
LMAO. I'm pretty sure that would be great for China regardless. For some reason this reminds me of another superpower that spent its way to collapse.
While Fujian is going through with fittings and trails for the next two years, I think PLAN needs to start building two more 003s instead of just one. And they can do it simultaneously; one at Dalian and the other at Jiangnan. The timeline for the introduction of 004 will be too long; 2030 or early 2030s.
It will allowed both shipyards to retain more skills instead of allowing those skills to fade away in time. Prefabrication and steel cutting can start this year or next.
Although PLAN shouldn't try to rush things into service, the way geopolitical plates are shifting, it will be smart to have enough numbers to bolster things. Having 3 CATOBARs is better than 3 CVs with only one being CATOBAR. And PLAN can have 3 Type 003s in service by 2030; 5 total if we count CV-16 and CV-17.
It will allowed both shipyards to retain more skills instead of allowing those skills to fade away in time. Prefabrication and steel cutting can start this year or next.
Although PLAN shouldn't try to rush things into service, the way geopolitical plates are shifting, it will be smart to have enough numbers to bolster things. Having 3 CATOBARs is better than 3 CVs with only one being CATOBAR. And PLAN can have 3 Type 003s in service by 2030; 5 total if we count CV-16 and CV-17.
in WW2 they said that Japanese military was weak because they copied Germans on everything and their eyes were too squinty to be good pilots anyways.
only the stupidity of imperial Japan's strategy and weak economy saved them.
How time flies! I remember this photo was taken in June 2021~An older image showing the island being lowered by gantry crane onto the deck.
and the fact that the army and navy hated each other to point of purposely sabotaging each other in spite.
But we got the nicer ass.
Lethe
Captain
Around 20 years ago the lead designer of the F-14 Tomcat and a retired US Navy Admiral published a joint article calling for an Americanised Su-33 to replace the F-14 Tomcat in USN service.
Obviously that didn't happen, but yeah... a fully-realised, catapult-launched J-15 has a significantly higher performance ceiling than Super Hornet and will no doubt serve PLAN well in the medium-term.
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