PLAN Catapult Development Thread, News, etc.

[FORBIN]

Let me try to list the history of identification.
1. When the narrow track showed up in Shanghai many years ago, it was called EMALS.
2. When the broader track showed up in Wuhan from 2015/2016, the voice of Shanghai site being Steam arises.
3. When the Huludao site was nearing completion and two tracks showed up. The words is "competition of Steam vs. EM". As the broad track is close in dimension to Wuhan track which is almost certain to be EM, the broad one was determined to be EM, so there is an ongoing saying that the narrow one being steam. The saying may not get attention in this forum, but it is widely said in Chinese forums.

If your able have infos ofc preferably reliable - possible check - why u don' t provide ?

 

[SinoSoldier]

As jobjed said, not necessarily.

See this reply of mine in the 002 thread:

https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/pl...lopment-news-thread.t8048/page-61#post-445418

Possible, but again why would the PLAN place a bulk order of something that has yet to win a tender?

 

[Blitzo]

Possible, but again why would the PLAN place a bulk order of something that has yet to win a tender?

First of all, we don't necessarily know if it was ordered "in bulk" -- only that the Navy may have made an order of some steam cat components.

As for why they may have ordered steam cat components back then, that was in the post I linked...

"From my understanding the EM vs steam cat competition only really began 1.5-2 years ago and only really should have proceeded over the last year or so. If steam cat components were ordered years ago, that would likely be indicative of the Navy making the order for the steam cat components well before the EM vs steam cat competition began and possibly well before anyone first thought to do an EM vs steam cat competition at all."

In other words, the Navy may have placed an initial order because back then there was no tender/competition, and it was assumed that 002 would go with steam catapults. But then the competition happened.


If we throw our minds back to 2013/14, the consensus was that steam was going to be on the cards for the first 002 as well, and EM cat was still a distant and unlikely possibility, and the catapult competition was a surprise for us as well.

 

[SinoSoldier]

First of all, we don't necessarily know if it was ordered "in bulk" -- only that the Navy may have made an order of some steam cat components.

As for why they may have ordered steam cat components back then, that was in the post I linked...

"From my understanding the EM vs steam cat competition only really began 1.5-2 years ago and only really should have proceeded over the last year or so. If steam cat components were ordered years ago, that would likely be indicative of the Navy making the order for the steam cat components well before the EM vs steam cat competition began and possibly well before anyone first thought to do an EM vs steam cat competition at all."

In other words, the Navy may have placed an initial order because back then there was no tender/competition, and it was assumed that 002 would go with steam catapults. But then the competition happened.


If we throw our minds back to 2013/14, the consensus was that steam was going to be on the cards for the first 002 as well, and EM cat was still a distant and unlikely possibility, and the catapult competition was a surprise for us as well.

That would indicate that the PLAN either had no knowledge of or hope in the EMALS system at the time of the catapult tender, which is quite unlikely. Your theory would also suggest that the PLAN has essentially spent unnecessary money by purchasing two sets of systems for a single carrier due to an abrupt breakthrough or acceleration of the EMALS development.

 

[Blitzo]

That would indicate that the PLAN either had no knowledge of or hope in the EMALS system at the time of the catapult tender, which is quite unlikely.

I don't think it's that unlikely at all.

Your theory would also suggest that the PLAN has essentially spent unnecessary money by purchasing two sets of systems for a single carrier due to an abrupt breakthrough or acceleration of the EMALS development.

I think the underlined part explains the first part above.

Basically, I think the Navy had committed to steam catapults for at least their first 002, without thinking that the EM cat could be implemented, possibly due to technical reasons at the time or possibly more likely due to certain political machinations -- after all we had indications that the catapult competition only occurred due to certain military reshufflings at the top level two or so years ago to give the EM cat a proper assessment.

In other words, I think a combination of political changes in the last few years and advancements in EM cat development made the Navy's original plan for 002's catapults obsolete.

 

[SinoSoldier]

I don't think it's that unlikely at all.




I think the underlined part explains the first part above.

Basically, I think the Navy had committed to steam catapults for at least their first 002, without thinking that the EM cat could be implemented, possibly due to technical reasons at the time or possibly more likely due to certain political machinations -- after all we had indications that the catapult competition only occurred due to certain military reshufflings at the top level two or so years ago to give the EM cat a proper assessment.

In other words, I think a combination of political changes in the last few years and advancements in EM cat development made the Navy's original plan for 002's catapults obsolete.

You theory is definitely plausible, but would only work if there is talk that the PLAN has ordered or is ordering EMALS equipment, which fgzfzy's post suggested has not yet happened. Not saying that EMALS won't ever make it onto PLAN flat-tops, but there has been multiple examples in the past where the Chinese military had compromised for a cheaper, less-capable alternative.

 

[Blitzo]

You theory is definitely plausible, but would only work if there is talk that the PLAN has ordered or is ordering EMALS equipment, which fgzfzy's post suggested has not yet happened. Not saying that EMALS won't ever make it onto PLAN flat-tops, but there has been multiple examples in the past where the Chinese military had compromised for a cheaper, less-capable alternative.

There's a difference between fzgfzy saying that he has yet to hear about the Navy making an order for EM cats, versus the Navy actually not going to go with EM cats for 002.

Him not hearing about the Navy making an order for EM cats could reflect the Navy choosing to not go with EM cats, but it could also be due to the Navy having yet to make an order for EM cats for various technical or contractual reasons, or possibly even if the Navy has made an order for EM cats but it just has yet to filter down to a position where fzgfzy is aware about it.


In other words, I'm not saying the Navy is definitely going to go with EM cats, but I'm also saying at this point I don't think we can interpret fzgfzy's post as reflecting that the Navy is going to go with steam cats either.

 

[Engineer]

The group that works on EM catapult is tiny in comparison to the group(s) working on steam catapult. That means information regarding the status of the EM catapult is not really accessible. The information that big shrimps have access to are coming from the side that works on steam catapult, and those people would naturally say steam catapult has been chosen for 002.

 

[antiterror13]

You theory is definitely plausible, but would only work if there is talk that the PLAN has ordered or is ordering EMALS equipment, which fgzfzy's post suggested has not yet happened. Not saying that EMALS won't ever make it onto PLAN flat-tops, but there has been multiple examples in the past where the Chinese military had compromised for a cheaper, less-capable alternative.

well, you only see it in 1 dimension unfortunately ... please try to widen your horizon ... perhaps up to third horizon .. if you can ... not just one meter from your eyes .. the world is too big to see from your tiny naked eyes unfortunately

 

[Blackstone]

The group that works on EM catapult is tiny in comparison to the group(s) working on steam catapult. That means information regarding the status of the EM catapult is not really accessible. The information that big shrimps have access to are coming from the side that works on steam catapult, and those people would naturally say steam catapult has been chosen for 002.

What's the source steam catapult team is much larger than EM team?