CV-16, CV-17 STOBAR carrier thread (001/Liaoning, 002/Shandong)
- Thread starter Blitzo
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wuguanhui
Junior Member
Equation
Lieutenant General
Careful, US MAGA Intelligence might mistaken that to be China has the capability to produce fly aircraft carriers.
Credits to @type36512 on Twitter
"The aircraft carrier Shandong appears to be undergoing some kind of work near the arresting wire. Additionally, the carrier-based aircraft upright wheel locks (arresting gear) on the ski-jump deck side also seem to be deployed, though it is unclear whether any modifications have been made. The markings on the flight deck and the hull number remain unpainted, suggesting that maintenance will continue for some time yet."
"The aircraft carrier Shandong appears to be undergoing some kind of work near the arresting wire. Additionally, the carrier-based aircraft upright wheel locks (arresting gear) on the ski-jump deck side also seem to be deployed, though it is unclear whether any modifications have been made. The markings on the flight deck and the hull number remain unpainted, suggesting that maintenance will continue for some time yet."
I wonder, if China can put EM catapults on a container ship distributed over 4 trucks, it can't be impossible or cost-prohibitive to add one to CV16 and CV17. And recently China has shown willingness to make significant modifications and upgrades to old Soviet platforms (956E/EM). Not saying they'll do it for the CVs, but it would certainly be within their capabilities.
Probably depends if they pre-planned it when refurbing/building the ships to have the space allocated for that possiblity.
A theoretical exercise, wonder if PLAN has though of the possibility of fitting a kind of reduced length mini-EMCAT, while retaining the ski-jump. This concept seems to be applied of the russian Shtorm carrier project. While i think none of us doubt that if they find it necessary PLAN can go for an extensive (and expensive) rebuild for 001/002 to remove the ski-jump and fit two EMCATs such as those on 003, the kind of mini-EMCAT i theorize obviously would have reduced space and power requirements which would probably be within the capabilities of 001/002 to handle, while still providing a significant increase in take-off weight flexibility for the carrier planes, maybe even allowing KJ-600 to operate from 001/002.
View of CV-17 Shandong in drydock at Sanya from an aircraft, taken on 27 April. Posted by @齐天的孙猴子 on Weibo.
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