CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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There are multiple empty mounting points, so they may still get installed. Notably the round mounts behind the 1130 appear to be consistent with HQ-10 mounts, based on how they looked on CV-17 Shandong when she got launched (without either HQ-10 or 1130s). So presumably Fujian will receive four HQ-10 launchers too, but thats just my guess.
I enjoyed this, particularly Shilao's wild idea of a Second Washington Naval Treaty (US and China limited to 4 carriers each).
Ulyanovsk came up in this show where they discussed Fujian's similarity with it, which reminded me of what Ayi said multiple times last week. Ayi has been browsing media and military forums around the globe to gauge reactions for. He observes that among the different military fan communities two had the strongest reaction to Fujian's launch:
First one and expected, the Russians. They're lamenting that they see a lot of Ulyanovsk in Fujian and that this could have been them if only they put Yeltsin in front of a firing squad in time.
Second one, unexpectedly are the South Koreans. They have this theory that the chain of events that lead to Fujian started back when they sold Minsk to that Chinese company back in the 90s. The PLAN then studied her and it generated enough interest in carriers that they then bought Varyag and rest is history. In their theory had they kept Minsk they would be the one to then buy Varyag and then go down the same path as PLAN did which resulted in Fujian. At the same time lack of Minsk and Varyag would also significantly delay PLAN's carrier program.
According to Shilao Ulyanovsk catapults are mostly intended for launching Yak-44 and Su-33 and Mig-29K will continue to use the ramp. One wonders if Liaoning and Shandong could be upgraded like that (but maybe just one EMALS).
Do Liaoning and Shandong have extra electrical capacity to power EMALS? Do they have extra space to install electrical systems for EMALS? If the purpose of the EMALS is simply to launch KJ-600 perhaps they could content with slower catapult sortie rate.
Lol.
That would never work as long as the CEOs and shareholders of the American military-industrial-complex have fat bonuses and dividens to earn. They would never agree to reduce their military size, unless something like a catastrophic recession happens in the US.
Besides, aircraft carriers are far from being the only thing that should be regulated and limited, if Washington Naval Treaty 2.0 is meant to be a thing.
Yeltsin isn't the only one that should be sent to the firing squad. Everyone starting from Breznev too should have been sent as well.
The scientific and technological development progess that the USSR enjoyed till the 1960s has practically stagnated ever since Breznev took power. Being involved in the war in Afghanistan and the Chernobyl Disaster certainly didn't help the Soviets either.
This article from 2012 says a lot about their dream of having a Korean version of Liu Huaqiang, i.e. the Father of Chinese Aircraft Carriers:
Though, when was the time where the South Korean government started to put emphasis on having an aircraft carrier programme of their own?
For comparison, China has been seeking to operate aircraft carriers of her own ever since Mao's tenure. The Project 707 and Project 891 are the two known attempts by China to acquire light and medium aircraft carriers for the PLAN before the Project 047 comes into play.
Furthermore, when the deal of purchase for the ex-Varyag was made, the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 had just hit South Korea real hard - so hard that they have to ask the IMF for a bailout. Imagine if South Korea is the one buying the ex-Varyag. I would bet that South Korea would be forced to sell that ex-Varyag to someone else or to scrap by the IMF.
So either way, China got a hard-earned lucky break, and gained the opportunity to study and learn from the Minsk sisters and ex-Varyag. The rest, like you said above, is history.
Doesn't seem likely to me.
In order to upgrade Liaoning and Shandong plus to equip them with EMALS, their onboard steam turbines, boilers and related propulsion systems would have to be replaced. This is due to the current onboard propulsion system of Liaoning and Shandong doesn't seem capable to allow power-hungry EMALS to function properly.
Besides, the wiring systems and the flight deck would have to be majorly reworked in order for the EMALS to be installed onboard. This takes away another huge chunk of the allocated budget that would be more useful for other projects of the PLAN, such as nuclear-powered supercarriers, Type 095 SSNs and Type 096 SSBNs, more advanced weaponry, radar and sensor systems, etc.
Furthermore, Liaoning's ex-Varyag hull would have been 40 years old by 2028. Retrofitting her wouldn't make any economical sense when China is fully capable of building newer, larger and more capable supercarriers.
Ulyanovsk, of which the Yak-44 is supposed to operate from with the onboard catapult system, has a larger flight deck space compared to the Liaoning and Shandong. Ulyanovsk can be said to be on par with the Kitty Hawk and Fujian, size-wise.
So installing EMALS as a waist catapult on Liaoning and Shandong would have eaten up more space, and is very likely that the launch position of the waist EMALS catapult would interfere with the arresting gear systems loacted at the rear part of the flight deck.
Secondly, compare and contrast the flight deck layout of the Ford (above) and Fujian (below).
Not sure if this information is true, but I have heard that the EMALS catapults that were later added onboard Fujian are considerably longer than the steam catapults that were originally part of the initial design plans. The increased length of the new EMALS catapults means that the jet blast deflector (JBD) right behind the launch position for the 2nd catapult (front port side) is actually interfering with the landing deck of the flight deck.
Which isn't exactly ideal, so to speak.
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I think it is possible to make such upgrade.
Like Ulyanovsk, if Liaoning and Shandong only use EMAL to lunch KJ-600 and heavy-loaded J-15 for strike mission, the EMAL may not need high sortie rate. They can slowly power up the super capacitor or the fly wheel for electricity storage, it can still work, though not as good as Fujian, still better than nothing.
I agree Liaoning is probably out of discussion, it is just an experimental CV, China does not even recognize it as CV back in 2012. But for Shandong, if China has planed to upgrade it with EMAL when designing it, it will be feasible. It was not news that Ski jump is inferior to EMAL back in 2006. China should have considered it.
Shandong will need a mid-life retrofit sooner than later, adding one EMAL is probably cheaper than building a brand new CV.