CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread

[TK3600]

I am still on the boat of 003 is just a small iterative change. The nuclear reactor for 004 is ready and 004 is the one mass produced in 2025.

 

[Jingle Bells]

PLAN doesn't need more carriers as fighting a naval war in the middle of the ocean isn't currently China's plan. PLAN still needs time to get familiar with catapult and to assess the reliability of EMALS. It will be illogical to build two more expensive carriers that have not been tested.

My opinion would be that once 003 is tested and have all the kinks worked out, it would be a much faster, cheaper and more reliable carrier to add to the fleet than a nuclear 004. That's why I think the go-ahead will be given to two more 003, once the first one has gone through the commissioning process.
This is because the fight capability of the carrier is NOT the ship itself, but rather the air wing carried on it. Carriers are just platforms. the faster these platforms can be put into commission, the faster a multi-carrier combined air group can gain operational capability.

 

[yrydzd]

the faster these platforms can be put into commission, the faster a multi-carrier combined air group can gain operational capability.

This goes back to the question: what does PLAN need these carriers for? Three 003's are not enough to fight the US navy outside the reach of land-based air protection. There isn't much use of carriers when fighing within the first island chain. China just doesn't have a urgent need for carriers, so better take it slow and steady.

 

[TK3600]

That is right. If China want to contest USA with 10 carriers may as well go nuclear if need to ramp up.

 

[ashnole]

China just doesn't have a urgent need for carriers, so better take it slow and steady.

Yes those DF-17s, DF-21s & DF-26s wonder weapons alone will be enough to keep USN CSGs outside of the Second Island Chain. Might as well develop an ICBM-range ASBM to keep USN CSGs permanently in & east of Pearl Harbor. Come on!

China not needing Carriers urgently = China not wanting re-unification with Taiwan urgently. Period.

 

[yrydzd]

Yes those DF-17s, DF-21s & DF-26s wonder weapons alone will be enough to keep USN CSGs outside of the Second Island Chain. Might as well develop an ICBM-range ASBM to keep USN CSGs permanently in & east of Pearl Harbor. Come on!

Yes, they are enought to keep USN CSGs outside of the first island chain. Period. USN isn't gonna risk it.

China not needing Carriers urgently = China not wanting re-unification with Taiwan urgently. Period.

What, in your opinion, are the uses of aircraft carriers in a AR senario?

 

[ashnole]

An often overlooked role of Carrier-based tactical fighters is escorting land-based heavy/strategic bombers (no matter how stealthy!) when they are within 500-750 nautical miles of their targets.

PLAN's Carrier-based fighters will need to do the same for Guam (first stage of the war) and for Pearl (later in the war).

 

[yrydzd]

An often overlooked role of Carrier-based tactical fighters is escorting land-based heavy/strategic bombers (no matter how stealthy!) when they are within 500-750 nautical miles of their targets.

PLAN's Carrier-based fighters will need to do the same for Guam (first stage of the war) and for Pearl (later in the war).

China doesn't have any plan to use bombers to hit Guam in the near future, and certainly not Hawaii. It will be another 30-40 years for China to be ready to hit pearl harbor, and that's why China has no URGENT need for carriers.

Also I don't think stealth bombers need escorts.

 

[Deino]

Can you guys stop with these most-speculative and purely theoretical discussion of PLAN future carrier ops and numbers? It’s irrelevant to the Fujian.

 

[Strangelove]

Coverboy...