CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread

Kich

Junior Member
Registered Member
There is a thing called Naval rock-paper-scissor.

Submarines, especially SSNs, are the rocks. Airborne ASW assets, whether surface combatant-based ASW helicopters or land-based fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft are the paper. Carrier-based tactical aviation is the scissor.

'Rock' Submarines smash every kind of ship including 'scissor' carrying Aircraft Carriers. 'Paper' Airborne ASW assets cover submarines and prevent them from acting like rocks. 'Scissor' Carrier-based tactical aviation cut through slow-flying & defenceless 'paper' airborne ASW assets.

To be a *proper* maritime power capable of controlling the world's seas & oceans, you need the trio of rock-paper-scissor in your arsenal. If you lack in any one of the department, an adversary/enemy possessing the trio will eventually ruin your maritime dominance dreams!
Yes, this is a such a succinct analysis of naval warfare.
You can't fight lacking any of those three or you will lose.

USN doesn't lack any of those three and will flourish in open-sea battle, but when getting anyway 1000km to Chinese coast, the table turns in favor of PLA. But even with the giant landmass carrier and shallow waters farvoring SSK, PLA still needs sufficient numbers of rock-paper-scissors in their inventory.
 
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grulle

Junior Member
Registered Member
"China is willing to suffer pain to surpass the West and revenge its “century of humiliation.” We can expect that China’s new supercarrier will go to sea often to test its new capabilities and then begin putting its new aircraft and pilots to their paces. China already has two more Type 003 supercarriers under construction and is on pace to produce one every 18 months for the foreseeable future. We struggle to build a new carrier every four years. With its construction capacity, China will soon have the upper hand in sea control and power projection in the Pacific and Indian Oceans."
 

davidau

Senior Member
Registered Member
"China is willing to suffer pain to surpass the West and revenge its “century of humiliation.” We can expect that China’s new supercarrier will go to sea often to test its new capabilities and then begin putting its new aircraft and pilots to their paces. China already has two more Type 003 supercarriers under construction and is on pace to produce one every 18 months for the foreseeable future. We struggle to build a new carrier every four years. With its construction capacity, China will soon have the upper hand in sea control and power projection in the Pacific and Indian Oceans."
Very interesting. Please provide where you have 2 x 003 under constructuon. Thanks.
 

lych470

Junior Member
Registered Member
Logically, it should be true, since the geo-political situation that China faces would demand more CVs. It is also more economical to make and maintain more ships of the same model.
I wonder if the PLAN will still follow the principle of “小步快跑” - lots of iterative processes on a few experiemental ships, then once those processes are perfected, mass production. I wonder if the PLAN will be satisfied with the advances of the 003 compared to 001 and 002, and will produce them in number.
 

Overbom

Brigadier
Registered Member
Are people still talking about China having another 2 carriers under construction? Whether plausible or not, the article offers no evidence, no source (not even the hilarious "anonymous sources have privately said to me").

As they dont provide any kind of evidence and (afaik) they dont have an established reputation for publishing breaking news on the PLA, I would throw this article to the garbage bin and move on.
 

ACuriousPLAFan

Brigadier
Registered Member
I wonder if the PLAN will still follow the principle of “小步快跑” - lots of iterative processes on a few experiemental ships, then once those processes are perfected, mass production. I wonder if the PLAN will be satisfied with the advances of the 003 compared to 001 and 002, and will produce them in number.
If the PLAN is generally satisfied with the design of 003 with some required improvements and tweaks, then technically speaking, they can start mass-producing the improved version of 003.

The current geopolitical situation in the Western Pacific also helps the case a lot.

However, if the goal of the PLAN is a fleet of nuclear-powered supercarriers without sticking too long on conventionally-powered ones, then maybe not.

Even so, I would prefer that China continues with building another 1 or 2 improved version of 003 while simultaneously waiting for the R&D work on nuclear marine propulsion for supercarriers to complete and becomes suitable enough for use on upcoming Chinese supercarriers.

Meanwhile, I would also prefer that those improved 003s be designed such that the onboard propulsion system can be swapped from conventional to nuclear in the future.
 

davidau

Senior Member
Registered Member
Logically, it should be true, since the geo-political situation that China faces would demand more CVs. It is also more economical to make and maintain more ships of the same model.
Thanks for the article. However, it would be interesting to know where these two 003 being built? Any aerial views from satellites?
 
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yrydzd

Banned Idiot
Registered Member
Logically, it should be true, since the geo-political situation that China faces would demand more CVs. It is also more economical to make and maintain more ships of the same model.

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.
 
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