According to the navigation notice issued by China's maritime agencies, Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Shipyard will launch a number of ships intensively on May 30-3 1 day. According to social media speculation, the three large ships involved are container ships, ethane ships and liquefied gas ships. The official launch of these ships means that the domestic 003 aircraft carrier under construction in the dock next door has enough room for activities.
As the Type 003 aircraft carrier has been built continuously for several years, the overall technical state is becoming more and more perfect. June 3, 2022 coincides with the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also the 57th anniversary of the establishment of Jiangnan Shipyard/KLOC-0. As a result, the media have speculated that the highly anticipated Type 003 aircraft carrier is likely to be launched in the near future. If this speculation comes true, then the China Navy will open an unprecedented era of three aircraft carriers.
In the process of waiting for several years, the shape and performance outline of this new domestic aircraft carrier have actually been roughly outlined. The 80,000-ton platform, conventional power system, three electromagnetic catapult and J-35 stealth carrier aircraft are the most interesting features of 003. Interestingly, as the first domestic aircraft carrier equipped with catapults, although the overall performance of 003 has improved by leaps and bounds compared with that of 002 Shandong ship, there are still different opinions on its tonnage, power and carrier-based aircraft.
It is very meaningful to discuss what kind of technical height this aircraft carrier can reach and what kind of positioning it has in the navy.
First of all, let's take a look at the J-35 stealth carrier aircraft that has been discussed a lot recently. Due to the recent appearance of a brand-new navy light gray painted J-35 prototype on the Internet, the overall technical status is more perfect.
Therefore, the outside world is very optimistic about its development cycle, and it is generally believed that it will be able to serve with the 003 aircraft carrier in 2025. In addition to the J-35, AVIC also developed J-15T catapult carrier-based fighter, J-15D carrier-based electronic fighter, air police -600 carrier-based fixed-wing early warning aircraft and other supporting models. The comprehensive combat effectiveness of this aircraft carrier formation has been comparable to that of the US Navy F-35C, F/A- 18E/F and F.
However, many people haven't realized that just reaching the standard of "catching up with and surpassing the US Navy" is not enough for China Navy, which is gradually going out to sea.
Before the emergence of the J-35, domestic public opinion has been arguing for a long time about whether the next generation stealth carrier aircraft should develop medium or heavy. On the surface, this controversy mainly focused on the technical prototypes of J-20 and FC-3 1 at that time, which may develop into stealth carrier aircraft, but the deeper meaning is actually discussing the development route of naval aircraft carriers. In this discussion, the "J-20 carrier aircraft" is not only a heavy stealth carrier aircraft, but also an eager expectation and inherent requirement for the future domestic aircraft carrier combat system to surpass the corresponding equipment of the US Navy (that is, F-35C).
In contrast, the medium-sized stealth carrier aircraft developed by FC-3 1 seemed to be equivalent to the F-35C at the time. The fundamental difference between the two design concepts lies in whether domestic aircraft carriers need to surpass the strongest level of world maritime hegemony, or just roughly equal, which is the essence of the dispute.
For this kind of problem, if you use empty rhetoric to explain it, it will be a bit boring. We might as well look for the truth from the development of domestic advanced weapons and equipment. In July of 20 15, Dongfeng -26 and Dongfeng -2 1D anti-ship ballistic missiles were publicly unveiled, which caused a global shock for a time. Ordinary people at home and abroad have deeply remembered the new term "anti-ship ballistic missile".
On June 20 19, Dongfeng-17 hypersonic weapon made a high-profile appearance. Unlike Russian-made Dagger and domestic Eagle Strike -2 1 which are secondary development models derived from land-based ballistic missiles, Dongfeng-17 is the only one in the world that has adopted the "Qian Xuesen Ballistics" instruction so far. Like the J-20 heavy stealth fighter and the 0.55 million-ton destroyer, it is an advanced weapon that surpasses the corresponding equipment of the US military.
If we only reach the standard of catching up with the corresponding equipment of the US military, then Dongfeng -26, Dongfeng-17, J-20, 055, etc. will not reach the current technical level and equipment scale.
Eagle Strike-12, Eagle Strike-100, FC-3 1 052D, the performance of these weapons is very close to that of similar equipment of the US military, and there are precedents to follow. They can form combat effectiveness without spending too much money, which seems to be more in line with the logic of "catching up with the US military".
China racked its brains and spent countless resources to develop top-class equipment such as Dongfeng -26, Dongfeng-17, J-20, 055, etc., to a great extent, which was deeply learned from the crisis of 1996. Before that, we had enjoyed the peace and comfort after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and we didn't wake up like a dream until the crisis came.
In contrast, Europe, especially western European countries, has been addicted to this round of peace and comfort. After the exchange of fire between Russia and Ukraine, the outside world was surprised by the embarrassing performance of the Russian army, but the results of the 30-year decadence of the European army were also vividly displayed.
Therefore, although the appearance of J-35 temporarily ended the discussion about domestic stealth carrier aircraft, this medium-sized carrier aircraft is definitely not the end of China Navy's stealth era. The A- 12 stealth carrier-based attack aircraft originally planned by the US Navy at the end of the Cold War and the heavy carrier-based fighter aircraft developed on the basis of the F-22 were aborted due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the sharp drop in funding.
Finally, under the pressure of the US Congress, a medium-sized aircraft fleet consisting of F-35C and F/A- 18E/F was formed without a decent opponent.
With the backward number of aircraft carriers and decades of experience in operation, it is obviously difficult for China Navy to effectively counter this configuration to build the future combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers. Today's J-35 and J-15T seem to have made great progress, but in the eyes of the navy, they are just the same transitional equipment as the 002 Shandong ship.
In the process of the navy's constant pursuit of new main equipment, the J-20 may not really board the ship in the future, but there will definitely be a better carrier-based aircraft than the J-35 to undertake more arduous combat tasks.
Followed by the tonnage and power system of 003. Compared with the higher-positioned J-35,003, the gap between J-35,003 and American aircraft carrier in tonnage and power equipment is more obvious, and the transition meaning is more obvious.
In particular, the four 80,000-ton Kitty Hawk conventional power carriers served by the US Navy before the construction of the 10-ton Nimitz-class nuclear power carrier are quite similar to the basic performance of 003. The outside world also generally regards 003 as a transitional model before the emergence of the domestic 654.38+ 10,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Specifically, the power system of 003 application is the most obvious.
Aircraft carrier power can be divided into nuclear power and conventional power, and conventional power system can be simply divided into three categories according to the different prime movers: steam turbine, diesel engine and gas turbine. In the detailed division, there is also a novel design, which uses the same prime Mover, but uses an integrated all-electric propulsion system.
However, among the large and medium-sized aircraft carriers in active service in the world, only the "Queen Elizabeth" class aircraft carrier of the British Navy has applied the rare configuration of gas turbine diesel engine. As for the comprehensive all-electric propulsion mode that has attracted much attention, only the British navy destroyer 45 and the American destroyer DDG- 1000 are actually used. The fundamental reason behind it is that although the power density of gas turbines is considerable, the low total output power leads to a large number of prime movers, which is not conducive to meeting the demanding requirements of large aircraft carriers for power systems. In fact, China's navy has long planned a clear development route for aircraft carrier forces.
In 1980s, marine gas turbines rose strongly. A new generation of large and medium-sized warships, represented by the "Ticonderoga" class cruiser of the US Navy and the "Fearless" class large anti-submarine ship of the Soviet Navy, galloped across the ocean with their powerful gas turbines.
At that time, China Navy was keenly aware of this change, and in the late 1980s, it obtained LM-2500 gas turbine from the United States. Surprisingly, however, in 1987, the navy introduced the 453B turbine based on the development of the 453 turbine. Even after that, UGT-25000 gas turbine was obtained from Ukraine. This power developed smoothly, and destroyers 1 05 1B, 2 05 1C and * * 3 using steam turbines were built one after another.
If we consider the famous paper "Discussion on the Scheme Design of Aircraft Carrier's Main Boiler" published by R&D Unit when the project of 453B was established, and the horrible data of 453B with 47,000 horsepower, which is close to the 50,000 horsepower of the Soviet Union's "Kuznetsov" single machine, everything is self-evident.
China's navy began to seriously consider developing domestic aircraft carriers in the late 1980s. Although the future arrival of the Varyag was not expected at that time, it was undoubtedly wise to "pre-empt". 453B steam turbine, gradually improved in the use of 05 1B and 05 1C, also transited before the maturity of domestic QC-280, and finally became the power core of 00 1 Liaoning ship and 002 Shandong ship.
More importantly, although steam turbine is an out-and-out backward technology in the external impression, it is actually the most similar conventional power to nuclear power, and the essential difference between them is only the difference between nuclear reactor and oil-fired boiler. This means that it is a practical way to effectively reduce technical risks by using steam turbines first and then using nuclear reactors.
In fact, the technical level of modern steam turbines is already very high. Steam turbines, which are widely used on civil land or natural gas carriers, have long since got rid of the image of being stupid and black. The domestic 80,000-ton Type 003 aircraft carrier based on mature steam turbines has obvious transitional nature, but the basic performance of the platform has also been quite excellent.
Finally, some unexpected but natural three electromagnetic catapult. Unexpectedly, electromagnetic catapult is the most risky core equipment of 003. This brand-new technology application, which made the USS Ford go through several years of twists and turns, is seriously inconsistent with China's consistent concept of seeking stability.
However, since China was also a blank in the field of steam catapults before, the outside world felt relieved about this technological adventure. However, the Kitty Hawk class with tonnage equivalent to 003 is equipped with four catapults, while 003 has only three, which is somewhat regrettable to the outside world. In fact, this also reflects the prudence and caution of China Navy in catapults.
As the key equipment that affects the combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers, shipborne catapults require extremely high performance, not only to maintain stability in large-weight catapults with dozens of times a day, but also to theoretically maintain extremely low accident rate in catapults with tens of thousands of times during service. Therefore, although there are not a few countries that can build aircraft carriers in the world, the United States has long been the only country that has made great achievements in the field of advanced catapults.
Although the Soviet Navy overcame all kinds of resistance in the late 1980s and built the "Ulyanovsk" aircraft carrier equipped with steam catapults, for the sake of safety, this aircraft carrier designed a skid takeoff deck. In contrast, with the world-class electromagnetic propulsion technology, China-made electromagnetic catapult has achieved a safe, stable and efficient overall performance.
At the same time, in view of the huge technological leap and the tonnage size slightly smaller than that of Nimitz, the 003 aircraft carrier did not pursue the ultimate performance. This is undoubtedly a way to give consideration to technological progress and reduce risks, rather than the four most efficient in design theory.
More importantly, the efficiency of the 003 equipped with three electromagnetic catapult is lower than that of the Ford Class equipped with four electromagnetic catapult by the US Navy. However, thanks to the progress in ejection efficiency, space occupation and maintenance, the overall ejection efficiency is only slightly lower than the Nimitz class of the US Navy.
In view of the fact that our navy has set foot in this field for the first time, it is not easy to reach this technical level. With the navy's continuous accumulation of electromagnetic catapult's manufacturing and using experience on the 003, it is natural for domestic aircraft carriers to carry four electromagnetic catapult in the future.
As the pioneering work of China Navy in the field of large deck ejection aircraft carrier, the transition significance of Type 003 aircraft carrier is very clear, but its combat effectiveness has also achieved a great leap, and its service life has reached several decades.
The naval core equipment of this level and performance is destined not to build only 1 ship like the 002 aircraft carrier. It is expected that two or more 003 aircraft carriers will form an offshore formation and accumulate experience in practice, paving the way for the final shape of domestic large-tonnage nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the future. This is the development path of aircraft carriers planned by the Navy. After the launch of the first 003, the combination of three aircraft carriers of China Navy is exciting, but the scene of more and more powerful domestic aircraft carriers galloping in the blue ocean in the future is even more exciting.