China's carrier evolution (Artwork courtesy Feng Qingyin via an interesting article
at China's Global Times)
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China is launching ever more capable aircraft carriers at a pace every 6 years.
This is usually only seen prior to and during major wars. Types and years include:
Type 001 Liaoning (and see) was re-launched around 2010.
Type 002 Shandong was launched in 2017.
Type 003 Fujian was launched June 17, 2022,
and
Type 004 ("Hainan"?) nuclear powered carrier, maybe by 2028 .
Fujian is China’s first Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) technology carrier.
What’s more Fujian is to use the advanced Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapult and recovery system. EMALS, first used on USS Ford, initially caused trouble on USS Ford. China may have parallel developed EMALS for Fujian in combination with intelligence collection from the US EMALS program.
Early estimates were that Fujian’s maximum displacement was around 80,000 tonnes. But later estimates are up to 100,000 tonnes like USS Ford.
Fujian's large flight deck and catapult system permit a wider choice of carrier aircraft than the 001's and 002's “ski-jumps” which "roll off" Flanker style J-15s.
Catapults permit launch of:
- Chinese propeller driven KJ-600 AEW&C.
The KJ-600 airframe may also serve as a basis for:
- an anti-submarine warfare aircraft,
- carrier jet refueling aircraft, and
- shore-ship delivery aircraft.
In the future Type 003 carriers could launch:
- mid-size stealth FC-31 carrier variants. Wiki reports on October 29, 2021, a modified FC-31 dubbed J-35, made its maiden flight.[37] and see [38]
- large stealth aircraft J-20. Wiki reports: "The J-20 would likely be commissioned upon the Type 003 aircraft carrier under construction, however, the length of the J-20 means that [the J-20] has to be shortened to be considered operable on an aircraft carrier.[137]"
TASKING
Potential tasks of Chinese Type 003 carriers are many, including:
- Chinese SSBN bastion extension out from the first island chain. That chain has been an obstacle to these SSBN's safe freedom of movement into the broader Pacific Ocean.
- operating east of Taiwan - working with surface escorts and submarines to blockade Taiwan and perhaps useful for Taiwan's eventual invasion.
- power projection with escort surface ships and SSNs in the South China Sea and broader Indo-Pacific, and
- showing the flag boosting the "Prestige of Xi Jinping and China" in the Indo-Pacific (especially island nations from the Solomons to Sri Lanka). Then there could be longer voyages into the Atlantic visiting Latin American (eg. Cuba, Venezuela), European and Russian ports.
Following Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet (1907-1909) we now have Xi's
Great Red Fleet centered around carriers.
Check out the stirring video below from the good Volk at Global Times about how China was inspired by the USN. Besides the US China is the only other nation with true Super Carriers.