China's New Aircraft Carrier Goes to Sea(trials)
Added 2024-05-18 15:25:25 +0000 UTCThe Type003 Fujian completed 8 days of sea trials on May 8th.
A major limitation of this platform is its conventional powertrain pushing 80K tons around. It burns an enormous amount of fuel every hour severely limiting it's endurance.
The Fujian features a “catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery” (CATOBAR) launch system that will enable it to launch heavier and larger fixed-wing aircraft. China’s first two aircraft carriers rely on less advanced ski jump-style “short take-off, barrier-arrested recovery” (STOBAR) systems.
The Fujian’s catapults are powered by an electromagnetic system similar to that of the U.S. Navy’s Gerald R. Ford-class carriers. This represents a leapfrogging past more conventional steam-powered catapults.
The Fujian is larger than its predecessors, which will enable it to support a more robust airwing. It displaces roughly 80,000 tonnes, compared to the Liaoning’s 60,000 tonnes and the Shandong’s 66,000. The Fujian is also considerably larger than France’s Charles de Gaulle carrier (42,000 tonnes) and the United Kingdom’s HMS Queen Elizabeth (65,000 tonnes), but smaller than the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class carrier (100,000 tonnes).
While the Fujian will be more advanced than its Chinese predecessors, it will still be conventionally powered rather than nuclear-powered. Meanwhile, all U.S. carriers and France’s Charles de Gaulle are nuclear-powered.
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Comments
China! 😂😂
Matt Hauck
2024-07-18 03:25:28 +0000 UTCChina is building like crazy. How’s that gonna work out when they have to maintain and modernize all this new kit 15 years down the road? Yeah, China is building an impressive navy, but numbers a d weapons loadouts only a part of the picture. Navies and naval power are vastly more complex and I think the U.S. holds the advantage here. Certainly it’s slipped since the Cold War peak, but we are moving in the right direction and improving as well.
Scott Cunningham
2024-05-22 07:56:19 +0000 UTCChina is a superpower so it is not surprising that their first large carrier is in the water. That said, they are just starting out. Only when there are three carriers in service can they be blue-water operational 24/7. And when they have four 003s, they'll be able to have heavier payloads on their fighters, with tankers and AEW as well. And potentially have two carrier groups out there.
Phoa Yew Hui
2024-05-20 00:51:20 +0000 UTC
