03 has been launched. Surprisingly, there may not be much follow-up outfitting, or even the outfitting has been basically completed. The Navy generally does not grant ship names and hull numbers to warships that are still being outfitted. Jiangnan's giant-section shipbuilding model is very powerful. It is not a dream to build dumplings on aircraft carriers. Now that 003 has been launched, is 004 on the way?
04 is definitely on the road, but it depends on which part of the road it is on, and it is also on the road on paper.
In the past, when building a ship, the keel was laid first, then the hull was built, and finally the bridge was built. This construction method is called tower construction. Segmented construction is modular construction, which is a step further than tower construction, but the modules are still relatively trivial. After the general section construction, a giant ship can only be divided into a limited number of sections. For example, the British "Queen Elizabeth" was the first to adopt the general section construction method and was divided into six sections. The largest total section weighed 11,300 tons, which was comparable to the total section. Than a 055. Each general section is constructed in different shipyards. They are both exposed to rain and dew and constructed simultaneously. Taking advantage of the advantages of each shipyard, it can also speed up the progress and reduce the cost.
China now also adopts the total segment construction method. China is still in the best position to adopt the general section construction method. Jiangnan's largest gantry crane "Honghai" has a lifting capacity of 22,000 tons. Jiangnan's "Jiangnan Changxing 8" can transport a single general section of 32,000 tons as a whole, which is convenient for various general sections. The sections are dispersed in multiple shipyards and carried out simultaneously, and then transported to Jiangnan for final assembly, which saves half the time compared with traditional tower construction. After the construction of the
general section, there is no longer a keel. The structure equivalent to the keel is the steel beam on the bottom of the ship, which is not integral but welded. In fact, the keels of traditional construction methods also need to be welded, but the construction of the overall section requires very high construction quality and precision of the modules, otherwise they will not be able to be connected. The advantage is not only that the construction speed and efficiency are greatly improved, but also that after the docking of the general section is completed, there is basically no subsequent outfitting. The "Fujian" is like this.
The "Shandong" was built in sections, but the sections were much smaller than the total section in Jiangnan, and there was still the workload of subsequent outfitting, so it took a year from launching to being awarded the ship's name and hull number. This is already a shocking speed in the West, but in China it is a bit unsightly.
It is said that the construction of 003 started in 2017, and it was launched and entered service five years ago. In contrast, the "Ford" was launched in 2024, but entered service after 4 years. The "Fujian" was the first Chinese independent design that was completely separated from Soviet influence and without any foreign technology input. It was built in such a short period of time, which cannot but be said to be extremely fast.. If it hadn't been for more than two years of epidemic, we could have launched the ship and entered service earlier, maybe it could have been shortened by at least one year.
In other words, if we work hard and build a second ship according to the 003 drawings from now on, it will be launched and put into service in no more than 4 years. In fact, China is known to have two shipyards in Dalian and Jiangnan that can build aircraft carriers. If necessary, Hudong and Huangpu may also have sufficient capabilities. If you really want to make dumplings, it will not be difficult to gather 7 or 8 aircraft carriers by 2030. But is it really time to make dumplings?
Building an aircraft carrier is very expensive, and the formation of an aircraft carrier army also requires a large number of talent reserves. The bigger problem is: 03 has too many technological breakthroughs, and China needs time to digest it before it can clarify the direction of 004.
03 has a fully flat deck and electric bombs and electric barriers. Its operation method is very different from "Liaoning" and "Shandong". It takes time to fully master sea catapult takeoff and electromagnetic arresting cable landing; the completely flat front deck is suitable for large-scale shutdowns during recovery, and deck scheduling also needs to be reorganized. Many things that are familiar in theory, digital simulation, and land model exercises may not work as expected at sea. It takes time to use the new experiences constantly explored in the design of 004.
China has always called the "Liaoning" a scientific research and training ship. This is not only pretending to be low-key, but also many truths.What is the dispatch rate of ski jump take-off in the real sea? What is the maritime reliability of arresting cable and the loss rate of ? Is the replacement fast and convenient? How to ensure that deck scheduling is both fast and safe? How to manage refueling and bombing operations? Shunhe ensures safety in peacetime and wartime, how to carry out aircraft maintenance on the ship, what spare parts need to be prepared, how to ensure the life of thousands of sailors on the ship, whether the two elevators on the right side are enough in practice, and more There are many questions that cannot be fully answered by theoretical research. The practice of the "Liaoning" accumulated valuable experience for the "Shandong", allowing the "Shandong" to quickly form combat effectiveness, and also provided valuable guidance for the newly designed "Fujian".
Now it is the turn of the "Fujian" number. The No. 1 take-off point coincides with the right forward elevator, and the No. 2 take-off point slightly intrudes into the inclined deck of the ship. It may be that the length requirement of the electric bomb was underestimated during the design, or it was found in subsequent tests that the length of the electric bomb must be extended to meet the design requirements. , but the hull and power design have been frozen. Under ideal circumstances, the tonnage should be appropriately increased and the length of the front deck should be extended, but this can only be left to regret on the "Fujian". In the first few years of operation of
, there is still a lot of new experience to accumulate, and there are a lot of new equipment that may cause surprises in use, or various situations that were not expected during the design and need to be corrected. After a complete design update is completed, the construction time is not a big problem. The important thing is not to have rework like F-35. I think "everything is under control", only to find a lot of things that go against my wishes after flying. , requiring a lot of rework.
This means that the next aircraft carrier is really 004. Not only is it a new ship, it will also be significantly different from 003 in design and details. In order to ensure a certain degree of technical coherence, 004 may be the same as 003 compared to 002 compared to 001. Most of the details will be updated, rather than the whole thing being completely remade. But there are too many details that require the design to be frozen, which also determines that 004 will not start work immediately. For comparison, the "Liaoning" was refitted in 2011 and entered service in 2012. However, the "Shandong" had to be postponed until 2015, launched in 2017, and entered service in 2018. Obviously, when to build is not the issue, the question is what to build. This can only be determined with sufficient experience.
The changes from "Shandong" to "Liaoning" are relatively small, and the changes from 004 to "Fujian" may be slightly larger. After all, new technologies and new usage patterns require a lot of running-in. It is very optimistic that 004 can start construction in 2025. The Chinese Navy may actually only have four aircraft carriers available before 2030. This will have a major impact on the future of the "Liaoning" and "Shandong".
The service life of an aircraft carrier is at least 40 years. The "Liaoning" had a miserable "first half of life" before arriving in China, but during the refit in Dalian, it was basically completely renovated and rebuilt, and it can be treated as a new ship. The "Shandong" is of course newly built. These are national treasures that embody the expectations and wealth of the Chinese people. They all have a service life of at least 30-35 years. Any downgrading of the "Liaoning" and "Shandong", or even sending them to friendly countries, is unacceptable. responsible.
It is not appropriate to take a back seat and serve as a mere training aircraft carrier. Ski jump takeoff is completely different from catapult takeoff. Pilots trained in ski jump have to train again when it comes to catapult takeoff.
is also inappropriate as a drone mothership. There are various types of UAVs, but the UAVs that the Navy needs most are ultra-long-endurance ones that can perform wide-area surveillance over vast oceans. However, this requires a large-wingspan aircraft that is difficult to operate on an aircraft carrier.
The "Liaoning" and the "Shandong" are both designed to carry heavy carrier-based fighter jets. What they lack is the ability to take off with a full load and carry fixed-wing early warning aircraft. After making up for these two shortcomings, they are still very combat effective. , living up to the mission of the main battleship. The biggest shortcoming of Liaoning and Shandong is that they cannot carry fixed-wing early warning aircraft.Someone asked: "Can you drive it out to scare Japan, South Korea and Australia?" Japan has E-767 and E-2C (E-2D is being delivered), South Korea and Australia have E-7, and Liaoning and Shandong have Z-8 early warning aircraft. The cruising altitude (equal to the detection distance) and the airborne time are all different. It's far away, who is scaring whom?
The "Liaoning" and even the "Shandong" will eventually become a museum to commemorate the rise of the Chinese navy, but that will be 30-35 years later.
The "Liaoning" and "Shandong" need mid-term overhaul and upgrade. This is a good time to install electric bombs, which can make a leap forward in the capabilities of the "Liaoning" and "Shandong" and also in use. Unified with the "Fujian", the operations of ski jump and ejection are still very different.
The conversion of the "Liaoning" and the "Shandong" is completely different from the conversion of the "Gorshkov" into the "Vikramatiya", and is a completely different situation from the conversion of the "Varyag" into the "Liaoning" "It's a completely different situation to tear down and rebuild again." It is also different from the "modern" class modification and upgrade, where the difficulty mainly lies in the comprehensive transformation of the combat system. This is a major operation involving the entire ship's muscles, almost "brain replacement".
Apart from modifying the front deck and adding electric bombs, the "Liaoning" and the "Shandong" operate in the same manner in other aspects. No changes are required. As long as they are considered in advance, the existing combat systems basically meet the needs. At most, they are only partial upgrades. . The modification of the "Liaoning" and "Shandong" does not require a long time and a large investment, and can quickly form combat effectiveness.
Compare the USS "Midway", which was in service at the end of World War II. In 1955, it was docked and overhauled, with a closed bow, a sloping deck, steam bombs, and a starboard side elevator. It was 2 years old. Later he was undocking and returned to active duty. In 1966, the "Midway" underwent its second major overhaul. The deck area increased by 42%. The side elevators were increased from 2 to 3 and were enlarged and transposed. The steam bombs and arresting cables were all replaced with new ones. Four years later Undocking and returning to active duty. These are much larger modifications than the "Liaoning" and "Shandong". If only electric bombs are installed, it is estimated that it can be completed in 1-2 years.
The existing ski jump deck can be retained on the front deck. In this way, the output of the electric bomb does not need to be very large. The ski jump deck can be used to increase the lift when the aircraft leaves the ship. The advantage is that the modification workload is minimal, but the disadvantage is that the front deck cannot be used. The deck is used as an additional parking area; it can be changed to fully flat, which requires some structural modifications, but it is easier to change from ski jump to fully flat than from flat to ski jump. The problem is that the length is not enough, and it is difficult to take advantage of the full load takeoff of the heavy fighter . Only It only makes sense after China launches a new medium-sized carrier-based fighter; another way is to compromise, like the " Queen Elizabeth " class, the front deck is split left and right, the left half retains the ski jump deck, and the right half is completely flat for additional Parking space.
If a split front deck is used, only one electric bomb is enough, installed on the ski jump deck. In theory, an electric bomb can also be installed on the inclined deck, but the raised ski jump deck is just to the right of the front end of the inclined deck leaving the ship, and the lateral clearance with the aircraft taking off from the inclined deck is too small, affecting the safety of takeoff. However, instead of ejecting directly forward, it ejects along the direction of the inclined deck, and the take-off route is staggered from the bow of the ship. It is still possible, but it will lose a little bit in borrowing the deck wind, and it will intrude a little more on the rear deck, occupying the dispatching area. Considering there are still reliability concerns with only one electric bomb, this may be a necessary sacrifice.
This will lengthen the modification time a little, but it should not exceed 2-3 years.
More importantly, the "Fujian" and the "Liaoning" or "Shandong" modified with electric bombs can test electric bombs together, which can greatly speed up the accumulation of experience, and retaining the ski jump deck will also make it possible for the electric bombs to go wrong. It is still possible to fly lightly loaded aircraft without completely losing the ability to fly.
Has China considered it in advance? This is of course confidential. But when the "Liaoning" was refitted, China was already developing electric bombs; when the "Shandong" was built, China's research and development of electric bombs had already progressed to a considerable extent.When the "Liaoning" was refitted and the "Shandong" was built, it was entirely possible to reserve space, including pre-considering power.
There is no need to stick to one step when installing electric bombs. The blocking cable can retain the existing mechanical deceleration, reduce the workload and investment of modification, or leave it for further installation in the future. The electromagnetic arresting cable is the icing on the cake for the "Liaoning" and "Shandong", and the electric bomb is a timely help.
From this point of view, it is of great benefit to choose one of the "Liaoning" or "Shandong" for modification early. The construction gap between 003 and 004 can be used, and it will also help to speed up the improvement of the electric bomb and promote the development of 004. Come early.
