Recently, two H-6J bombers of the Chinese Navy Air Force and one H-6K bomber of the Chinese Air Force, carrying the "YJ-12" supersonic anti-ship missile and electronic warfare pod, passed through the first Island chain, the news of entering the western Pacific waters to carry out ocean training has attracted the attention of some people. In fact, with the rapid improvement of the overall strength of the Chinese Air Force in recent years, most air patrol operations over the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and South China Sea are basically led by the Air Force, while the Naval Air Force has some Notorious anymore.
bomb -6J
Of course, from a strength perspective, the current power gap between the Chinese Air Force and the Chinese Navy's shore-based aviation is also growing. Careful readers should have noticed that when talking about the three fighter jets, J-20, J-16 and J-10C, we usually refer to the "Three Musketeers of the Chinese Air Force." In fact, at present, the naval shore-based aviation force is not equipped with any of the three main advanced fighter jets of China.
The "Three Musketeers" of the Chinese Air Force
The Chinese Navy's shore-based aviation force is currently mainly equipped with three fourth-generation aircraft, namely 24 Su-30MK2 fighter jets, more than 20 J-10A (later renamed J-10AH) and more than 70 aircraft J-11B/BS (later renamed J-10BH/BSH), the total number of fourth-generation aircraft on hand for the naval shore-based aviation arm is less than 130. Among them, the 24 Su-30MK2 fighter jets imported from Russia were delivered starting in 2005. In the past 17 years, there have only been 24 "first-hand fourth-generation aircraft." More than 20 J-10AH and more than 70 J-11BH/BSH fighters were second-hand goods received from the Air Force after 2012.
J-11BH and J-11BSH
Judging from the potential opponents faced by the naval shore-based aviation force, the Taiwan Air Force has gradually begun to focus on F-16V Block20 and F-16V Block70 fighter jets. The South Korean Air Force has F-35A stealth fighter jets, F-15K heavy fighter jets and KF-16 fighter jets . The Japan Self-Defense Force has F-15J/DJ heavy fighter jets, F-35A stealth fighter jets, F-2 fighter jets , and will also be equipped with F-35B fighter jets in the future. The US military stationed in Japan has F-15C/D fighter jets, F-16 fighter jet and F-35A/B fighter jets, while the US Navy, which comes to the Western Pacific from time to time, has "Super Hornet" fighter jets and F-35C stealth carrier-based aircraft. . Even in Southeast Asia, there are many countries equipped with fourth-generation aircraft such as Su-27 and Su-30.
Vietnam's Su-30 fighter jets
Japan's F-15J and F-15DJ
Under this circumstance, the naval shore-based aviation force, which only has more than 130 fourth-generation aircraft on hand, continues to operate in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and other waters. The mission of high-intensity air patrol and expulsion of external aircraft is indeed a bit difficult for the current naval aviation.
The current main air superiority force of the naval shore-based aviation force is undoubtedly the more than 20 J-10AH fighters and the more than 70 J-11BH fighters. Because the nose shape of the J-10A/AH fighter is different from that of the J-10C fighter , the active phased array radar on the J-10C fighter cannot be directly applied, so it has not been upgraded and is still based on the PL-12 medium-range Mainly air-to-air missiles.
The treatment of J-11BH fighter jets is slightly better, judging from previous CCTV reports. Some of the J-11BH fighter jets of the Navy's shore-based aviation force have been upgraded to the J-11BGH level according to the standards of the Air Force's J-11BG fighter jets. If more than 70 J-11BH fighter jets can be upgraded according to this standard, then the naval shore-based aviation force can still play a significant role in air superiority operations.
The upgraded J-11BGH
The current air-based anti-ship combat capability of the naval shore-based aviation force has begun to be weaker than that of the Chinese Air Force. The H-6J, a medium-to-high-altitude anti-ship combat platform, is modified based on the Air Force's H-6K , and is not as numerous as the Air Force's H-6K. The low-altitude and ultra-low-altitude tactical air-based anti-ship combat force consists of 24 Su-30MK2 fighter jets and dozens of JH-7/7A fighter-bombers, with the former being the main force.
24 Su-30MK2s are as difficult to upgrade as the 76 Su-30MKKs of the Air Force. Because they are completely imported from Russia, and there is not enough supporting information, we can overhaul and make these Su-30 fighter jets compatible. Domestic weapons and ammunition are made in China, but if they want to carry out comprehensive technological upgrades, the price they need to pay is a bit high. Although the JH-7/7A fighter-bomber is a domestically produced fighter, it is the foundation of a third-generation aircraft after all, and its upgrade potential is limited.
Of course, although the naval shore-based aviation has not received a large number of new fourth-generation aircraft or even fifth-generation aircraft like the Chinese Air Force, the overall situation of the naval carrier aviation is good, with ski-jump type J-15 and ejection The J-15 and J-35 stealth carrier-based aircraft are actually a force that cannot be ignored in the world's navies.
This is the current status of naval aviation - focusing its main development efforts on ship-based aviation , rather than the traditional shore-based aviation . Then the tasks originally performed by the latter were gradually transferred to the Chinese Air Force.
The Chinese naval aviation force is likely to be a copy of the US Navy's carrier-based aircraft force in the future. The shore-based aviation force will still be retained, but the fighters equipped will mainly be carrier-based aircraft . This will enable fighter jets to be deployed on aircraft carriers and shore-based aircraft. Seamless switching between aviation bases. At the same time, the aircraft carrier's equipment quantity is used as a carrier to continuously expand the scale of the carrier-based aircraft force.
From a mission perspective, the naval aviation will gradually shift its focus to ocean warfare, and its overall independence will be further strengthened compared to now.
picture source network, intrusion and deletion.
