The Shandong ship entered the Dalian Shipyard for 4S shop maintenance around March 20. It has been three months since then. During this period, the Shandong ship has mainly carried out cleaning of the bottom of the ship, replacement of deck coatings, arresting cables, equipment m

html Two open source commercial satellite images on June 26 and June 29 show that the Shandong ship has been moved from the dry dock to the renovation berth outside, and is currently undergoing the final painting and painting of the hull number , which is expected to be completed in July You can go to sea again at the beginning of the month. The Shandong ship entered the Dalian Shipyard for maintenance at the 4S shop around March 20. It has been three months. During this period, the Shandong ship mainly cleaned the bottom of the ship, replaced the deck coating, arresting cables, and equipment. Maintenance and other work, but the main weapon system of this new ship, which was just commissioned on December 17, 2019, cannot be replaced. We should not think too much about this.

Shandong ship is my country's first nationally produced aircraft carrier. Although all its materials and weapon systems are produced by ourselves, the overall design is still the aircraft carrier of the Soviet Type 1143.5 Varyag. We have improved the effective utilization of the deck by dismantling the missile launcher on the deck and reducing the size of the ship island. The number of carrier-based aircraft equipped with has also increased to about 48. In other respects, we have also replaced the Shandong ship with brand-new domestic electronic equipment, which has raised the level of automation and informatization to an unprecedented level. We can clearly see this by comparing the cockpits of the Nimitz class and the Shandong ship.

Of course, the shortcomings of the Shandong ship are also obvious. First of all, the 60,000-ton displacement and the sliding deck design greatly limit the number of its carrier-based aircraft, which cannot even be compared with the 40,000-ton French Charles de Gaulle. Secondly, the quality of carrier-based aircraft also needs to be improved. In addition to the lack of carrier-based fixed-wing early warning aircraft, although the J-15 is a third-generation heavy-duty carrier-based aircraft, there is a gap between the stealth avionics and the third-and-a-half-generation Rafale and the fourth-generation F35. Ejection take-off also limits its sortie efficiency.

html The Fujian ship launched on June 17 has made up for most of the shortcomings of the Shandong ship. The displacement has been increased to more than 80,000 tons. It uses a medium-voltage DC catapult that is more advanced and reliable than the Ford-class . In the future, it will also be equipped with a new The J-35 stealth carrier-based aircraft, J-15T ejection type, Air Police 600 carrier-based early warning aircraft and other types of UAVs, without considering the nuclear power endurance, the overall performance will not exceed the Ford class, at least it will not lose to it. Nimitz class.

After the Fujian ship is launched, we will definitely continue to build aircraft carriers, because judging from our current national security needs and trade lines around the world, at least 5 aircraft carriers are barely enough. Four of them are deployed around the country to deal with possible military threats, and the other one regularly cruises overseas to protect our trade routes, and this is the minimum requirement without considering rotation and overhaul. If nothing unexpected happens, our next aircraft carrier should still adopt the strategy of small steps and fast running, focusing on safety and reliability, optimizing and improving the Fujian ship, and not using too many new technologies. When it comes to the fifth domestic aircraft carrier , it may truly adopt a small ship-based nuclear power plant to make up for the final shortcoming of endurance and truly achieve a comprehensive overtake of American aircraft carriers.

Judging from the overall performance of the Shandong ship, almost all of its performances are inferior to the Fujian ship, but looking at the world, how many aircraft carriers are stronger than the Shandong ship? Before our Fujian ship officially entered service, the Shandong ship was still the strongest in the country, so its significance is still important. Japan is currently undergoing the aircraft carrier modification of two Izumo-class amphibious ships. In the future, it will be equipped with F35B to officially complete the upgrade of combat effectiveness. The Ford-class of the United States is now planned to be deployed in the Asia-Pacific direction as a priority. All this reminds us that we must tap the current situation. There are performance limits for warships, and you must not think that you cannot defeat the enemy just because the performance lags behind.

It is true that the overall aircraft carrier strength of the United States now greatly exceeds ours, but everyone should not forget that the United States has made many enemies around the world. A total of 11 aircraft carriers must be deployed in at least three directions: Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, and nuclear weapons Powered aircraft carriers have strict maintenance and overhaul deadlines. The United States can only deploy 7 to 8 aircraft carriers at most at the same time, and the only number that can be deployed to China's periphery is 3. These three ships do have an advantage on paper parameters against our Liaoning and Shandong ships that have already formed combat effectiveness, but what the Chinese are best at is Tianji horse racing. It is impossible for us to use the existing disadvantaged aircraft carriers to compete with the Nimitz class Ford class Fight consumption head-on.

In addition to aircraft carriers, we have land-based aviation led by J-20 and J-16, as well as various aircraft carrier killers such as Dongfeng 21D and Dongfeng 26. At present, 055 can also launch the world's top YJ-21 ship pair. ship hypersonic missile , these can pose a real threat to the US military aircraft carrier battle group close to the first and second island chains. Therefore, the main combat goal of the Shandong ship in the future is likely not to be the US aircraft carrier battle group, but to block the coastline in specific areas and seize air superiority near Taiwan Island. This will not put much pressure on the Shandong ship.

Of course, in the future, as all-through-deck electromagnetic catapult aircraft carriers similar to the Fujian ship gradually enter service, the importance of the Shandong ship will gradually decrease, and it is not even ruled out that it can be upgraded to leveling or replacing carrier-based aircraft, but this is at least a step. Twenty years later. If the Shandong ship is decommissioned in the future, we can renovate it and sell it to the outside world, so that it can continue to have a second life. All this is a story later. There is no doubt that the current Shandong ship is still the main force among the main forces. Friends who are military fans must not be a big pig's hooves.