"Military Sub-Plane" Author: Lu Zhi
In the past June, Japan's Izumo aircraft carrier carried F35B to participate in joint exercises, and in the future it will mainly target the Asia-Pacific region. As early as October last year, Izumo conducted F35B takeoff and landing tests, and the results were good. This news has made many people pay attention to the development of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and worry that this ship will threaten our security. Considering that Japan simply has a relatively powerful aircraft carrier, how meaningful is it to use the vertical take-off and landing fighter on the amphibious assault ship ? Our country also has a similar 075 amphibious assault ship, and there are even rumors that our country will build an improved version of the 076 amphibious assault ship. Is it necessary for our country to use this method to take off the carrier-based aircraft ?
▲Picture source: Internet
Using amphibious assault ships to take off and vertical takeoff and landing carrier-based aircraft is not a new thing. After the British developed the Harrier fighter attack aircraft, the British military conveniently put this fighter on its own The light aircraft carrier became a Sea Harrier fighter jet and performed well in the Anglo-Malaysian Island War. After realizing the advantages of vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, the United States also introduced Sea Harrier fighter jets, named AV8 series, which are mainly equipped on its own amphibious assault ships. However, the United States uses vertical take-off and landing carrier-based aircraft mainly to attack the Marine Corps, which is an independent military service. Of course, the United States has also considered using amphibious assault ships to carry vertical take-off and landing fighter jets to become so-called naval ships. However, this is only an idea in a special historical period. After all, the United States has more than 10 super aircraft carriers. The amphibious ship is equipped with a vertical take-off and landing fighter aircraft, which has a somewhat emergency feel.
▲The concept of sea control ships used by the United States. Image source: Internet
India, Spain and Thailand, including the United Kingdom, are actually restricted by fighter jets themselves, so they can only use vertical take-off and landing fighter jets and small-tonnage aircraft carriers. In the past, this type of aircraft carrier was quite combat effective, but from today's perspective, its tonnage is not even as good as our country's 055 destroyer, so there is no talk of combat effectiveness. Coupled with the addition of the Harrier fighter , the enthusiasm of countries around the world for developing vertical takeoff and landing fighters has been greatly reduced. This type of aircraft carrier does not have suitable carrier-based aircraft.
▲Picture source: Internet
The real change comes from the F35 project, which is the F35B type. When the F35B actually came out, the aircraft carrier began to develop in these directions. For the United States, the F35B directly replaces the previous AV8B attack aircraft, which can conduct both air combat and ground attack missions. The Marine Corps finally has an advanced fighter jet above the mainstream level. The United Kingdom is more interesting. It has nominally built an aircraft carrier that they consider to be the second-largest in the world, but it uses the very rare short-distance takeoff and vertical landing method of a ski jump, which weakens the F35B's combat capability to a certain extent. . But then again, not using F35C is a compromise in itself, so this can be regarded as the only choice.
Spain, Italy and Turkey are different. The so-called aircraft carrier they chose is generally called a strategic delivery ship. In essence, it is a multi-purpose amphibious assault ship that can carry carrier-based aircraft and has Hangars and garages can transport armored units and have quite good troop deployment capabilities. The most suitable carrier-based aircraft for this type of aircraft carrier is naturally the F35B, which can easily compete with air force fighters from other countries.
▲The so-called multi-purpose aircraft carrier is a choice for small countries to reduce costs and difficulties. Image source: Internet
It can be seen that Europeans emphasize multi-purpose capabilities. After all, they hope that one warship and one aircraft can complete multiple tasks. But Japan is different. Japan is obviously acquiring aircraft carriers in a curve. Although the approaches of these countries appear to be very similar on the surface, their ultimate goals are different.The Japanese knew the advantages of aircraft carriers in World War II , so they wanted to bypass the rules and regulations to obtain an aircraft carrier. Using a flat-deck amphibious assault ship to carry the F35B is the most direct, simple and effective way, and the Izumo is also called a multi-purpose Destroyers are similar to Soviet aircraft-carrying cruisers. Although there are many articles on the Internet that analyze the deck strength of this type of warship is not enough to carry the F35B, in the final analysis this is just a problem of materials and design, and the difficulty of solving it is not great. No matter how difficult it is, it is still difficult for Japan to independently develop an F35B-level fighter , or even a true stealth carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, Japan has acquired an aircraft carrier in a way that is not difficult, and it is equipped with the advanced F35B type. This is of great significance to improving the strength of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
▲Picture source: Internet
Speaking of this, everyone can naturally see that our country obviously does not need to do this, because the premise for these countries to do this is that the United States has developed ready-made F35B for them, and this kind of aircraft is No. If we trace the origin, the United States developed the F35B not mainly because of these few countries, but because its own Marine Corps must have an advanced vertical take-off and landing fighter. From the Liaoning ship to the emergency Shandong ship, to the large-scale development of the No. 003 aircraft carrier and the future target ship, we can see that our country's aircraft carrier development direction is following and intending to surpass the United States. The carrier-based aircraft it carries is an advanced and powerful J-35 fighter jet. It is not comparable to exotic aircraft like the F35B. The only advantage is its heavy structure.
▲You can’t ignore it, but you can’t take it too seriously either. Image source: Internet
If our country wants to specially develop a vertical take-off and landing carrier-based aircraft for amphibious assault ships, it is not impossible. The main problem is that the Marine Corps is a service with very obvious attack attributes. Once a vertical take-off and landing carrier-based aircraft is Equipped with the 075 amphibious assault ship, this means that our country's Marine Corps will become a powerful role similar to the US Marine Corps , which is still unrealistic in the short term. 075 As long as a large number of helicopters are used to form a formation with the carrier-based aircraft of the new aircraft carrier, the combat strength is far superior to the small and medium-tonnage amphibious assault ships plus F35B fighter used by these countries.
As for Japan’s use of F35B to take off from the deck, it is a Pandora’s box opening. This is not the case at all. As mentioned before, the core of what these countries can do is the American F35B fighter jet, and the United States itself wants to use it. It is the F35C and future sixth-generation aircraft. After all, pseudo-aircraft carriers cannot be compared with real aircraft carriers. Fighters and warships that were originally relatively useless will not become an epoch-making weapon because of the Japanese approach. Our country is clarifying the direction of its aircraft carrier development, while these countries are still playing around with curves. Their core thinking and competitiveness are far different.
▲Picture source: Internet
