Indian military experts said that the Fujian was launched with the goal of coastal defense and long-sea escort. The gap with the Indian Navy’s decades of experience in aircraft carrier operations is narrowing.
On July 5, an Indian military newspaper and magazine published an article about our aircraft carrier Fujian. The article quoted a retired Indian rear admiral, saying that China's aircraft carrier construction technology has made significant progress, but China is far from mastering the complex aircraft carrier combat experience that the U.S., British and Indian navies have spent decades acquiring. China's use of aircraft carriers Experience and technology are still decades behind India.
The retired Indian navy rear admiral believes that there are many departments on an aircraft carrier, including carrier-based aircraft, hangar maintenance, weapon systems, meteorology, logistics, dispatching and medical rescue. These departments need to work together to allow different departments to work together. The aircraft conducts various drills and operations on the deck. China currently lacks these experiences the most. He believes that China is far from having experience in using aircraft carriers with India and Western navies.
The article also reported extensively on the doubts about the Fujian's electromagnetic ejection technology and the problems that need to be overcome.
Indian military experts expressed in the article that the electromagnetic ejection technology of the Fujian was fraudulent, saying that the electromagnetic ejection of the Fujian was unreliable. He also said that even the United States has not yet fully understood electromagnetic catapult technology. The article also lists several technical problems that the United States has not overcome, such as:
1. How does the conventional power system balance the weight and power required by the electromagnetic catapult . Because the electromagnetic catapult requires an independent power generation system and energy storage capacitor device! The entire unit alone weighs more than four tons. Does China currently have such advanced technology?
2, supporting accessory system for energy reserve. This system includes the control tower of the power generation system and the energy storage exciter power supply.
3. When the electromagnetic catapult ejects the carrier-based aircraft from , it takes three seconds to reach a peak of 60 megawatts! (What is the concept of 60 megawatts? Let’s put it this way! It can supply approximately 12,000 households with electricity.) Can the conventional power of the Fujian provide sufficient power for the electromagnetic catapult?
Fourth, when the electromagnetic catapult of the USS Ford aircraft carrier ejects the F-18/E/F carrier-based aircraft, the output ejection thrust is often unbalanced. How to eliminate vibration is a big problem! Indian military experts said that there is no way to solve the problem of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The Fujian is conventionally powered, so the problem of unbalanced ejection thrust cannot be solved.
From the above four questions raised by Indian military experts, it can be seen that India still has considerable research on electromagnetic ejection technology. It’s not just talking nonsense!
What is the difference between the electromagnetic ejection technology of the Ford aircraft carrier and the electromagnetic ejection technology of the Fujian aircraft carrier?
Let’s first look at the electromagnetic ejection technology of Ford . The electromagnetic ejection technology of the Ford aircraft carrier uses medium-voltage AC technology. However, due to defects at the beginning of the design (the power system uses medium-voltage AC technology), troubleshooting more difficult. The imbalance of ejection thrust caused all electromagnetic catapults to be unable to work normally for a period of time. Trump once requested that the electromagnetic ejection of the USS Ford aircraft carrier be replaced by steam ejection. Although the Ford has been launched for six or seven years, there have been problems with its electromagnetic catapult and arresting device. Although it is always improving. But so far it has not achieved the desired results. This directly led to the fact that the Ford was not officially in service for seven years after it was launched!
Let’s take a look at the electromagnetic catapult technology of the Fujian aircraft carrier. The electromagnetic catapult of the Fujian aircraft carrier adopts the medium-voltage DC integrated power system developed by Academician Ma Weiming. Compared with the medium-voltage AC technology used in the electromagnetic catapult of the USS Ford aircraft carrier, it is one generation ahead of the USS Ford. The electromagnetic catapult of the USS Fujian aircraft carrier is ahead of the USS Ford in terms of energy storage, working stability, energy conversion rate and thrust curve optimization. Aircraft carrier's electromagnetic catapult. And more than 10,000 tests have been conducted, which has proven that the electromagnetic catapult of the Fujian aircraft carrier is very stable. These are things that Indian military experts cannot imagine.
What is electromagnetic ejection? How is it different from steam ejection?
Electromagnetic ejection uses the electromagnetic thrust generated by the principle of electromagnetic action to accelerate objects. Since the electromagnetic driving force is proportional to the square of the current, as long as sufficient current input is ensured, sufficient thrust can be generated in the launcher to enable the object to reach a higher speed.
Illustration of the principle of electromagnetic ejection technology
Compared with steam ejection, electromagnetic ejection has obvious advantages: weight reduction and space saving; the entire steam ejection system requires about 1,200 cubic meters of space, while electromagnetic ejection only requires 600 cubic meters of space. The energy usage efficiency has been increased by ten times. The heat conversion efficiency of steam ejection is about 6%, and the conversion efficiency of electromagnetic ejection is about 60%. In other words, when electromagnetic catapult ejects carrier-based aircraft, the number of carrier-based aircraft ejected in the same period of time is ten times that of steam ejection. . At present, the steam catapult requires about 614kg of steam for each ejection. The system is complex and huge. The electromagnetic ejection system can save at least half the weight and space. Second, the electromagnetic catapult has high ejection efficiency. The maximum number of steam catapult sorties in a single day is less than 200.
Why is the electromagnetic catapult of the USS Ford aircraft carrier always unstable? What is the difference between the medium-voltage AC technology used by it and the medium-voltage DC technology used by the Fujian aircraft carrier?
The electromagnetic catapult and electromagnetic arresting system installed on the USS Ford aircraft carrier have huge technical obstacles that are fundamentally difficult to overcome. This is the technology of medium voltage alternating current that has been adopted from the beginning. It turns out that this is basically unsolvable.
To put it simply, medium-voltage AC technology is the first generation of integrated power system. The advantage is that the technology is relatively mature, voltage boosting and voltage reduction are relatively simple, and easy to operate. The disadvantages of
are that the equipment is large in size and weight, the system efficiency is low, and the power supply stability and continuity are low! Causes insufficient or unstable electromagnetic ejection thrust. However, the current medium-pressure AC ejection technology is more troublesome than the lack of ejection thrust. It cannot change the ejection weight midway. In other words, if carrier-based aircraft are to be catapulted, all carrier-based aircraft must have the same take-off weight, no difference of one ton, and the maximum cannot exceed 25 tons.
The electromagnetic catapult of the Fujian aircraft carrier uses medium-voltage DC technology. It is already a second-generation integrated power system, breaking through the system frequency limit. The advantage is that it reduces the requirements for the speed regulation characteristics of the prime mover and greatly reduces the The size and weight of the equipment greatly improve the system efficiency and power supply continuity. The disadvantage is that voltage boosting and voltage reduction are more troublesome. Technology development is not yet mature. However, medium-voltage DC is the development trend of power technology, and we are also the first country in the world to build and implement a medium-voltage DC integrated power system.
The doubts of Indian military experts are reasonable, because in their view, the Ford is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and often has problems with electromagnetic ejection. How can the Fujian, as a conventionally powered aircraft carrier, have enough energy reserves to use electromagnetic ejection? .
The U.S. Navy, despite having 100 years of experience in aircraft carrier operations, is still struggling with new technology on the Ford aircraft carrier; India has also been using aircraft carriers since 1961 and may be said to have rich experience. However, China did not put its first aircraft carrier into service until 2012. Now it has surpassed them in using the world's leading and mature electromagnetic catapult technology on conventional power!
The views of Indian military experts prove that China and India have truly formed a comprehensive generation gap in military technology. Indian military experts are no longer able to understand China's military industry and most advanced equipment, both theoretically and engineeringly.
