Currently, India is immersed in the joy that its first domestically produced aircraft carrier "Vikrant" is about to enter service. However, the Indian media "Eurasia Times" made an "untimely" sentence: In front of China's Type 003 aircraft carrier, " "Vikrant" aircraft carrier will only be completely crushed!
"INS Vikrant" goes to sea for testing
"INS Vikrant" is India's first domestically produced aircraft carrier, with a self-made rate of more than 70%. Recently, the "Vikrant" has finally completed the fourth phase of sea trials and will be delivered to the Indian Navy at the end of the month. It is expected to be declared into service on India's Independence Day on August 15. In this regard, Indians are very excited, because after the "Vikrant" is put into service, it means that the Indian Navy will have two aircraft carriers, which will greatly enhance the Indian Navy's combat projection capabilities.
But at this moment, the Indian "Eurasia Times" has "no discernment at all" and wants to compare China's recently launched Type 003 aircraft carrier with the "Vikrant" and draw a conclusion : India’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier could only be crushed by China’s first straight-deck aircraft carrier.
003 aircraft carrier
First of all, both of them claim to be "domestically manufactured" aircraft carriers. The self-manufacturing rate of the "Vikrant" can reach up to 76%, while the Type 003 is 100% independently developed and built.
followed by the aircraft carrier volume. The "Vikrant" is 262 meters long, 62 meters wide, and has a full-load displacement of about 45,000 tons; on the other hand, the displacement of the Type 003 is almost twice that of the "Vikrant", exceeding 80,000 tons. Although the specific dimensions of Type 003 have not been made public, some people speculate based on satellite images that Type 003 is about 320 meters long and 73 meters wide, and its size is almost the same as the USS Ford of the US Navy.
Earlier satellite images of Type 003 aircraft carrier
Once again, it is the technical level of the aircraft carrier. At present, the most eye-catching technology of the Type 003 aircraft carrier is its all-through straight deck and advanced electromagnetic ejection system, which means that it can carry more and larger carrier-based aircraft , in addition to similar J- In addition to heavy carrier-based aircraft such as the 15, the 003 fixed-wing early warning aircraft and the transport aircraft are also not mentioned. The "Vikrant", which still uses the traditional ski jump take-off method, does not have such capabilities.
Finally, it is the carrier-based aircraft. The "Vikrant" will most likely use MiG-29K as its main carrier-based aircraft, but it does not rule out the possibility of the Indian Navy introducing F/A-18E or "Rafale-M"; however, compared with the MiG-29K specially built for India, G-29K, the carrier-based fighter aircraft of the United States and France, actually has many aspects that are not suitable for the "Vikrant".
MiG-29K on the deck of INS Vikramaditya 1
At present, the Indian Navy plans to use F/A-18E or "Rafale-M" to serve as the carrier-based aircraft of INS Vikramadity. It needs to face two problems. Big problems: First, these two carrier-based aircraft are developed based on catapult-type aircraft carriers. If they are rashly applied to ski-jump aircraft carriers, it will definitely increase safety risks; moreover, in order to meet the requirements of ski-jump take-off, catapult-type carrier-based aircraft must There will be some loss in bomb load and combat radius.
Secondly, although the "Rafale-M" fighter is not large in size, it does not have the folding wing function. Therefore, the "Vikrant" aircraft carrier's only 9-meter elevator cannot accommodate the "Rafale-M" fighter jet with a wingspan of 10.8 meters. Although the wingspan of the MiG-29K is longer (11.4 meters), its wings can be retracted.
"Rafale-M" carrier-based fighter
Looking at the Type 003, although its carrier-based aircraft model has not yet been officially finalized, the prospects are very optimistic: it will also be equipped with the ejection version of the J-15 heavy-duty carrier-based aircraft. If If it goes well, it may even be possible to directly board the J-35 stealth fighter. In addition, because Type 003 has advanced electromagnetic ejection capabilities, it can also carry fixed-wing early warning aircraft and transport aircraft, which will help Type 003 significantly improve its overall combat effectiveness.
J-15 "Flying Shark" carrier-based fighter
Therefore, the Indian media also said without hesitation: Although India's aircraft carrier is approaching service, no matter what aspect is compared, the "Vikrant" is not as good as China's Type 003 .This is like comparing Mayweather with Tyson . Although both of them are excellent boxers, they are not in the same weight class, so their overall strength is extremely disparate.
