At the 28th European Maritime Defense Exhibition held in Paris, France, the French Navy Group, which undertakes the design, development and construction of the French Navy's new generation nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, announced the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier code-named "PANG". This "PANG" aircraft carrier looks more mature and stable. Many media believe that the ship's performance is catching up with China's "Fujian" ship.
French Defense Minister Florence Pali officially stated to the media during his inspection of the Defense Acquisition Bureau, claiming that in the draft defense budget for the 2019-2025 fiscal year, the PA2 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the third-generation nuclear submarine SNLE.3G project will be officially launched. After years of disputes over budget and multiple changes to the plan, France's new generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers finally met the world. The French Ministry of Defense officially named the new generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "PANG" (the abbreviation of the next-generation aircraft carrier in French). When French President Macron inspected French nuclear power technology company Farmaton, he enthusiastically stated to the outside world that with the active nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" will withdraw from the French naval combat sequence around 2038, the PANG nuclear aircraft carrier, as the successor, will be in service before this. At the same time, the French Navy Group also exhibited the initial design model of the PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which was also a favorite of the outside world.
According to the news website of the US Naval Society, the French Navy PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has a total length of between 290 and 300 meters, the full load displacement remains within a range of 70,000 to 75,000 tons, the flight deck is 80 meters wide, and the crew (including aviation personnel) reaches 2,000 people. The power system will use two K22 type pressurized water reactors manufactured by Famaton, with a maximum output power of 220 megawatts, so that the maximum speed of PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can reach 27 knots.
In terms of carrier-based aircraft , according to the French Ministry of Defense ventilation, PANG is expected to carry 30 NGF sixth-generation stealth carrier-based fighters, 2 to 3 E-2D "Advanced Hawkeye" carrier-based early warning aircraft and several stealth carrier-based drones. From the perspective of construction costs and dispatch rates, the French Navy only has two elevators on the PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, located in the middle of the starboard side of the hull.
catapult , French Navy tends to electromagnetic catapult on board. For this reason, PANG will use electromagnetic catapult and electromagnetic resistance system produced by General Atomic Energy Corporation of the United States. However, it should be pointed out that the French Navy's senior management has disputes over the specific number of electromagnetic catapults and is unsure about the use of two or three sets.
supports the use of three sets of electromagnetic catapults, which believes that this will significantly increase the number of carrier-based fighter dispatching aircraft, thereby providing solid guarantees for PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to have efficient combat capabilities. Opponents believe that using three sets of electromagnetic catapults is a bit flashy, and General Atomic Energy Company's quotation is not low, so it is better to adopt a pragmatic approach. Up to now, there is still no final result for the specific configuration number of electromagnetic catapults.
In terms of ship model design, PANG has chosen the unique wave-passing bow design. The advantage of this layout is that it can not only enhance the aircraft carrier's speed, but also enhance the stealth performance and stability of the aircraft carrier.
Although the design of the Chuanlang bow is very creative, the real reason behind it is still directly related to the insufficient output of the power system. In other words, this is the best solution proposed by the French Navy Group when the power system has no choice.
In addition, the ship island located at the rear of the starboard side of the hull. In order to meet the stealth needs, in addition to largely controlling the volume, the integrated mast also adopts the same cone shape similar to the next generation of FDI multi-function frigate. Although it looks a bit inconsistent, the stealth performance will indeed improve a lot. The front edge of the aircraft carrier flight deck is uniformly cut and smooth transition, so as to reduce the reflection cross-sectional area of radar . Out of excessive pursuit of stealth effectiveness, the French Navy's PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will become the leader in the field of stealth. However, under the conditions of medium and high intensity maritime combat, whether the effective performance of the above design meets the expected goals is not only unknown to the outside world, but even the top leaders of the French Navy are very familiar with this.
From the recently released new version of the model and related technical and tactical indicators, it can be seen that the French Navy Group has made appropriate modifications to relevant details while keeping the overall design of PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier unchanged.
First of all, the maximum speed has increased from the original 27 knots to the current 30 knots. As for the technical solution path, the French military did not mention it. This requires the French Matong Company to show its real skills to help the French Navy's PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier jump to the embarrassing situation faced by the USS Charles de Gaulle.
Secondly, the partial changes in the ship island are obvious. First, the appearance of the integrated mast has changed from the previous cone to the current traditional design. Second, the installation position of the "Sea Fire" active phased array radar produced by Thales Group has changed. It has been placed around the ship island and has been unified and integrated into the top front end of the ship island. Third, the size and displacement have increased slightly. For example, the length of the new version of PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has been increased to about 310 meters and the full load displacement has increased to 82,500 tons.
Fourth, the number of catapult configuration adopts a flexible strategy, that is, the PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can be equipped with two sets and three sets. There are no difficulties in design, mainly depending on the cost budget of .
Compared with the "Fujian" ship launched by the Chinese Navy in mid-June this year, the design plan for the new version of the French Navy PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is similar to that in many design indicators, such as full load displacement, number of catapult configurations, overall appearance design, type of carrier-based aircraft deployment, etc. The only difference between
is the option of the power system. The world has long been familiar with the comparison of the advantages and disadvantages between nuclear power and conventional power, so the author will no longer discuss it. However, it should be noted that the choice of the conventional power system of the "Fujian" ship is the best choice made after many considerations. Whether it is to meet national strategic needs or specific combat applications, it is in line with the expected goals of the Chinese Navy.
Similarly, this principle can also be applied to the French Navy's PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Of course, the French government has other considerations, which is to maintain the technology, talents and production capacity of the French nuclear industry, and avoid the shrinking trend in the nuclear industry affecting France's strategic nuclear deterrence system construction.
Based on this judgment, compared with the French Navy PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is currently in the drawing board stage, the Chinese Navy's "Fujian" can indeed sit firmly in the second seat, which is beyond doubt. In addition, if the measurement standards are really shifted to the nuclear power field from the perspective of fairness, then the 004 ship that will emerge in the future may be the role that the French Navy PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier really needs to be examined.
It is worth mentioning that the benchmark target of the 004 ship is mainly US Navy active "Ford" class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier . It can be foreseeable that whether it is the overall size, full load displacement, catapult system, or technical and tactical indicators such as carrier-based aircraft type, specific number of installations, avionics systems, etc., the 004 ship can easily crush the French PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The most important part is that the French Navy PANG nuclear-powered aircraft carrier needs to pay great attention to the construction cycle and production costs in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes. In the above link, the Chinese Navy and domestic shipbuilding companies have proved their strength to the outside world, so the answer is naturally obvious.
