Posted on 12/30/2016 4:22:02 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Worth pointing that no real comparison can be made between a carriers that use a steam-launch over flat-deck system (US, UK, France) with those that use aircraft power up a up canted-deck system (Russia, China, India).
Planes that rely on their own power to launch cannot carry as much fuel nor as many weapons as those steam-launched, since they use a good bit of their fuel just getting into the air. This makes that type of carrier more a localized defensive weapon than a platform from which to launch long range attacks.
What the Chinese are gaining is experience, but not all of that will apply when they finish their new indigenous carrier using a steam-launch system.
er that's FRB*, not UK
* Federative Republic of Brazil
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