Posted on 05/03/2018 8:49:47 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
November will mark the sixth anniversary of China's first fixed-wing flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier Liaoning. Conducted with Shenyang J-15s – a clone of the Sukhoi Su-33 – the development was greeted with much pride in China.
The start of flight operations followed the launch of the Liaoning in 2011, after its transformation from an old Soviet Kuznetsov-class hulk, the Varyag. Although the effort involved both an aircraft type and a vessel from the Cold War era, it marked a renaissance in regional aircraft carrier development.
Beijing has gone on to develop a sister ship to the Liaoning. This vessel has been launched and could enter service in 2019. The People's Liberation Army Navy has long-term plans to build larger, more capable vessels, possibly powered by nuclear reactors. These could see the ski-jump ramps found on the Liaoning and her sister ship replaced with electromagnetic aircraft launch systems (EMALS). These would allow a wider variety of platforms to be deployed, and with greater payloads.
Richard Bitzinger, senior fellow at the Military Transformations Program at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, expects that China will have four operational carriers by 2030. This does not include the Liaoning, which he expects will be retired in the 2020s.
India has a single operational carrier, the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya, commissioned in 2013 after years of delays. This warship, also of Soviet vintage, is smaller than the Liaoning. Based on the Kiev-class cruiser, it features a ski-jump in place of missiles and guns on the foredeck. A second locally built carrier, INS Vikrant, is set to enter service in the early 2020s – again, after years of delays. The Vikrant will also use a ski-jump. New Delhi also has plans for a vessel equipped with EMALS.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
China builds CVAs while the US debates their value.
For the last 70 years, no country on earth has even begun construction on a carrier comparable to one of our 11 supercarriers, China included.
Even if China could build a reliable aircraft carrier, operating them is so complex, only the United States can do it.
Several other nations maintain aircraft carriers, and some of them are quite large.
The French and British can run air operations from a carrier, especially the French at this point. Both have at least one carrier of 70,000 tons. So it isn’t just the US that could field them.
The Italians and the Spanish both have active small carriers.
The Japanese have (I think) 3 to 5 “Helicopter Destroyers” which could in a matter of weeks be converted to launch and recover up to 35 STVOL aircraft each.
India has a carrier as big as the Chinese and is building two more. In fact, India has included carriers in their fleet for decades.
Brazil has a big old French carrier (Foch) but I do not know if it is operational.
Thailand has a small carrier but no planes and uses it as a royal yacht.
The Philippines have been making a bit of noise about buying a retired light carrier from Spain.
Thanks for posting. Interesting.
(courtesy ping)
The French have one (troublesome) carrier, which displaces 42,500 tons. The UK's single carrier (another on the way) displaces 65,000 tons, but it's not fully operational yet.
The Japanese have (I think) 3 to 5 “Helicopter Destroyers” which could in a matter of weeks be converted to launch and recover up to 35 STVOL aircraft each.
4 of them. 18 maximum aircraft for the Hyūga-clasa, 28 for the larger Izumo-class....but Japan has only received a single F-35 so far, if I'm not mistaken.
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