Chinese Aircraft Carriers - Liaoning, Shandong, Fujian and the future

[Deino]

… barricade spotted on the Fujian

 

[Michael]

A new round of sea trials for Type 003 is about to begin.

 

[Michael]

An interesting phenomenon.
When China MSA issued the December 28th traffic control notice for the Yangtze River Estuary, it did not mention any military information, let alone any ships. It was a standard civil message.
However, the Chinese military's Weibo account retweeted the message in synchronization. Although we all know that the message is a CV-18 leaving harbor for sea trials, it is relatively rare for the military to officially retweet a civil message. This indicates that this sea trial is of great significance.
From this, it is inferred that the CV-18 will carry out a formal electromagnetic catapult this time.

It is certain that the CV-18 will eject the J-15T. but will it eject the KJ-600?
Let's look forward to it!

 

[FHN]

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[Michael]

CV-18 departs for test waters.

 

[Deino]

Unfortunately we haven‘t got any news from the PLANS-18 „Fujian“ on its 6th season trial and trial at the moment and the question on “are there flight tests or not?“ but this image was posted at the SDF by Neocloud:„Fujian with possibly another carrier near by …“.

(Image via @这丫头有点风 from Weibo)

 

[Michael]

Unfortunately we haven‘t got any news from the PLANS-18 „Fujian“ on its 6th season trial and trial at the moment and the question on “are there flight tests or not?“

The sea area where the CV-18 was tested has been completely blocked.
Therefore, its relevant information and test photos can only be released by official organizations. Anyone else who publishes such photos will be invited to a free lunch for at least ten years.
So.
1, either that or we continue to wait for an official announcement;
2, Either, we wait for the CV-18 to return and check the deck photos.

 

[FuturePAF]

Is there a ship in the PLAN that is testing the reactors, in an at sea operational state, that will go into the Type 004. Some say the reactor is a next generation Thorium reactor, but isn’t the technology still not fully mature?

Will the reactor be ready in time for the Type 004’s construction?

Why China Is Building a Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor

China’s demo reactor could breed nuclear fuel from rare earth waste

spectrum.ieee.org

Research reveals China has built prototype nuclear reactor to power aircraft carrier | CNN

China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the country’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to...

amp.cnn.com

Maritime / China Unveils Plans For ‘Largest Ever’ Container Ship, Powered By Thorium Reactor

Ultra-large nuclear vessel designed to achieve zero emissions, says Beijing

www.nucnet.org

 

[神威98]

Guys, why does everyone think the Fujian needs a sister ship? China only built the Shandong becoz she never built a carrier hull before NOT becoz good things come in pairs.

If anything the Fujian is only a stop gap to whatever carrier design China truly wants. Why should China clone the Fujian a second time like the Shandong?

 

[FuturePAF]

Guys, why does everyone think the Fujian needs a sister ship? China only built the Shandong becoz she never built a carrier hull before NOT becoz good things come in pairs.

If anything the Fujian is only a stop gap to whatever carrier design China truly wants. Why should China clone the Fujian a second time like the Shandong?

Agreed, the Fujian is just a stop gap.

Actually, it seems most people think China will go straight to a nuclear carrier for Type 004. The suggested island shapes seen online look to not have a funnel, indicating it will be nuclear.

A non-nuclear carrier would have to refuel beyond 8000 km, which is why we may see more type 076 to support the current carriers for operations closer into China, giving the two major shipyards a decent amount of work, until CVN production is to start.

But for missions in the Indian Ocean or further out in the pacific, the PLAN needs a fleet of nuclear carriers.

Btw, the US did a study on nuclear carriers in the 70-80,000 ton size, and found them to only give a fraction of the benefits of a “full sized” super carrier.

So the Type 004 will probably be a 100,000 tons as well.

The only issue is that China is careful, and makes evolutionary designs. So once the Chinese EMALs are perfected and the J-35 is perfected for carrier ops, the type 004 design may not be frozen to allow construction to begin. Also, there is the issue of large tested nuclear reactors at sea.

Therefore, 2025 maybe where these three milestones are met and will give the greenlight to begin Type 004 construction.

When we see this though, both shipyards will start building CVN-19 and CVN-20 simultaneously, probably launching the ships in 6-7 years, and having both ships operational by 2035.

In the mean time, we might see 2-4 more type 076s be built.

 

[FHN]

Agreed, the Fujian is just a stop gap.

Actually, it seems most people think China will go straight to a nuclear carrier for Type 004. The suggested island shapes seen online look to not have a funnel, indicating it will be nuclear.

A non-nuclear carrier would have to refuel beyond 8000 km, which is why we may see more type 076 to support the current carriers for operations closer into China, giving the two major shipyards a decent amount of work, until CVN production is to start.

But for missions in the Indian Ocean or further out in the pacific, the PLAN needs a fleet of nuclear carriers.

Btw, the US did a study on nuclear carriers in the 70-80,000 ton size, and found them to only give a fraction of the benefits of a “full sized” super carrier.

So the Type 004 will probably be a 100,000 tons as well.

The only issue is that China is careful, and makes evolutionary designs. So once the Chinese EMALs are perfected and the J-35 is perfected for carrier ops, the type 004 design may not be frozen to allow construction to begin. Also, there is the issue of large tested nuclear reactors at sea.

Therefore, 2025 maybe where these three milestones are met and will give the greenlight to begin Type 004 construction.

When we see this though, both shipyards will start building CVN-19 and CVN-20 simultaneously, probably launching the ships in 6-7 years, and having both ships operational by 2035.

In the mean time, we might see 2-4 more type 076s be built.

From AcuriousPLAFan on SDF

According to the latest (or one of the latest) paid 察话会Au podcast by the Guancha Trios (which, unfortunately, I have no access to - Courtesy of @vincent for the news), particularly from Yankee:

1. China is indeed building two proper aircraft carriers simultaneously right now (not including the currently-under-sea-trials CV-18 Fujian);
2. One carrier is conventionally-powered (presumably CV-19), while the other is nuclear-powered (presumably CVN-20); and
3. The nuclear-powered carrier will be much bigger in order to accommodate the operations of future 6th-gen carrier-based fighters (presumably naval variant of the J-XDS).

the CV-19 is likely to be built at Jiangnan, whereas CVN-20 is likely to be built at Dalian's Dagushan

 

[FHN]

If the news is true, then china will have 5 carriers at sea by 2030.

 

[FuturePAF]

From AcuriousPLAFan on SDF

According to the latest (or one of the latest) paid 察话会Au podcast by the Guancha Trios (which, unfortunately, I have no access to - Courtesy of @vincent for the news), particularly from Yankee:

1. China is indeed building two proper aircraft carriers simultaneously right now (not including the currently-under-sea-trials CV-18 Fujian);
2. One carrier is conventionally-powered (presumably CV-19), while the other is nuclear-powered (presumably CVN-20); and
3. The nuclear-powered carrier will be much bigger in order to accommodate the operations of future 6th-gen carrier-based fighters (presumably naval variant of the J-XDS).

the CV-19 is likely to be built at Jiangnan, whereas CVN-20 is likely to be built at Dalian's Dagushan

If this is true, perhaps it is in part to give the other yard expertise building a large carrier as well, and to fill a need within Chinese near waters / first island chain; 2 carrier so one is always available. I guess it would be too much to ask a hard to go from perhaps the shandong straight to a nuclear carrier.

 

[Hendarto]

China can use 2 Fujian class AC because they will roam the western Pacific beyond the 2nd island chain to block any invading US fighter or bomber coming from Guam and Hawaii in case of Taiwan contingency.

One is not enough, I would say.3 One watches the northern Pacific around the Aleutian island, one east of Japan and one east of the Philippines. The Shandong and Liaoning will roam between 1st and 2nd islands to do mop-up operations of any leaker Yup, assisted by layers of AWAC, of WZ9, WZ9, and WZ10, Kj500, Kj 3000, Kj 200

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[Deino]

Interesting image posted by @Rational314159 showing the PLANS-18 "Fujian" and suggesting there could maybe be an aircraft seen during take-off.