That's because it is a funnel, it was the same structure on 002 and 003(?) but in this case, we can clearly see it is disconnected from the actual island hence is unlikely to be part of the actual island structure.
00X/004 future nuclear CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter AETHER
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so then whats the reason that the funnel is so aft of the carrier?
I heard it was part of the building that contains all the testing equipment
While I agree that it is the island for the CVN 004, I think the clear separation seen in that picture is a result of AI cleaning up the zoomed in picture rather than a real substantial gap. You can see the smudging where the separation is supposed to be.
In reality, it seems like this is what it looks like:
Chances are we won't be able to confirm it until we literally see the real carrier's island be fully installed on the actual hull, whenever that happens, which will allow us to retrospectively confirm if this current mockup configuration is for a CVN or not.
Of course the Chinese language side will be able to give us strong indicators/credible takes as to what it likely is well before then, and once we get better imagery we can probably try to more logically deduce how likely it is that it's a CVN or a CV.
But if one is being a devil's advocate, we won't be able to "fully confirm" the question for quite a few years.
Enjoy the wait lol
There's absolutely zero indication that any version of a 005 is being build atm, much less its EMALS when the only installed EMALS hasn't even gone into regular service yet, and even if there was it surely wouldn't be blasted publicly. It doesn't necessarily have to be fake, but I do think this is just pure nonsense from some unknowing marketing person.
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According to CCTV's report on 003 yesterday, Zhang Junshe mentioned that China's future aircraft carrier development focuses on catapults and nuclear power.
Zhang Junshe was a staff officer of the Navy Command, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Naval Branch of the China Society for Military Science, and currently a researcher at the Naval Research Institute, Navy Senior Colonel.
Zhang Junshe was a staff officer of the Navy Command, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Naval Branch of the China Society for Military Science, and currently a researcher at the Naval Research Institute, Navy Senior Colonel.
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He doesn’t specifically mention the next aircraft carrier(s), only the general direction, and I think it’s clear to everyone that the only logical path forward would be catapults and nuclear power. What else is there? What other areas could the development focus on?
Anyway, here’s a comparison between the latest Sentinel satellite images and the much clearer Google Earth images we got a few months ago. It seems like some noticeable progress has been made.
