CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Because it's undeniable in a way those others weren't. In those prior cases, someone who knew better could convince the non-expert audience with superficial plausibility that such-and-such must be a fighter-bomber (obviously not 6th-gen), or such-and-such is actually a PAF bird (obviously not IAF). There was soothing and reasonable-sounding copium ready at hand.
But now, you need "reject the evidence of your lying eyes" level of delusion to cope. Which foreign experts are claiming that this is a fake launch, that it never happened, that it's all CGI? None of them.
I've seen a lot of them claim that the Fujian isn't releasing videos of a catapult launch cuz it was actually steam instead of EMALS, but now the video is out and you can see clear as day that there isn't any steam so uhh...
Agree. Plus it's like a well orchestrated performance dating, conservatively speaking, from 2024 Zhuhai airshow, the dual 6th gen fighters, the second 5th gen fighter, the proof of concept with PL-15, the aviation open day for public, not to mention the victory day parade with jaw droping images AND now Fujian in action. No doubt the Chinese public is over the moon.
2 Questions:
1) How long can you sustain this for? (I'm sure quite long with civil millitary integration C919 etc.)
2) What will the hangover look like, if/when there is one?
Oh there is so much more coming that would keep the fire going so to speak. H-20 bomber, 004 taking shape, sea trials of Sichuan, GJ-11 EMALS launch, plus of course the ongoing 6th gen milestones, plus the upcoming 095/096 and goodness knows how much more. So yeah there's plenty to keep everyone over the moon.
I think that we've been expecting these catapult launches for a long time now, but it's still great to see them actually happen on film. What gets me thinking though is that if Fujian's catapults function reliably, will we see the Ford class carriers switch from its current AC system to a DC system?