CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread

[jimmyjames30x30]

Your rendering of the outline of the carrier is rather conservative. You also seems to have overestimated the size of the footprint of the island, and have put it much closer towards the centerline of the ship, comparing to 001 and 002.

There is also the problem with the foot print of the J-15. It seems that you put an (probably slightly enlarged) outline of kuznetsov class for comparison purposes. However, your rendering of the J-15 is even larger than what's on the kuznetsov outline (which should be smaller). The beam of the Kuznetsov should be about 72 meters (according to Wikipedia), this ship should be around 80, that's a 10% difference.

I believe the ship is operating 36 j-15 as a base line, with rooms for more.

 

[Totoro]

Well, as I too pointed out, I agree that the magic number is likely going be between 30 and 36.

 

[jimmyjames30x30]

Yepp, that's around 60 to 70 percent of the number (50-ish) the US operates, with a carrier that's about 75 to 85 percent the tonnage/size, considering the US navy jets has significantly smaller deck footprint.

I am estimating 2 fighter/interceptor team of 10 J-15T (single seat) each, plus 1 fighter/bomber team of 12 J-15TS, plus 2-4 J-15TD EW. Which sounds about right.

 

[Kejora]

Yepp, that's around 60 to 70 percent of the number (50-ish) the US operates, with a carrier that's about 75 to 85 percent the tonnage/size, considering the US navy jets has significantly smaller deck footprint.

When smaller plane like J-31 started to enter service the number might increase to 40+

 

[jimmyjames30x30]

Well, as I too pointed out, I agree that the magic number is likely going be between 30 and 36.

As a side note, I would think that imagine if the Russian navy has such a piece of equipment with 36 (baseline) Su-33 sized navy fighters/bomber: 2 teams of 10 single seat naval Su-57, 1 team of two-seat naval Su-33 (with Su-35 Avionics and engine), plus a few more Su-33 EW, it would be rather formidable, especially if the ship is nuclear powered.

 

[Volpler11]

What about a fix of manned and unmanned planes?

 

[Intrepid]

We observed the hangar space before and it doesn't seem to be much wider than one on 002. Which was roomy enough for 12 or so J15. While 003 hangar may be longer, given that it also has to house KJ600 (Which are larger than Z18 AEW helos) I'm doubtful the 003 hangar will be able to house more than 14 or 15 J15 sized fighters.

Hangar space is for maintanance. On US carriers the hangar can accomodate 40% of the air group. That are all aircraft not on duty! The aircraft for daily use are all parked on the flight deck.

To use the hangar as regular space for ground operation is an old concept of the 1960th.

 

[obj 705A]

Here's a speculative deck layout/dimensions, but based on the idea that the two spots observed are indeed deflector locations. Also applied is the assumed 129 m long deflector to edge of deck length (to mimick Ford's), as well as overall 315 m length, which is in my opinion roughly what we might get in the end, given the currently observed waterline length, from the images.

When using J15, it is very hard to find room for significantly more planes than with 001/002 carriers. There might be room for roughly 16 on deck, when all 3 catapults are working. I've kept one elevator free for various other needs.

We observed the hangar space before and it doesn't seem to be much wider than one on 002. Which was roomy enough for 12 or so J15. While 003 hangar may be longer, given that it also has to house KJ600 (Which are larger than Z18 AEW helos) I'm doubtful the 003 hangar will be able to house more than 14 or 15 J15 sized fighters.

This particular layout pretty much maxes out at around 30 J15 sized fighters. I may've been too conservative, but even if I have and even if 003 is a bit larger, the overall difference can't be great. I am pretty certain that 003 will not, even in the most dense, alpha strike configuration, carry more than 36 J15 sized fighters.

the flight deck in your pic looks like it's only about 62 meter in max width, I assure you the flight deck will be much wider than that, probably 80 meters or so, the hangar of the type 003 will be significantly larger than that of the type 002 thanks to the extra width and the 30 meters in additional waterline length, so it will probably have 16-18 aircrafts in peace time in the hangar.

the most aircraft I saw the Liaoning/type 001 carrying on just it's flight deck was 15 aircrafts (to be more accurate 14 J-15 plus one helicopter), the island of the type 003 is gonna be significantly smaller than that of the Liaoning, the flight deck will be longer and much more wider and spacious than the Liaoning, in peace time will probably have around 24 aircrafts on the flight deck with all catapults available.

by the time the carrier enters service the airwing of the type 003 will consist of a mixture of J-15 and J-31, the J-31 takes up less space than the J-15 so having the KJ-600 will not limit the number of aicrafts in any way.

with all catapults availabe in peace time it will probably carry 40 aircrafts (assuming 16 aicrafts in the hangar) and IMO that is conservative estimate , if they want it to carry more they could always park some at the front covering the catapults, if they cover one, it will carry 46-48 aircrafts, if they cover two catapults it will carry 52-56 aicrafts.

 

[Totoro]

Hangar space is for maintanance. On US carriers the hangar can accomodate 40% of the air group. That are all aircraft not on duty! The aircraft for daily use are all parked on the flight deck.

To use the hangar as regular space for ground operation is an old concept of the 1960th.

I did not suggest what the hangar is to be used for. I full well expect the planes prepped for sorties will be on deck as well.
I was simply talking about overall number of combat planes. Regardless of whether they're under maintenance or not. For US Ford that's around 50, part of which are in hangar, and part of which are on deck.
For the 003 that figure seems to be 30 to 36, part of which, again, will be in hangar, and part will be on deck.

 

[Totoro]

the flight deck in your pic looks like it's only about 62 meter in max width,

My drawing has the deck width at 75 meters, at its widest. And deck length at 315 meters. And all the planes and other items are scaled to the appropriate scale.