CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread

MwRYum

MwRYum

Major
Richard Santos said:
are these overhead photos from satellites or commercial planes? If from satellites, what can the Chinese possibly do in response to the geopolitical situation to prevent them from being taken and released, short of building a permanent roof over the dock?
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Those are satellite imagery. While the shipyard is very close to the inbound/outbound path of Shanghai Pudong Airport, not enough of a straight top-down view, plus with COVID-19 situation, passenger flights are now far less thus the availability of such has dried up.

Next, as for satellite imagery, we can be certain those of military and national intelligence already have hi-res spy satellite imagery on that plot but of course, those won't be available to public domain; that leaves commercial satellite imagery. Certainly China could do nothing about that, as many of those commercial imagery satellites are owned and operated by Western bloc corporate entities. The "lack of" hi-res imagery is most likely due to those are not "freebies".

In other words, if you want a hi-res imagery of the Type 003 CV in construction especially its latest version, you have to cough out a few thousand dollars to order one from those operators. If you insist on freebies, then you got only low-res (i.e. blurry) ones available on public domain to go with.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
SINCHIKI said:
Maybe the base part of the island.
View attachment 72555View attachment 72554
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That is a nice drawing, though I feel like the island is perhaps a fraction smaller than what the real thing will be (especially lengthwise).

However the flight deck geometry arrangement is certainly not unviable, and indeed I think that would probably be the most ideal flight deck configuration they could go with for a carrier of its size (especially the starboard/forward part of the flight deck, adjacent to the starboard catapult, which provides significant useful space if they go for it).
 
lcloo

lcloo

Captain
We Hokkien (Fujian people) have a saying - If there is no fish available, shrimps will do (for dinner). Just take this 002 2016 July photo and imagine it as 003 if you wish.

002 was launched in April 2017, 9 months after this photo was taken. As for 003, we can expect similar timeline.

002 2016 July.jpg
 
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T

Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
Bltizo said:
We do have them for 003 as well.

It's just that from memory it seemed like we had more consistent high quality pics of 002, whereas in reality the satellite pictures were less consistent than we think.
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Here is what GE imagery offers.
On 002:
2x november 2015 (first one already has the whole keel/base of the ship connected)
december 2015
may 2016
june 2016 (this was the rough point of completion at which the 003 is today)
november 2016
december 2016
january 2017
february 2017
2x march 2017
3x april 2017 (third one was of the launch day)

On 003:
march 2019 (only sections visible since different construction method used)
september 2019
october 2019
april 2020
october 2020 (sections moved to new location. Not yet mated)

Direct comparison is not easy, as 002 construction method had smaller sections that could be hidden from the view, before connecting them all in the drydock.

Still, if one looks just as the frequency of updates for 002, one gets 3 images in 2015,
4 in 2016 and 6 in 2017, before the launch day.

So far for 003 we have 3 in 2019, 2 in 2020 (so one less) and none in 2021. Even though it's almost June and 002 had half a dozen updates up to that point in the year.

Of course, one might always say "but maybe GE simply takes longer to update. So by the end of 2021 several more images might pop up, taken in the winter or spring". That's certainly possible. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Totoro said:
Here is what GE imagery offers.
On 002:
2x november 2015 (first one already has the whole keel/base of the ship connected)
december 2015
may 2016
june 2016 (this was the rough point of completion at which the 003 is today)
november 2016
december 2016
january 2017
february 2017
2x march 2017
3x april 2017 (third one was of the launch day)

On 003:
march 2019 (only sections visible since different construction method used)
september 2019
october 2019
april 2020
october 2020 (sections moved to new location. Not yet mated)

Direct comparison is not easy, as 002 construction method had smaller sections that could be hidden from the view, before connecting them all in the drydock.

Still, if one looks just as the frequency of updates for 002, one gets 3 images in 2015,
4 in 2016 and 6 in 2017, before the launch day.

So far for 003 we have 3 in 2019, 2 in 2020 (so one less) and none in 2021. Even though it's almost June and 002 had half a dozen updates up to that point in the year.

Of course, one might always say "but maybe GE simply takes longer to update. So by the end of 2021 several more images might pop up, taken in the winter or spring". That's certainly possible. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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I remember checking the satellite photos of 002 under construction during the years it was under construction as well, and I vaguely recall not seeing as many photos.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are quite a lot of commercial satellites taking pictures of 002 and 003 while they're under construction, but that it might take years for those to actually be released for update on GE.


It might end up being 1-2 years or more until we get similar pictures for 003 available on GE.
 
V

voyager1

Captain
Registered Member
MwRYum said:
In other words, if you want a hi-res imagery of the Type 003 CV in construction especially its latest version, you have to cough out a few thousand dollars to order one from those operators. If you insist on freebies, then you got only low-res (i.e. blurry) ones available on public domain to go with.
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No need for few thousands of dollars. Last time I checked it was ~$300 - $400 for high resolution satellite imagery
 
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