MwRYum
Major
Is there confirmation that they've progressed to flight deck level?
CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Are you talking about the ship in general, or in terms of the suspected weapons elevators?
In any case it should be yes for both questions.
We are able to see the depressions for the jet blast deflectors alongside the suspected bow weapons elevators. You won't see those depressions if those weren't at flight deck level.
And recent photos of the aft of the ship demonstrates clearly that they are at the flight deck height for the aft of the ship structurally as well.
In fact, they first reached flight deck level for the ship probably a couple of months ago.
The HQ-10 is more akin to the of the USN which can be found on carriers as well. As far as medium range SAM goes, the only modern equivalent to ESSM that's active within the PLAN would be the as found on the Type 54A.
However, there's no rolling launch platform that can accommodate the HQ-16 like the Mk 29 for the ESSM... even though the Mk 29 is an older design which the USN found more suitable for their CVs over VLS which can house way more ESSM.
Since the current VLS variants used by the PLAN are multi-purpose like the Mk 41, whereas the Sylver on the Charles de Gaulle is a much smaller, dedicated AA VLS primarily for the Aster, which is why the USN opted for the Mk 29, as an AA-only Mk 41 would take up too much space on a carrier. Presumably the PLAN would be faced with a similar issue if they were to incorporate something like the HQ-16 into their CVs' arsenal.
Of course the PLAN could design a bespoke platform for HQ-16, but it is a much larger missile than either ESSM or Aster 15. So it would be anybody's guess how economically feasible and practical that could end up. Good question though!
I was asking the question more in the context of the rumored "triple 5" missile that's still in development. If that can be quadpacked and combine it with the AA only version of Type 055 VLS, then I think PLAN CV can mount it like thr French, just with 4x the missile capacity
Maybe not so for now. PLAN seems strongly confident of their Type 1130 + HQ-10 combination, along with their EW and decoy suites.
Its not like they already have their Sea Sparrow equivalent before, it so happens to be the PLAN's first ever air defense missile.
In the PLAN's first ever attempt for an air defense frigate, the 053K, there is a feeder on the back of the launcher that will feed the missiles. A similar system is implemented on the HQ-7.
What I might find a possibility, is the 20 barrel or dual CIWS might be used on 003 or future carriers. The recent revelation is one way of drip feeding this information to the public.
A minor change I might forecast is they will forego with the 18 missile launcher for the HQ-10 like on the Liaoning and go with the 24 missile launcher instead.
Even if HHQ-10 appears to be a RAM copy, the kind of confidence the PLAN seems to have for it --- its being installed everywhere, even considered side mounted on the gun CIWS such as the 730C --- suggests to me its very effective and that there is more to it that meets the eye.
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If you have aircraft parked on top of that catapult, you still have access to both the port side cats and can arm/disarm aircraft using those elevators. There are lots of pictures of carriers with aircraft parked on the starboard catapult with aircraft using the others.
That said, my knowledge of carrier operations is on the rookie level on a good day, so someone correct me if im overly mistaken.
Interesting. the hull design seems to still be relatively low slung, and more like that on the Kutznetsov than on the large US carrier.
What is the waterline to deck height of tge Liaoning?
What is the waterline to deck height of tge Liaoning?
I find it extremely unlikely that china will build only one hull to this design. it makes little sense. any word on any second hull?