CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread

[AndrewS]

(1)US doesn't mean everyone.
(2)Satellites have known passage windows. This is getting more complicated now, but very high res satellites are still outliers.
(3)Angle matters.

You can buy 15cm satellite imagery from commercial providers. It's way more detailed than what we see in that drone footage.

Why would angle really matter? Everyone knows that it will be roughly an 80k ton carrier which has EMALs.

China might as well signal to everyone that it's building an aircraft carrier.
It's proceeding on time as expected, will have the latest EMALs and there haven't been any visible messups.

 

[AndrewS]

Highly improbable to happen, but it would be so cool if they built two carriers side by side there one day, and we get a repeat of this shot with both of them in frame.

I'd say there are decent odds of two carriers being built side by side in the 2030s

That is what happens in a cold war

 

[caudaceus]

Google, you OK?

 

[Vincent Ang]

Plausible.

The US has higher-resolution satellite imagery anyway.

So the Chinese Navy might as well show off the carrier and the shipyard

Precisely. Any sabotage will not be from the air but from a security failure on the ground.

 

[Richard Santos]

I think the video is deliberately condoned by the authorities. Details are difficult to see, but the overview shows the strength of Chinese shipbuilding.

Condoned, or planted?

If merely condoned, then it would still have taken one brave drone operator who would gamble with unaccountable surveillance state caprice on getting lucky and be condoned.

 

[Richard Santos]

There is a place nearby, where we should see first modules of 004 next.

At this point 003 is far enough advanced that she probably be floated out first and moved to a fitting out basin to allow 004 to start at the same spot.

 

[by78]

At this point 003 is far enough advanced that she probably be floated out first and moved to a fitting out basin to allow 004 to start at the same spot.

This is news to me. From where and whom did you learn that the 4th carrier will commence fabrication and construction so soon?

 

[subotai1]

At this point 003 is far enough advanced that she probably be floated out first and moved to a fitting out basin to allow 004 to start at the same spot.

Not really. There are still some very large components that need fitted that they would have a hard time doing dockside, not the least of which is the remaining flooring and decking.

 

[tonyget]

At this point 003 is far enough advanced that she probably be floated out first and moved to a fitting out basin to allow 004 to start at the same spot.

I don't think China would start to build 004 that soon. 003 needs to be tested thoroughly for next few years, in order to learn design improvements that need to be done for next carrier

 

[Intrepid]

I just wait and see when the first components of 004 can be seen.

What was the first tangible reference to 003? Was it the rebuilding of the island in Wuhan? Or was there the wall poster with the three Chinese aircraft carriers before?