broadsword
Brigadier
Is that a 15-meter resolution satellite picture?
CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
That explains, when the shelters/tent/sheds on the right cat is missing! It is not removed, but wasn‘t this installed then.
Can't find a specific China Aircraft Carrier Program thread, so I'll place it here (subject to Mods' views) as it does refer to Carrier 003: A 2007 assessment of China's Aircraft Carrier Program, which I think has held up quite well over the past 15 years. What does it suggest about the future?
A grainy update from the ground via Henri Kenhmann
Some speculation on the insides compared to QE class:
QE class is powered by 2x Rolls Royce gas turbines at 36 MW each and 4x Wartsila diesels at 12 MW each. Total power ~120 MW
(see 9L46F configuration). I doubt it can get much better than this.
.
But what if 003 is a CONAG configuration with an evolved version of existing HTR-10 reactors and existing QC-280 gas turbines at 28 MW each???
OD, 5 m3 volume, produces ~10 MW, and was put in service 20+ years ago.
An evolutionary improvement would be increasing power to 20 MW with increase in size to 4m x 1.8m OD (doubling of volume, no increase in efficiency) which is still small compared to a marine diesel which is literally 2x larger. 4x evolved HTR-10s and 2x QC-280 turbines for sprinting would produce 136 MW of energy, greater than QE class, with an engine room smaller than the 055 (which requires 4x QC-280 turbines; each turbine likely ~9m x 3m x 3m). If you accept an equal engine room as the 055 which is still small for a carrier, you can add 1x additional QC-280 for more sprinting power or more HTR-10s for baseline power.
4m x 1.8m OD wouldn't require a large hole for installation (would in fact be indistinguishable from installing some minor backup diesel) and refuelling is done by pebbles instead of whole fuel rod assemblies, meaning you can literally just cart the pebbles aboard.
This would shrink the engine room area, vastly increase fuel efficiency, while requiring 0 new technologies.
QE class is powered by 2x Rolls Royce gas turbines at 36 MW each and 4x Wartsila diesels at 12 MW each. Total power ~120 MW
(see 9L46F configuration). I doubt it can get much better than this.
.
But what if 003 is a CONAG configuration with an evolved version of existing HTR-10 reactors and existing QC-280 gas turbines at 28 MW each???
OD, 5 m3 volume, produces ~10 MW, and was put in service 20+ years ago.
An evolutionary improvement would be increasing power to 20 MW with increase in size to 4m x 1.8m OD (doubling of volume, no increase in efficiency) which is still small compared to a marine diesel which is literally 2x larger. 4x evolved HTR-10s and 2x QC-280 turbines for sprinting would produce 136 MW of energy, greater than QE class, with an engine room smaller than the 055 (which requires 4x QC-280 turbines; each turbine likely ~9m x 3m x 3m). If you accept an equal engine room as the 055 which is still small for a carrier, you can add 1x additional QC-280 for more sprinting power or more HTR-10s for baseline power.
4m x 1.8m OD wouldn't require a large hole for installation (would in fact be indistinguishable from installing some minor backup diesel) and refuelling is done by pebbles instead of whole fuel rod assemblies, meaning you can literally just cart the pebbles aboard.
This would shrink the engine room area, vastly increase fuel efficiency, while requiring 0 new technologies.
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Sounds nice but I highly doubt it would happen on 003. PLAN has traditionally played it pretty safe with more conventional designs