PLAN Aircraft Carrier programme...(Closed)
- Thread starter bd popeye
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Intrepid
Major
We have seen parts of the gallery deck, so the hull should already reach up to the flight deck in the aft section of the ship.
Using the (presumed) tractor semi-trailer on the bottom for scale, these linear features seem too long for carrier catapults.Another catapult test facility under construction?
One can assume that when sitting in the dry dock undergoing construction, the new hull would sit close to the same altitude level as she would if it was actually floating in a light load condition in the sea water on one side of the dock. This minimizes the hull movement when they flood the dry dock to launch her. Based on this, it appears to me the aft hull is already 4-5 deck levels above the lightly loaded waterline level. This seem confirmed by comparison to the boarding ladder sitting next to the dry dock. So that means the structural sides of the aft hull is already near or at the hangar deck level.
But as there is no clear indication of sponsons for the angled deck, I think they are not very close to being ready to close up the hill with the final flight deck.
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Why ?? ... if she is indeed based on a simply modified Liaoning design, then the stem is very similar ... as expected.
lol. Getting info about carrier 002 has become a game of riddles, with a lot of interpretations.
However, it seems that carrier 002 is still in the design phase (or not even that). IMO, it will be a very long time before we see anything in the shipyard.
Well it's not an unreasonable statement, I think it's actually pretty expected.
I'm pretty sure that is just PLA watching in general, not exclusive to 002... especially when it is from big shrimps.
Over on CDF it's been suggested that the steam vs EM catapults decision has yet to be made, and that until recently it was fairly likely that 002 will use steam cats but recent changes means steam vs EM cats will be put up against each other in a competition and that the winner will likely end up on 002.
The suggestion is that if the steam cat option wins out, then the first 002 will use steam cats and may come out relatively earlier, compared to if EM cat option wins. This is because 002 is thought to have already been designed mostly around steam cats, and would require some degree of redesign to use EM cats.
From what I've heard, I think it's likely 002 is already in some advanced stages of design, but that certain sections may either be incomplete, or left deliberately "modular" -- such as for the parts of the ship which may be affected by a steam vs EM cat option.
Personally I'd prefer if they just went with EM cats straight up, because even if the initial one or even two CATOBAR carrier uses steam cats, it would probably be only a matter of a few years until EM cat technology is mastered to a degree that they can supersede steam cats, rendering the investment into the entire steam cat manufacturing and support line obsolete and only having been deployed on a relatively small number of flattops.
Because I assumed "based on Liaoning" only meant similar in general layout, not replicating detailed design features. I had expected the new Chinese carrier, while hewing to the layout of Kuznetsov, would be designed with radar signature reduction shaping to the hull and superstructure similar to those on the 052 C and D DDGs.
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