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CV-18 Fujian - Type 003 Aircraft Carrier News & Discussions

OK, so if I understand correctly, Type 003 is a sort of Frankenstein CV. The reason being EM catapults are 10m longer than steam. So because they decided to switch to EM halfway thru, Type 003 would have been 10m longer (as long or even longer than Ford) and still wider. Am I correct?
10m longer? Where is your reference?
 
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EM catapults had to be extended back by 10m. That's y the blast deflector is blocking the landing strip.

IMO, Type 004 will b the proper design much longer and wider than Ford Class... as the Type 003 was meant to be!
 
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OK, so if I understand correctly, Type 003 is a sort of Frankenstein CV. The reason being EM catapults are 10m longer than steam. So because they decided to switch to EM halfway thru, Type 003 would have been 10m longer (as long or even longer than Ford) and still wider. Am I correct?
I think you got it backwards. EM catapults are shorter then steam by 10m
 
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Type 003 Aircraft Carrier (With J-15, J-35, & KJ-600 onboard) VS Ford AC

View attachment 760626View attachment 760625
Credit to @Louischeung_hk

Some ways to go, but catching up fast. The Ford class is refined while the Type 003 has gone with the Keep it simple principle to make sure they get the fundamentals right.

Any indication China has a separate program to create the nuclear reactors for the Type 004 Carrier. Perhaps 5-8 years operating the Type 003, and the Chinese will probably have the experience to create a refined design for the type 004 design with enough reactor power to meet all the needs the type 003 demonstrated.
 
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Some ways to go, but catching up fast. The Ford class is refined while the Type 003 has gone with the Keep it simple principle to make sure they get the fundamentals right.

Any indication China has a separate program to create the nuclear reactors for the Type 004 Carrier. Perhaps 5-8 years operating the Type 003, and the Chinese will probably have the experience to create a refined design for the type 004 design with enough reactor power to meet all the needs the type 003 demonstrated.
004 might be a sister ship to 003. I don't think nuclear carriers are a priority for China ATM as China will be mostly focused on defending areas close to home.
 
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004 might be a sister ship to 003. I don't think nuclear carriers are a priority for China ATM as China will be mostly focused on defending areas close to home.

A nuclear carrier will allow the island on the type 004 to be smaller, the EM catapults to have continuous power, the sensors to have more power, potential laser weapons to have more power, and overall allow the ship to be larger if the need is there to host more aircraft.

The experience with the Type 003 will pave the way for The PLAN to see what it really needs. You maybe right, China may focus on securing the waters around China then power projection or securing The SLOCs further a field, for now, and for that a nuclear carrier maybe unnecessary.
 
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An aircraft carrier is not a coast guard ship, an aircraft carrier is a floating airbase that allows one to have aircrafts available where a real airbase is not available, so no China is not building these CVs to keep them to patrol waters that are close to their coast especially since Flankers based in the mainland in addition to the ones based in islands in the SCS can already cover most of these waters.

a conventional carrier can easily cover the western pacific (up to 3000-4000 km away from the coast) it can also cover the IOR and the Mediterranean thanks to the recent expansion in the PLAN's base in Djibouti which has now been expanded so that it can recieve super carriers.
 
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Again a new image of the Type 003 aircraft carrier and it seems as if that huge gantry crane is lifting something ... maybe the power units / steam turbine engines that were delivered to the yard on Wednesday?

(Image via @ainicailin from Tieba)

View attachment 760872
So this is not nuclear?
004 might be a sister ship to 003. I don't think nuclear carriers are a priority for China ATM as China will be mostly focused on defending areas close to home.
With modular nuclear reactors, a case for nuclear ships is more stronger
 
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EM catapults had to be extended back by 10m. That's y the blast deflector is blocking the landing strip.

IMO, Type 004 will b the proper design much longer and wider than Ford Class... as the Type 003 was meant to be!
The Type 003 catapults where never "extended" and are almost the same length or in fact slightly shorter than the Nimitz EM catapults (I guess being "shorter" or "longer" will by held against the Type 003 then either way). The blast doors are in fact positioned almost exactly at the same length as they are on the Nimitz carrier.

The main reason you are thinking they are clipping into the landing strip is because the Type 003 is assumed by fans and watchers to have a very wide landing strip based on the angled deck shape, not because of the length of the catapult. Thats not even certain. If the Type 003 had a landing strip as narrow as the Nimitz the deflectors could be exactly outside of the boundary of the landing strip including safety lines.
 
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004 might be a sister ship to 003. I don't think nuclear carriers are a priority for China ATM as China will be mostly focused on defending areas close to home.

Agree, Type 004 will be the same ship as 003 with improvement. China would build at least 4 of this class before moving forward to nuclear powered aircraft carrier. PLAN priority for now is mobile base for fleet defense providing air cover for ships.
 
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An aircraft carrier is not a coast guard ship, an aircraft carrier is a floating airbase that allows one to have aircrafts available where a real airbase is not available, so no China is not building these CVs to keep them to patrol waters that are close to their coast especially since Flankers based in the mainland in addition to the ones based in islands in the SCS can already cover most of these waters.

a conventional carrier can easily cover the western pacific (up to 3000-4000 km away from the coast) it can also cover the IOR and the Mediterranean thanks to the recent expansion in the PLAN's base in Djibouti which has now been expanded so that it can recieve super carriers.

Conventional aircraft carrier is only good to cover less than half the globe in case of war against most powerful country. Limited to hold the line defense covering SCS, ECS to not far into Pacific Ocean with lower risk of getting cut off from resupply line. For any campaign further past Indian Ocean or Pacific Ocean is not practical at the moment.
So this is not nuclear?

With modular nuclear reactors, a case for nuclear ships is more stronger

News said conventional. Nuclear powered is better but due to time constraint, China opted for conventional first as they needed a working aircraft carrier fast due to rising threat from US
 
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The Type 003 catapults where never "extended" and are almost the same length or in fact slightly shorter than the Nimitz EM catapults (I guess being "shorter" or "longer" will by held against the Type 003 then either way). The blast doors are in fact positioned almost exactly at the same length as they are on the Nimitz carrier.

The main reason you are thinking they are clipping into the landing strip is because the Type 003 is assumed by fans and watchers to have a very wide landing strip based on the angled deck shape, not because of the length of the catapult. Thats not even certain. If the Type 003 had a landing strip as narrow as the Nimitz the deflectors could be exactly outside of the boundary of the landing strip including safety lines.

I don't think it's a good idea to have the left-most blast deflector overlap with the landing strip. The point of having a demarcated strip for landing is so nothing lies within this strip.

Also don't think it's in China's nature to spend hundreds of millions on a ship just to cheap out on a few meters on probably the most crucial part of the ship which is the aircraft recovery.

If Type 003 was just tens of meters longer, they wouldn't have this problem. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is they stuck EM catapults on a ship designed for steam catapults and we get irregularities show up like blast deflectors overlapping etc.

Also, anyone ever driven both a Toyota Camry and Corolla? After been inside El Cheapo Corolla for sometime, the Camry seems very spacious on the inside, that's y it costs more. I know Chinese nature very well, no Chinese choose to drive a Corolla (Type 003 with overlapping blast deflector) when they could be driving a Camry (landing strip and deflector fully seggregated).
 
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004 might be a sister ship to 003. I don't think nuclear carriers are a priority for China ATM as China will be mostly focused on defending areas close to home.

I do think 004 has a high probability of being nuclear. The age of China double designing, double manufacturing is over because of costs (wasted doing the same things) and confidence and better engineering in designs. Look at the development of China's space program and you should detect the trend. The Mars lander is one of its kind and the succeeding one will not do the same thing.
Also, the most important reason is its 'needs' to protect, not just its immediate waters but also its trade lanes. China's trade lanes are as important and critical to its economy as its immediate waters. So a nuclear-powered carrier and newer generations of attack subs are critical to PLAN's next stage. That stage is NOW to 2035 and China's already late coming of age.
I don't think it's a good idea to have the left-most blast deflector overlap with the landing strip. The point of having a demarcated strip for landing is so nothing lies within this strip.

Also don't think it's in China's nature to spend hundreds of millions on a ship just to cheap out on a few meters on probably the most crucial part of the ship which is the aircraft recovery.

If Type 003 was just tens of meters longer, they wouldn't have this problem. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is they stuck EM catapults on a ship designed for steam catapults and we get irregularities show up like blast deflectors overlapping etc.

Also, anyone ever driven both a Toyota Camry and Corolla? After been inside El Cheapo Corolla for sometime, the Camry seems very spacious on the inside, that's y it costs more. I know Chinese nature very well, no Chinese choose to drive a Corolla (Type 003 with overlapping blast deflector) when they could be driving a Camry (landing strip and deflector fully seggregated).

Funny how you would say Chinese would not save a few bucks on shorter length and would save pennies to convert a steam catapult to EM's. Just your bias and ignorance of the history of 003. There were lengthy arguments on steam or EM at the beginning. Eventually EM won, then a design team was assembled. That took a couple years before actual fabrications took place.
 
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I do think 004 has a high probability of being nuclear. The age of China double designing, double manufacturing is over because of costs (wasted doing the same things) and confidence and better engineering in designs. Look at the development of China's space program and you should detect the trend. The Mars lander is one of its kind and the succeeding one will not do the same thing.
Also, the most important reason is its 'needs' to protect, not just its immediate waters but also its trade lanes. China's trade lanes are as important and critical to its economy as its immediate waters. So a nuclear-powered carrier and newer generations of attack subs are critical to PLAN's next stage. That stage is NOW to 2035 and China's already late coming of age.


Funny how you would say Chinese would not save a few bucks on shorter length and would save pennies to convert a steam catapult to EM's. Just your bias and ignorance of the history of 003. There were lengthy arguments on steam or EM at the beginning. Eventually EM won, then a design team was assembled. That took a couple years before actual fabrications took place.

It depends on how much time they have and how urgent they need working operational aircraft carrier. Type 001 and 002 aren't really useful to launch heavy J-15A that aren't ideal for war.

Type 003 will have to go through sea trials with lots of flights and landing experiments before China would come up with revised design. If Type 003 proven good enough, China would proceed to build more Type 003 class aircraft carriers while conducting research on designing nuclear powered aircraft carrier.
 
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