The construction program of the Chinese aircraft carrier of the new generation has passed an important stage: the ship received a superstructure. Earlier, the Celestial Empire assembled its body.
The project of the first Chinese "super-aircraft carrier" is rapidly moving forward: new photos show the superstructure already installed on its deck.
Aircraft carriers are one of the priorities for the world's leading naval forces. Experienced "players", such as the Royal Navy of Great Britain, the French Navy and the Indian Navy, are very active in this direction. Another proof of this is the recent presentation of the concept of a new generation French aircraft carrier.
Countries such as Japan and South Korea are making moves to join the elite club. But no country, except the United States, is making such efforts to build aircraft carriers as in China.
The Chinese Navy has already commissioned two aircraft carriers made on the basis of Soviet technologies. But it is the new ship, known as the Type 003, that promises to take China's fleet to a new level.
Type 003
Image source: navalnews
The Type 003 is close in size to the aircraft carriers of the US Navy — the largest ships of this type. The new images allow not only to see the progress of the work, but also give a more detailed idea of the size of the aircraft carrier. According to experts, its length is approximately 320 meters. This is slightly less than the length of the newest aircraft carrier of the US Navy — USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).
©navalnews
A notable feature of the Type 003 will be the presence of three launch catapults at once. Like Gerald R. Ford, the Chinese aircraft carrier will probably use an electromagnetic system to launch aircraft instead of steam catapults.
It is expected that the aircraft that will be based on the ship will include an aircraft carrier version of the FC-31 stealth fighter. A full-size model of this aircraft was recently seen at the training ground in Wuhan.
Shenyang FC-31
Image source: wikipedia
The car can be called an analog of the American F-35C of the fifth generation. The difference between the Chinese aircraft will be the presence of two engines instead of one and, possibly, a larger internal space for weapons.
The Chinese will have to wait for a new"invisible". Most likely, at first, the fourth-generation Shenyang J — 15 fighters, which are sometimes called — and not unreasonably-a copy of the Su-33, will be based on board the ship.
Russia has incomparably less certainty about the new aircraft carrier. In recent years, several completely different projects have been presented at once. One of the ships can carry two dozen multi-purpose manned aircraft, six helicopters and drones.
