The biggest highlight of the Fujian ship, a major national weapon, is the electromagnetic catapult. Why is this technology leading the world?

The launching ceremony of China's third aircraft carrier was held on the morning of June 17, attracting worldwide attention. The Central Military Commission approved the naming of the aircraft carrier "Fujian", hull number 18. Many world-renowned media have commented that the Fujian is the world's most advanced aircraft carrier.

What are the highlights of this aircraft carrier?

From the appearance, it can be seen at a glance that, unlike the Liaoning and Shandong ships that were launched earlier, the front deck is not raised, but the deck is flat throughout; from the released information, this aircraft carrier is a conventionally powered aircraft carrier with a displacement of more than 80,000 tons, which is the largest displacement of similar aircraft carriers still in service in the world; it is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system that only the United States is equipped with on aircraft carriers in the world.

The Fujian aircraft carrier uses a straight and long flight deck, which means that this aircraft carrier no longer uses the ski-jump take-off mode, but uses the world's most advanced electromagnetic catapult and arresting device, which is what the media considers to be the most advanced highlight. Why is the electromagnetic catapult the most advanced technical equipment in the world? Let's find out.

The main function and greatest advantage of aircraft carriers is that they can carry many fighters. These fighters take off from the deck of the aircraft carrier and can attack a certain place at close range, thus solving the problem that fixed airports cannot quickly attack a certain target at a long distance. In this sense, an aircraft carrier is actually a mobile airport.

Therefore, the number of aircraft that can be loaded on an aircraft carrier and the performance of the aircraft become the key to success. However, in order for an aircraft to take off from the deck, except for vertical take-off aircraft, most aircraft need to glide to a certain speed before they can fly, so a sufficiently long runway is required.

Early aircraft before World War II were all propeller aircraft with light fuselages and low takeoff speed requirements. Therefore, early aircraft carriers only needed a deck to taxi to meet takeoff needs. After the 1950s, jet aircraft became the mainstream of fighter aircraft, with faster and faster speeds, more and more weapons, and heavier takeoff weights. However, it was impossible to make aircraft carrier runways longer and longer, so other solutions had to be found.

Then there came into being assisted take-off methods such as steam catapult and ski-jump.

The United States took the lead in developing a mature steam catapult device, which was first installed on the Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier. The Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier is a conventionally powered aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of more than 80,000 tons. A total of four ships were built. The first ship, the Kitty Hawk, began construction in 1956, entered service in 1961, and was retired in 2009. The other three ships were named Constellation, America, and Kennedy, and they have all been retired.

Steam catapult technology is very complicated. Currently, in addition to the United States, which has more than a dozen aircraft carriers using this device, only the French Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier uses it. Other countries have not adopted it due to the complexity of the technology, but have adopted ski-jump take-off. These countries include Russia, Britain, Italy, India, and my country's earlier launched Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carriers.

The so-called ski-jump takeoff method is to make the bow of the ship look upturned, and use the taxiing speed of the carrier-based aircraft itself to rush out of the deck along the upturned slope of the bow, forming a parabolic motion. At the moment the fighter is thrown away from the bow, it is higher from the sea level, thereby gaining a short period of time to continue accelerating to reach the take-off speed.

Electromagnetic catapults were first proposed in the 19th century, but there was no breakthrough until the 1970s. In order to seek a more efficient catapult takeoff method, the United States launched research on electromagnetic catapults in 1982. After 22 years of hard work, it entered the test phase of electromagnetic catapult products in 2004. After more than a decade of hard work, the electromagnetic catapult was finally officially equipped on the Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Among the aircraft carriers launched in the world, only the US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers Ford and Kennedy are equipped with electromagnetic catapults. However, starting from June 17, 2022, Chinese aircraft carriers also have a place, which greatly surprised some people.

Comparative advantages of various take-off methods The idea of ​​steam catapult was proposed by Mitchell, commander of the British Naval Air Force Reserve in 1951. It was equipped on the Mercenary aircraft carrier that year, but I have not found any information on its use. Currently, the world's aircraft carriers with steam catapults are mainly in the United States, with 10 in service alone, all of which belong to the Miltz class and have a displacement of more than 100,000 tons.

Apart from this, only the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, with a displacement of 42,500 tons, uses a steam catapult.

The main process of the steam catapult system is to use a set of steam catapults, use high-pressure steam to push the piston to drive the slider on the track, and eject the carrier-based aircraft connected to the slider. It can reach the take-off speed within 2 seconds.

The complexity and disadvantages of this device are that the catapult is huge, requiring large boilers and countless pipelines, and the construction and maintenance workload is astonishing; it also consumes a large amount of steam, and only 6% of the steam is utilized, resulting in a huge waste of energy and water; in order to meet the large amount of steam water required, the aircraft carrier needs to be equipped with a large seawater desalination plant.

Moreover, since the steam catapult has a strong ejection force and cannot be adjusted, it requires extremely high aircraft strength. Therefore, it cannot be used for general light aircraft and drones, because the huge ejection force will tear these aircraft into pieces.

Although the relatively simple ski-jump takeoff does not require a complex catapult device, the weight of the aircraft taking off is limited and cannot meet the takeoff speed requirements of modern heavy fighters. Even if a light aircraft takes off from a ski-jump, the aircraft carrier needs to sail against the wind at a speed of 20 knots to increase the relative speed of the carrier-based aircraft in order to take off smoothly. This is greatly limited in actual combat.

Electromagnetic catapults and electromagnetic guns use the same principle, both use electromagnetic energy to push the ejected object outward, but the difference is that the launch load, launch speed and launch frequency are quite different. The electromagnetic gun projectile is only a few grams to a few kilograms, but the electromagnetic catapult has to launch aircraft weighing dozens of tons; the launch speed of the electromagnetic gun reaches several kilometers to tens of kilometers per second, or even hundreds of kilometers, while the electromagnetic catapult only needs tens of meters to hundreds of meters per second; in terms of launch frequency, the electromagnetic gun requires dozens of rounds per second, while the electromagnetic catapult only needs a few minutes or even dozens of minutes to launch once.

Compared with traditional steam catapults, electromagnetic catapults have the advantages of small size, low requirements for shipborne auxiliary systems, light weight, high efficiency, low operation and maintenance costs, etc. The number of operators is also 30% less than that of steam catapults, and the ejection force can be adjusted, so various aircraft models can be launched, including drones.

However, the biggest weakness of electromagnetic catapults is that they consume too much electricity. They are generally only suitable for all-electric aircraft carriers or nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and are difficult to configure on conventional aircraft carriers. The electromagnetic catapults of the United States are all equipped on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. They entered the final product testing phase in the fall of 2004. In 2013, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult, the Ford, was launched. It began service in 2017, symbolizing that electromagnetic catapults have entered the practical stage.

There is no doubt that the Fujian ship will need several years of outfitting and seaworthiness before it can be officially put into service. The many advantages of the electromagnetic catapult will make it the best choice for future aircraft carriers, but the electromagnetic catapult is a brand-new technology after all, and there will still be many immaturities in practice. According to some reports, the electromagnetic catapult devices of US aircraft carriers also have many problems. Even the then US President Trump threatened in 2019 to change the electromagnetic catapult on the aircraft carrier back to steam catapult.

Based on these circumstances, the famous military commentator Zhang Zhaozhong has repeatedly said in his past comments that China's third and fourth aircraft carriers cannot use nuclear power or electromagnetic catapults. But on June 17, China's third aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult was launched, and he miscalculated again.

This shocked the world, because China's aircraft carrier is just a conventional-powered aircraft carrier, but it is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult! You should know that the electromagnetic catapult device requires an amazing power supply, which is difficult for conventional aircraft carriers to do. Did China invent some black technology to solve the power problem? As a result, some netizens cheered that China was overtaking on the curve.

Aircraft carrier is a powerful weapon of a great power. China has built many of them one after another in the past decade, from a modified Liaoning ship to the Shandong ship designed and built by itself, and then to the Fujian ship, the world's largest conventional aircraft carrier designed and built independently and equipped with the world's most advanced electromagnetic catapult. This symbolizes that China's navy is moving from shallow waters to the deep blue, which is exciting and delightful.

But does this count as overtaking others? I think it is debatable. Compared with some established military powers, we still have a big gap, especially compared with the United States. The gap in our military strength and high-tech equipment is very obvious. The United States has at least 12 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in service, with a displacement of more than 100,000 tons. They have been researching steam catapults and electromagnetic catapults for more than a decade.

The equipment we developed may have incorporated the latest modern technology, and the scientific and technical personnel have spent a lot of effort. But overall, it is still difficult to see that it has truly stood out from the imitation. Now, our Fujian ship has just been launched, and there is still a long way to go before it can really enter service.

It also needs to undergo outfitting and sea trials, which means it needs to be equipped with complete equipment and fighter jets. These fighter jets and equipment, including electromagnetic catapults, need to undergo many tests and actual combat exercises, and also experience the test of various winds, waves and environments. During this period, many problems may arise that need to be solved one by one.

Therefore, we should neither underestimate ourselves nor be arrogant. Only by adhering to reform and opening up, constantly innovating in learning, being modest and prudent, and taking one step at a time can we continue to develop and progress. What do you think about this? Welcome to discuss, thank you for reading.

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