With the launch of the Fujian and its nearing commissioning, China now has three aircraft carriers.
As early as the beginning of 2023, China Shipbuilding Group announced a model aircraft carrier with a board number of 20.
If the "20 ships" is China's follow-up shipbuilding plan, and the 18 ships after the Fujian ship also exists, then China is already engaged in the "5 aircraft carrier lineup".
Chinese aircraft carriers are now also "dumplings", and many people believe that this is China's preparation for a possible "Sino-US war" in the future.
But in fact, if you think about the current international situation and the time when the aircraft carrier will form its combat strength, you can understandThese aircraft carriers are not prepared for the "Sino-American war".
Because it takes too long for aircraft carriers to form combat effectiveness, the international situation cannot wait for five aircraft carriers to form combat strength at all.
By American standards, the construction of an aircraft carrier takes 3 5 years. After the launch of the aircraft carrier, it will take 2 to 3 years for sea trials and outfitting.
After the completion of sea trials and outfitting and the commissioning, it will take a long time to complete the training of the crew and let the aircraft carrier form combat effectiveness.
This period varies depending on the international situation and may range from a few months to several years.
The reason why it is said that it can be put into service in a few months is that there is a shortage of experienced crew members in wartime, and because of the time problem, it is impossible for the crew to spend a lot of time learning how to sail a ship.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the old crew of half a ship takes a novice from half a ship, goes to sea to train for a few months, and then goes to war. In extreme cases, there are even cases of Japan's aircraft carrier Shinano being sunk within 17 hours of launching.
But in peacetime, it is another matter, and countries that have aircraft carriers in peacetime should try their best to ensure that the aircraft carriers are all old crews, so that the crews can be used as "elite crews" in wartime.
Therefore, in peacetime, aircraft carriers have to spend several years carrying out various training and cruising missions to ensure the combat effectiveness of their crews.
In factEven the Shandong ship, which has long been in service in our country, can be regarded as having formed sufficient combat effectiveness at present.
About 4 years have passed since the Shandong ship was officially put into service in December 2019, which can be regarded as giving the Liaoning ship the ability to take off and land at night, deal with emergency take-off and landing, and be regarded as a stand-alone.
Therefore, in any case, it is definitely not an easy task for aircraft carriers to go from production to the formation of combat effectiveness, and it will take a lot of time.
If the construction of 20 ships starts at the beginning of 2023 when the model is announced, it will take at least 5 years for it to form combat effectiveness, then it will be at least 2028。But with the current international situation, can the current situation survive until 2028?
In fact, with today's China's military strength and the problems it encounters, it is actually almost the same whether there are aircraft carriers or not.
China today faces the blockade of the first and second island chains of the United States, as well as the decentralization of naval construction.
For the former, the first and second island chains of the United States have seriously affected the scope of the Chinese Navy's activities, making it impossible for the Chinese Navy to truly enter the open ocean.
In this context,The navy is more like a "missile launch position" for China. After all, the navy can only play its role if it has the depth of a large battlefield, and the navy that can only be used in a certain place is really similar to an artillery position.
Therefore, now China is confronting the United States, and it is the role of the Rocket Forces that is greater than that of the Navy. They are all "artillery positions", which naturally means that the muzzle is larger, and the rocket army with a larger yield is better used.
For the latter, a fundamental difference between the construction of the Chinese and US navies is that the core of the US Navy is aircraft carriers, while China does not have the so-called core, that is, decentralization.
In the US Navy sequence, strikes against the enemy are carried out by carrier-based aircraft carrying anti-ship missiles or torpedoes, and strikes against local ground forces are also carried out by carrier-based aircraft.
All in allThe United States prefers to accomplish all tactical objectives with aircraft carriers, the other ** in the fleet formation is more like an appendage of an aircraft carrier, and its only role is to protect the aircraft carrier.
Not so for China. China's YJ-21 missile has a range of more than 1,000 kilometers and is a hypersonic missile with extremely strong anti-ship capabilities.
SoAny large ** ship in China has strong anti-ship capabilities, and the Chinese Navy does not have a so-called "core".
As for why China wants to build so many aircraft carriers, it is prepared for the US strategic contraction. Although the role of aircraft carriers is small for China now, it does not mean that the role of aircraft carriers will be small in the future.
The most important role of aircraft carriers is to be able to send the air force to a distance of more than 10,000 kilometers to strike at targets. Therefore, for small countries, aircraft carriers are "bomber airfields" at sea, capable of striking at their own ground facilities.
There are two key factors in this, one is the distance, and the other is the strike on ground facilities. Far means that even a country thousands of miles away, a country with an aircraft carrier can strike at it, as in a series of wars in the Middle East.
Striking at ground facilities means that it can smash your country to shreds and completely destroy your social order.
Based on the above points, we can draw a conclusion, that is:Aircraft carriers are the standard configuration of the "world police".
Although the 11 aircraft carriers of the United States cannot make countries with large territories and strong military forces such as China and Russia afraid, small countries are afraid of the United States.
So the United States, with its 11 aircraft carriers, can maintain the world order and let the world run under the order it dominates.
When the United States withdraws from Asia and even the Middle East in the future, the entire Western Pacific and Indian Oceans will be in a "power vacuum" that has lost its American power.
At this time, there must be a country to come out to maintain order, otherwise the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific will be full of war.
This is when the role of the aircraft carrier becomes apparent. With aircraft carriers, other countries will not dare to do anything that harms China's interests.
For example, in the last century, Southeast Asian countries excluded Chinese, and every country was the death of hundreds of thousands of Chinese.
At that time, if China had a large number of aircraft carriers, and had driven the aircraft carriers around when there were signs of anti-Chinese in these countries, such a thing would not have happened.
Project Sword References:
1] Observer.com: "The Fujian Ship Reappears, and the Retired Rear Admiral of Taiwan Sighs: The Strength Has Come".
2] Sina Finance, "When will China have its own nuclear-powered aircraft carrier".