The aircraft carrier is a symbol of the navy of a great power, and the five permanent members of the Security Council have their own domestic aircraft carriers, and the navies of these five countries control nearly 80% of the world's active aircraft carriers, including many "Ford" class, a nuclear-powered supercarrier with two top ones, and its comprehensive combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of conventional aircraft carriers.
Comparison of the dimensions of active aircraft carriers in various countries.
From left to right, the US Navy's "Ford" class "Nimitz" class, the British Royal Navy's "Queen Elizabeth" class, the French Navy's "Charles de Gaulle", the Chinese Navy's "Liaoning", the Russian Navy's "Admiral Kuznetsov", the Indian Navy's "Vikramaditya" and "Vikrant", of which the Brazilian Navy's "São Paulo" aircraft carrier has been sunk and decommissioned in February 2023.
The supercarrier not only has a full load displacement of more than 100,000 tons, a large flight deck, and twice the number of carrier-based aircraft carried by medium-sized aircraft carriers, but also has stronger self-sustaining power and protection capabilities at sea, and the overall combat effectiveness far exceeds that of medium and light aircraft carriers, and the supercarrier has become the first choice for future aircraft carriers in the P5 countries.
Comparison of supercarriers in China, the United States and France (Source: Navy News).
According to the current classification of aircraft carriers, the full load displacement is 7Aircraft carriers of more than 50,000 tons can be classified as supercarriers, and only 10 "Nimitz"-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and 1 "Ford"-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the US Navy meet this criterion. However, according to the current plans of various countries, by the 2030s, the world will add at least 2 new supercarriers, in addition to the "Fujian" ship that is being tested at sea, France will also start building a new generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier PA-NG in 2031.
The length of the supercarrier is generally more than 300 meters, and the full load displacement is 7More than 50,000 tons, can carry about 70 carrier-based aircraft, designed with at least 2 or more catapults, carrier-based aircraft release and operation efficiency is far more than medium-sized aircraft carriers. Taking the US Navy's latest "Ford" class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as an example, the ship has a length of 333 meters, a flight deck width of 78 meters, and a full load displacement of 100,000 tons, making it the largest aircraft carrier in the world.
USS Ford (near) and USS Truman twin aircraft carrier formations.
The "Ford" class aircraft carrier can carry 75 carrier-based aircraft, and four electromagnetic catapults and three carrier-based aircraft elevators are responsible for the take-off and landing of these carrier-based aircraft, as well as the dispatch of hangars and flight decks. According to the model's calculations, the "Ford" class aircraft carrier can make 228 sorties in 12 hours and 342 sorties in 18 hours.
On the flight deck is the aircraft carrier "Ford" with 42 carrier-based aircraft.
Compared with supercarriers, although medium-sized aircraft carriers with a smaller circle are no different from the former in terms of functional divisions, they can also install catapults and fly fixed-wing early warning aircraft, but they are not a little worse in terms of the scale of carrier-based aircraft and the efficiency of take-off and landing operations. For example, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which is the only aircraft carrier in service that can take off and land fixed-wing early warning aircraft, can only carry two E-2 "Hawkeye" early warning aircraft, while the "Ford" class aircraft carrier can carry up to five E-2D early warning aircraft.
The situation of other medium-sized aircraft carriers in service is even worse, Britain's "Queen Elizabeth" class, China's "Shandong", "Liaoning", Russia's "Admiral Kuznetsov", India's "Vikramaditya" and "Vikrant" aircraft carriers are all gliding decks, carrier-based aircraft glide distance and take-off weight are obviously limited, can not fly fixed-wing carrier-based early warning aircraft, can only be replaced by carrier-based early warning, but the two in flight speed, air time, There are many differences in dimensions such as flight radius and radar detection range, which cannot be perfectly replaced.
In addition, due to the limitation of hangar and flight deck area, the hangar and deck scheduling of medium-sized aircraft carriers will appear to be "stretched," and the take-off operations at the far take-off point and the blocking and landing operations in the landing area will interfere with each other, and the sortie efficiency of carrier-based aircraft is completely different from that of a supercarrier with multiple catapults, which will directly affect combat effectiveness. Generally speaking, the combat effectiveness of a supercarrier can reach more than twice that of a medium-sized aircraft carrier, while the combat effectiveness of a light aircraft carrier, which is not eye-catching to the five permanent members, is even more stretched, and can only reach about 1 6 times that of a supercarrier.
Su-33 carrier-based fighters have not taken off and landed on aircraft carriers for a long time.
Looking forward to the future, within ten years, only three countries can afford to raise and use supercarriers, China, the United States and France, Britain's two "Queen Elizabeth" class can be used for twenty or thirty years, Russia's supercarrier is still on PPT, and it is unlikely that it will be built within ten years, and the "Admiral Kuznetsov" can be repaired this year for a few years.