For Chinese fans, the most exciting news on the 6th was that Navy Political Commissar Yuan Huazhi responded positively to the news about the fourth aircraft carrier. The long-awaited debate about how exactly the fourth aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy is progressing, has finally "hit the ground"!
According to public reports, a Hong Kong reporter asked that the outside world is highly concerned about the construction of China's fourth aircraft carrier, and "some commentators speculate that the delay in announcing the details may be due to a technical bottleneck." In this regard, Yuan Huazhi, political commissar of the Navy, made it clear that "there are no technical bottlenecks in China's aircraft carriers under construction." As for whether the fourth aircraft carrier will be nuclear-powered, he said that "it will be announced soon."
When asked, "In the future, we will be able to compete with the combat strength of US aircraft carriers," Yuan Huazhi emphatically said: "We are not building aircraft carriers to compete with the United States, nor are we building aircraft carriers to fight with the United States, but to protect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity and protect the country's rights and interests." We have nothing to do with the United States, we are not built for them. When asked whether "aircraft carrier training will go farther", Yuan Huazhi said: "Aircraft carriers will definitely go farther, and we are all defensive and defensive." ”
Why Hong Kong** suddenly asked about the progress of China's fourth aircraft carrier and whether it will be nuclear-powered, this has to start with the related topics that have been very hot in the Hong Kong media recently. Recently, a number of Hong Kong ** have reported that China has started to build two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers at the same time, their board numbers are 20 and 21 respectively, and will use the fourth generation of thorium-based molten salt dual reactors and medium-voltage DC all-electric propulsion, with a displacement of 100,000 tons, which is comparable to the United States' "Nimitz" class and "Ford" class supercarriers. There is also an analysis that the reason why the two aircraft carriers skipped 19 is because the Fujian ship also has a sister ship of the same type with the number 19, but the internal structure of the latter may have more improvements than the Fujian ship.
Many mainland military fans, including the author, previously believed that the credibility of these relevant news from the Hong Kong media was not high. According to related reports, China is building a conventionally powered aircraft carrier with the number 19 and two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers at the same time, and while it is not impossible for China to build three aircraft carriers at the same time, it is technically too risky. For example, the Liaoning is modified on the basis of the old Soviet aircraft carrier, and the Shandong ship is "copied" after fully testing the relevant experience of the coordination between the aircraft carrier and the carrier-based aircraft, but more new technologies are adopted; Although the Fujian ship is a new design and boldly adopts an electromagnetic catapult device, it still uses conventional power.
This is also a relatively common practice for the navies of various countries. For example, the US military adopted a similar approach when building the "Nimitz"-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. At that time, the U.S. military first built four conventionally powered supercarriers, and then verified the feasibility of nuclear power units with the "Enterprise", and finally successfully transitioned to the "Nimitz" class. Therefore, in the current situation that the Fujian ship has not yet gone to sea to start sea trials, the Hong Kong media's claim that China has started the construction of subsequent nuclear-powered aircraft carriers is obviously "contrary to common sense".
Excitingly, Yuan Huazhi made it clear in response to a question from a Hong Kong reporter that "there are no technical bottlenecks in China's aircraft carriers under construction", which, combined with the fact that "it will soon be announced" whether the fourth aircraft carrier will be nuclear-powered, is enough to prove that China's fourth aircraft carrier already exists and is under construction.
In fact, just "there are no technical bottlenecks in China's aircraft carriers under construction" is enough to make Chinese fans full of expectations. As everyone knows, although the US aircraft carrier "Ford" has been in service for many years, it has been unable to form a reliable combat force because of the high failure rate of the electromagnetic catapult device. Therefore, whether China's third aircraft carrier, Fujian, which also uses electromagnetic catapult devices, will also encounter this problem has always been a matter of concern for China. Yuan Huazhi's answer undoubtedly completely dispelled the worries of the outside world. At present, the Fujian ship is stepping up testing, and it will soon go to sea to start sea trials.
As for whether China's fourth aircraft carrier under construction will be nuclear-powered, the author remains skeptical. As mentioned earlier, before the Fujian completes a large number of core equipment tests, the construction of another sister ship with the same hull design and power plant will be much less technically risky. In addition, for the Chinese Navy, which has not yet learned from the U.S. Navy for global deployment, the unlimited endurance advantage brought by nuclear-powered aircraft carriers is limited, but its huge technical risks and expensive construction costs are more troublesome.
In any case, China's fourth aircraft carrier is really here this time, so let's look forward to its good news.