About China's New Aircraft Carrier Under Construction

choi

Yesterday afternoon I gave more thought about R9X missile. It is impossible that GPS (not precise enough) alone guide the missile. Looking at the wreckage of the two cars where the targets sat in, I realized they were moving targets (not suitable for GPS), which must have been guided by laser.

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Sam Roggeveen, China's New Carrier Shows Beijing Is Done Playing Defense; A growing fleet means much bigger regional ambitions. Foreign Policy, May 10, 2019 (blog).
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/0 ... fense-navy-planavy/

Note:
(a)
(i) Sam Roggeveen. Director, International Security Program. Lowy Institute, undated.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/people/experts/bio/sam-roggeveen
(ii) Lowy Institute in another Web page says Roggeveen is )note present tense) also "a Visiting Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University. Before joining the Lowy Institute, Sam was a senior strategic analyst in Australia's peak [meaning 'top'] intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments."
(b) The title means China is going on offense.
(c) "New commercial satellite photos published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington show what is almost certainly the early stages of construction of China's third aircraft carrier. * * * We know from satellite photos that China is working on two different kinds of catapult launch technology, which can fling even large and heavy aircraft off a ship at high speed. One is a steam catapult, used on the current generation of U.S. carriers, and the other is an electromagnetic version * * *"
(i) China Power Team, Tracking the Type 002 – China's Third Aircraft Carrier. CSIS, May 6 (updated on May 7), 2019
https://chinapower.csis.org/china-carrier-type-002/

two consecutive paragraphs:

"Visible through the clouds and mist is what looks to be a bow and main hull section of a large vessel. While details regarding the Type 002 are limited, what is observable at Jiangnan is consistent with what is expected for the People’s Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) third aircraft carrier.

"The bow section measures approximately 22.5 meters-long and it tapers from a width of approximately 34 meters down to approximately 30 meters. The haze in the image and the image’s resolution make it difficult to determine if the bow section is resting on a construction platform or if the reddish sections extending forward and aft of the partially assembled section are part of the bow itself. If measured to include these components, the hull section has an overall length of approximately 48 meters.

(ii) This was all CSIS had to say about the bow. The (commercial) satellite photos -- there are four photos -- CSIS presented in this blog has the third photo (positioned between the above two paragraphs) that marked the bow and hull. CSOS dod not surmise what kind of bow it was. There is no way (in my view) to tell more about the bow, such as ski jump or not (because construction is in an early stage).

(d) "That means critical support tasks such as airborne early warning and supply delivery have to be performed by helicopters, which are slower and have less range and endurance."
(i) airborne early warning and control
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_early_warning_and_control

1 1/2 consecutive paragraphs:

"The world’s first-ever engagement in the history of aerial warfare, with both opposing sides using such platforms, was in South Asia, during the February 27, 2019 aerial engagement between India and Pakistan, with India using A-50I Phalcon AWACS and Pakistan using the Saab 2000." (citation omitted).

"AEW&C aircraft are used for both defensive and offensive air operations, and are to the NATO and US forces trained or integrated Air Forces what the combat information center is to a US Navy warship, plus a highly mobile and powerful radar platform. The system is used offensively to direct fighters to their target locations, and defensively, directing counterattacks on enemy forces, both air and ground. So useful is the advantage of command and control from a high altitude, the United States Navy operates Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye AEW&C aircraft  [in service since 1964; 'Loaded weight: 43,068 lb (19,536 kg)': en.wikipedia.org] off its Supercarriers to augment and protect its carrier Command Information Centers (CICs).

Compare: section 8 General Dynamics: "Loaded weight: 26,500 lb (12,000 kg)"  en.wikipedia.org for "General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon" (now made by Lockheed Martin)
(ii) The "supply delivery" at issue is not delivery into a carrier (which has its own supply ships), but out of the carrier, for relief (after hurricanes or earthquake in Japan).

(e) Compare : United Kingdom currently has one, only one carrier: HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Queen_Elizabeth_(R08)
(table: Commissioned 2017, In service 2020 (planned) {not yet combat-ready]; lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth class of aircraft carriers; has no catapults or arrestor wires and is instead designed to operate V/STOL aircraft)