China already has 003 electric bomb aircraft carrier, is it necessary to build 076?

Nowadays, the development of the Chinese navy can be said to be changing with each passing day. It must be known that 10 years ago, China's first "aircraft carrier training ship", the Liaoning ship, was just delivered. Today, China has not only launched three aircraft carriers (the first two have been in service and formed combat effectiveness), but also launched three 40,000-ton-class Type 075 amphibious assault ships. With the increase of China's large-deck ships and the introduction of the concept of "Lightning Aircraft Carrier" by the US military, the concept of the Type 076 amphibious assault ship originally discussed by netizens has been turned over again.

In fact, the concept of the Type 076 amphibious assault ship is to add an angled deck and deploy an electromagnetic catapult on the basis of the original Type 075. At the same time, it also adds a series of equipment such as supporting arresting cables, so as to have the ability to take off and land conventional fighter jets and unmanned aircraft. The capabilities of human fighter jets are similar in function to the "Lightning Carrier" of the US military. Over the years, the Chinese Navy has often planned its own development route with reference to the U.S. military, so the 076 looks very similar to the U.S. military's "Lightning Aircraft Carrier", so do we really need to build the 076 amphibious assault ship similar to a small aircraft carrier? ?

To judge whether China needs the Type 076 amphibious assault ship, we must first understand the different tactical needs of the Chinese and American navies. At the tactical level, the concept of "Lightning Aircraft Carrier" launched by the United States is actually an expedient measure, because the core of the US Navy has always been a maritime combat formation led by large aircraft carriers; due to the hollowing out of the US internal industry, the US aircraft carrier formation The specifications of the aircraft carrier have dropped again and again, from the initial aircraft carrier battle group to an aircraft carrier strike group, and the size of the aircraft carrier strike group is also shrinking. More importantly, the aircraft carriers of the U.S. military themselves are not enough. At present, almost all the aircraft carriers of the U.S. military cannot be maintained in a timely manner, which leads to the deterioration of the state of the U.S. military aircraft carriers.

Beginning in 2017, the US Navy's "aircraft carrier window" began to appear in the waters of the Western Pacific, and it is getting longer and longer. In order to make up for the shortage of the number of aircraft carriers and eliminate the so-called "aircraft carrier window period", the US military began to use large amphibious assault ships to carry a sufficient number of F-35B vertical/short take-off and landing aircraft, and temporarily stole the aircraft carrier to perform those tasks that should have been carried out by the aircraft carrier. Because the F-35 fighter is nicknamed "Lightning II", this amphibious assault ship full of F-35B fighters is nicknamed "Lightning aircraft carrier".

The emergence of the Lightning aircraft carrier has largely alleviated the dilemma of the shortage of US aircraft carriers. At the same time, those "Lightning aircraft carriers" that can carry more than 20 F-35Bs, relying on the excellent performance of the F-35B fifth-generation aircraft, can still be used to the world. The vast majority of countries pose a tactical threat. In the possible outbreak of sea and air combat, these "lightning aircraft carriers" can also act as a supplement to the US military's large aircraft carriers, and their combat performance is remarkable.

The essential difference between the Chinese Navy and the U.S. Navy is that the Chinese Navy is still a regional armed force. At present, the main task of the Chinese Navy is still to protect the territory, territorial waters and airspace of China and the South China Sea. At the same time, the Chinese Navy also Taking on the important task of safeguarding the safety of China's ocean-going trade routes, the most important performance is that we have stationed a fleet in the Gulf of Aden waters since 2008 to protect passing merchant ships from the threat of Somali pirates. At the same time, the evacuation of nationals from Libya in 2011 and the evacuation of nationals from Yemen in 2015 also proved that the navy has an irreplaceable and important value in safeguarding the country's overseas interests.

Although the Chinese Navy has formulated a long-term development plan with large aircraft carriers as the core, but: first, aircraft carriers have a long construction cycle and high operating costs, and it is difficult for China to equip a large number of aircraft carriers in a short period of time; second, aircraft carriers are politically sensitive. The use of aircraft carriers requires careful consideration of various impacts, which limits the use of aircraft carriers.

From these two points, amphibious assault ships obviously have more advantages than aircraft carriers. Because the construction cost of amphibious assault ships is relatively low and the construction period is shorter, it is convenient for a large number of equipment in a short period of time. For example, China's three 075-type amphibious assault ships took less than 5 years from the start of construction to delivery, while one aircraft carrier, Even the construction cycle of conventional aircraft carriers is obviously more than 5 years!

In addition, amphibious assault ships have low political sensitivity, but because they carry a large number of carrier-based aviation forces and amphibious landing troops, they can independently carry out land, sea and air amphibious combat missions and non-combat missions, so amphibious assault ships have strong comprehensive combat capability and flexibility. Even bigger than an aircraft carrier.

For the Chinese Navy, the Type 075 amphibious assault ship has excellent performance, but the ship still has a problem, that is, it can only carry helicopters and cannot carry fixed-wing aircraft - whether it is a manned fixed-wing aircraft or a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Neither can be carried. However, the helicopter is limited by its characteristics. Whether it is range, speed or load, there is a big gap compared with fixed-wing aircraft. Therefore, the 075 type amphibious assault ship, which can only carry helicopters, is comparable to the American two-attack in terms of combat performance. There is a big gap, which can be filled by developing the Type 076 two-attack with catapult, arresting cable, and angled deck.

It is speculated that if the Type 076 amphibious assault ship appears, its displacement will be increased to more than 50,000 tons, and the deck will be lengthened appropriately, and the angled deck will be planned in the same way as the aircraft carrier. Arresting cables will be installed at the rear of the angled deck to block The carrier plane landed. At the same time, the bow can be considered to install 1~2 electromagnetic catapults, but the size of this electromagnetic catapult can be appropriately reduced, not as huge as the "Fujian" aircraft carrier, because the 076 type two-attack installation catapult is mainly used for Catapult unmanned fighters and reconnaissance aircraft, and manned aircraft are also relatively small, so the requirements for catapults can be appropriately lowered.

In this way, the 50,000-ton Type 076 can retain a dock at the stern and carry two 726 "Mustang" air-cushion landing craft, and its hangar and vehicle roll armor plates can be connected together, which is convenient for carrier-based aircraft scheduling. The load can also be easily adjusted to meet the needs of different combat missions. The ship can carry about 20 various types of helicopters, 12 unmanned aircraft and 6 to 10 manned light combat aircraft (such as L-15 advanced trainer, etc.).

If you perform air defense combat missions, you can consider carrying aircraft such as J-15T and J-35. When not performing amphibious combat missions, you can carry about 30 J-35 fighter jets at most, so that their comprehensive combat effectiveness is higher than The U.S. "Lightning Carrier". And because it is equipped with an ejection device, the 076 can carry a large jet UAV similar to the Rainbow-6. The aircraft can also hang a phased array radar under the belly and serve as a cameo early warning aircraft, so it can provide 400 to 500 kilometers for the fleet. The no-blind-spot air defense depth is obviously beyond the capabilities of the U.S. "Lightning aircraft carrier".

If performing non-military tasks, such as evacuation of overseas Chinese, 076 can carry more than 20 helicopters and two 726-type air-cushion landing craft, and its hull is large and has enough accommodation to carry out tasks such as evacuation or peacekeeping, and can carry part of the navy in advance The Marine Corps provides armed protection for China's overseas nationals and government agencies such as embassies. It can even carry some fighter jets to provide air defense cover for the fleet, and its operational flexibility is much higher than that of aircraft carriers.

All in all, 076 has great multi-purpose potential for the People's Liberation Army. It is by no means an expedient measure like the "Lightning aircraft carrier", and with the continuous deepening of China's foreign trade, we will increasingly need the navy on the high seas and oceans in the future. To safeguard our own national interests, and at the same time to support Chinese overseas diaspora all over the world when necessary, from this perspective, 076 obviously has important strategic and tactical value, so do you think it is necessary for us to build 076?