The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Barack supports sea power, not land power!

After entering the White House and learning about the current situation in the United States, Barack's heart couldn't help but beat wildly.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq consume more than 4000 billion U.S. dollars each year, accounting for nearly half of U.S. military spending.

These are simply two huge mudflats that are constantly bleeding the United States.

Even though the United States is a big country with a great power, it cannot withstand such continuous bleeding.

If the timing was not right, Barack would have wanted to announce the end of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This time, Barack personally attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the first ship of the "Ford-class" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which also showed his support for the US Navy.

In the presence of many American politicians and media reporters, skilled workers began to cut the steel plates of the aircraft carrier.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, there was a lot of discussion in the United States, and even the whole world was discussing the "Ford-class" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

In just one week, Beihai Shipyard held the launching ceremony of the second Type 003 aircraft carrier, the 'Yue Ship'!
Originally, the launching ceremony of the "Guangdong Ship" was planned to be held on July 7, but now adjustments have been made to hold the launching ceremony in advance.

The launching ceremony of the "Yue Ship" was broadcast live simultaneously by CCTV and Hong Kong Satellite TV. It was not only broadcast live on TV stations, but also on the Internet!
Through live broadcast on TV and the Internet, it can be spread faster across the country and even around the world.

As for television stations, they are more likely to be restricted in various countries. After all, there are political forces behind the television stations in each country.

The Internet is different. It is an emerging field and a new thing in all countries. Young people are the main users of the Internet. Young people are most receptive to new things and like new things the most.

The restrictions on online live streaming are often the lowest, far lower than those on TV.

As long as you have basic internet speed, you’ll be good to go!

Not to mention, the popularity of smartphones has opened up this aspect.

So far, Kirin phones have sold hundreds of millions of units worldwide, which means there are at least over 100 million smartphone users in the world.

Among them, China and overseas countries each account for about 50%!

Compared to the "Ford-class" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, whose first ship has just started construction and whose deck is being cut, the Type 003 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is already the second one. The first one is about to be put into service, and the second one has already been launched.

Now that the second Type 003 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has been launched, is it still a long way to go before the third one is launched?
The huge "Yue Ship" looks very spectacular and majestic. It is a real steel behemoth.

Many people watching the launching ceremony of the "Yue Ship" could not help but compare the "Yue Ship" with the "Ford-class" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Even military experts and military commentators could not help but compare the two. Especially for some people who know about China's shipbuilding industry, they know that unlike the United States, which can only be built at the Newport News Shipyard, China can build it in multiple shipyards.

Moreover, the US shipbuilding industry is no longer as developed and prosperous as it was during World War II, when it could carry out large-scale military expansion.

As early as the 80s, the shipbuilding industry in the United States began to shrink on a large scale. Now, the United States only has military shipbuilding industry left. As for the civilian shipbuilding industry, it is just the shipbuilding industry of some insignificant luxury yachts and luxury cruise ships.

As for why there has been a large-scale shrinkage, even the loss of almost the entire civilian shipbuilding industry, it is naturally due to the intractable cost issues and the close relationship between manufacturing outsourcing and capital shift to financialization.

The cost issue is the most fundamental problem. In the 80s, according to estimates by the U.S. International Trade Commission, the cost of building a civilian ship in the United States was 2 to 3 times higher than building it in a similar foreign shipyard!
In the shipbuilding industry, cost is the key.

In other words, for industrial products, cost is a very critical factor!
The rise and fall of Japan's shipbuilding industry is also due to cost!

Back then, Japan relied on its huge cost advantage to become the world's shipbuilding center. Its civilian shipbuilding orders ranked first in the world all year round, and the order volume exceeded 50% every year. Later, the decline of Japan's shipbuilding industry was also due to costs. With the sharp increase in labor costs in Japan, as well as the increase in material and investment costs, Japan's shipbuilding costs also rose rapidly, and its competitiveness also declined rapidly.

When China was competing with South Korea to take over the transfer of Japan's shipbuilding industry, China defeated South Korea with its huge cost advantage and eventually took over more shipbuilding industries. Now China has become the world's shipbuilding industry center, the world's largest shipbuilding power and a powerful country, and it regularly takes over 70% of orders.

Up to now, although South Korea has an advantage in labor costs, it is at a disadvantage in steel, investment costs, etc., and its shipbuilding costs are still higher than those of China.

China is different. Its annual steel output has already exceeded 10 billion tons. This is the first time in the history of the world since the industrial civilization that the steel output has exceeded 10 billion tons. Moreover, it can produce steel of various qualities. The huge steel output makes China's steel price relatively cheap.

Another thing is the complete industrial system and huge industrial clusters, which give China a huge advantage in scale.

As for investment costs, whether it is a major state-owned shipyard or a private shipyard, it is relatively easy to obtain bank loans, and the loan interest rate is relatively low!

Of course, there is another aspect, that is, China is not only the world's largest shipbuilding country, but also the world's largest ocean transportation country. The world's four largest shipping groups are all located in China!
In this case, it means that China can start building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in multiple shipyards at the same time, and in the construction of aircraft carriers of the same level, China undoubtedly has a cost advantage.

Originally, some people were mocking China's export of two aircraft carriers to the UK, saying it was short-sighted and would come at a heavy price. But now, with the launch of the second Type 003 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the "Yue Ship", no one is saying this anymore.

Liu Tao also attended the launching ceremony of the "Guangdong Ship". There was a big difference from the past, that is, the officers and soldiers equipped on the "Guangdong Ship" were all very experienced and were veterans!

This will help the 'Yue Ship' complete a series of tests more quickly and form combat effectiveness more quickly.

Why did China finally agree to export Type 001 and Type 002 aircraft carriers to the United Kingdom? In addition to exchanging a large number of Chinese cultural relics, a very important reason was that China wanted to start the small dumpling mode, and the aircraft carriers would be mainly Type 003 aircraft carriers. As for conventional-powered aircraft carriers such as Type 001 and Type 002 aircraft carriers, they are no longer suitable for China.

If the Type 002B aircraft carrier was not a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with so many advanced technologies, it would probably be considered for export.

In the future, China will only produce large aircraft carriers, because only large aircraft carriers can match the status of a great power! (End of this chapter)