The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 949 Type 002 Aircraft Carrier

mid-December.

Yangcheng Shipyard conference room.

The expert team of Type 002 medium aircraft carrier was selected to look at the ship model in the center of the conference room, listened carefully to Liu Tao's explanation, and took notes from time to time.

This ship model is 3.15 meters long, 0.75 meters wide, and very heavy.

Just one look and you'll know that this is a model of an aircraft carrier.

This is the model of the Type 002 medium aircraft carrier.

Although the Type 002 aircraft carrier is a medium-sized aircraft carrier, it is the top-level among medium-sized aircraft carriers.

002型航母长315米，宽75米，正常排水量5.9万吨，满载排水量6.5万吨，可以搭载36架歼11C/D舰载机或者42架歼10舰载机型号，此外还可以搭载15架‘雷雕’直升机。

The Type 002 aircraft carrier uses catapult take-off.

It's not an electromagnetic catapult, but a steam catapult.

The so-called catapult is a device on an aircraft carrier that propels carrier-based aircraft to increase take-off speed and shorten rolling distance. Its full name is carrier-based aircraft take-off catapult, or catapult for short.

Because the steam catapult has a complex structure and is monopolized by the United States, the technology is kept highly confidential.

The aircraft carriers of other countries use a ski-jump deck, which has a disadvantage, that is, it cannot take off normally if the weather is slightly bad, while the catapult does not have these concerns.

However, the steam catapult has a complex structure and is heavy. The advantage of a ski-jump deck over a steam catapult is its simple structure, reduced weight, and low technical difficulty.

Liu Tao wanted to use electromagnetic catapult directly, but electromagnetic catapult is not suitable for medium-sized aircraft carriers unless he converted the Type 002 aircraft carrier into a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Speaking of which, catapults have been developed for nearly a hundred years.

The catapult was first invented by the British. The earliest assisted catapult appeared when the airplane was invented. Langley, who was a contemporary of the Wright brothers, first used springs and slides to assist flight, and the Wright brothers built a drop-weight catapult based on the same concept. With the help of this catapult, the Wright brothers successfully carried out powered flight. Seaplanes appeared shortly after the invention of the airplane. When the navies of various countries used seaplanes, in order to allow the ships to take off in a short time without stopping, various countries began to develop assisted flight devices. This device was first equipped on large surface ships. The catapult has a variety of structures, including drop-weight type, flywheel type, rocket-assisted type, hydraulic type and pneumatic type.

As for aircraft carriers, early propeller aircraft could easily take off from the deck by themselves due to their low take-off speed. However, the weight and take-off speed of jet carrier-based aircraft increased dramatically, and they could only take off via catapults. Various types of catapults appeared one after another, including compressed air, gunpowder, electric, hydraulic and steam catapults.

Except for steam catapults, other forms of catapults have been eliminated due to safety or catapult energy limitations, which restrict the development and use of carrier-based aircraft.

The steam catapult was developed in the 40s. At that time, the United States and the United Kingdom mastered the technology of steam catapults. For example, the British aircraft carriers "Independence" and "Hancock" were equipped with catapults. However, as the United States and the Soviet Union dismembered the British and French colonies, Britain's comprehensive national strength declined day by day. It was no longer the empire on which the sun never set, and Britain's steam catapult technology failed to continue to develop.

At present, the United States is far ahead in steam catapult technology and is the only country that has mastered mature steam catapults.

Steam catapults have been used on aircraft carriers for 50 years and are the only technology that has been proven in actual combat. As the U.S. Navy moves toward full electrification of ship equipment, aircraft carriers will use electricity as the main propulsion power, and all power equipment will also be electrified. In the late 80s, the United States began developing electromagnetic catapult technology and equipped an electromagnetic catapult for testing at a test base east of Philadelphia.

However, the electromagnetic catapult technology has not yet been fully demonstrated and is unlikely to be put into practical use in the short term.

Liu Tao is also very optimistic about the electromagnetic catapult technology and agrees that it is in line with the development of future aircraft carriers.

Because the electromagnetic catapult has many advantages, the electrical structure of the electromagnetic catapult is technically easy to be compatible with other combat systems on the deck; the operation and maintenance personnel are simplified and compatible with other combat system personnel; the catapult power is improved, which is conducive to the equipment of large combat aircraft; the controllability and reliability are high, and the testing is simplified; the structure is simplified and the operational complexity is reduced!

The biggest breakthrough of the Type 002 aircraft carrier is not anything else but the steam catapult technology.

Steam catapult technology is a very complex system engineering, which includes take-off system, steam system, return system, hydraulic system, pre-stress system, lubrication system, control system, etc.

Only Liu Tao has an item upgrade system, which saves a lot of manpower, material resources, financial resources and research and development time. If he really sets up a steam catapult development team and brings together the country's top scientists, it is likely that even ten years will not be enough to develop a steam catapult technology with relatively good performance.

However, with the help of the item upgrade system, Liu Tao mastered the steam catapult technology in just two months.

During this period of time, Liu Tao needs to provide technical briefings to the heads of various disciplines so that they can master the relevant technologies before arranging the construction.

This naturally includes steam catapults.

From a certain perspective, the most difficult part of the entire Type 002 aircraft carrier is the manufacture of the steam catapult.

Moreover, the steam catapult of the Type 002 aircraft carrier will not be installed after it is launched. Instead, the steam catapult must be built in advance and then installed and tested on land and sea.

This means that Liu Tao had to participate in the construction of the steam catapult.

At the same time, a merchant ship of similar size must be converted into a test aircraft carrier to install a steam catapult on which to conduct catapult takeoff and landing tests of carrier-based aircraft.

It can be said that building a medium-sized aircraft carrier is not easy.

With the addition of a steam catapult, the carrier-based aircraft are also different, so many tests have to be done again from the beginning.

In order to build the Type 002 medium-sized aircraft carrier, Panshan Group plans to invest 160 billion RMB, which is almost 40 billion US dollars.
Although the tonnage of the Type 002 medium aircraft carrier is only three times that of the Type 001 light aircraft carrier, its construction cost is more than three times higher.

As long as the Type 002 medium-sized aircraft carrier is completed, it will officially mark that China has mastered the ability to independently develop and build modern aircraft carriers, and will also become one of the countries with the most complete aircraft carrier industrial system.

With the experience of building three Type 001 light aircraft carriers, the construction speed of the Type 002 medium aircraft carrier will be greatly accelerated. It is expected to start construction on August 1997, 8, be launched in July 10, and be delivered to the navy in the millennium. The entire construction period will take more than three years.

This involves a large number of companies and departments, and requires a lot of coordination. If a country is not a strong one, it simply does not have the ability to build a modern aircraft carrier, especially a modern medium-sized aircraft carrier.

(End of this chapter)