After the Fujian aircraft carrier carried out the mooring test, it was highly recognized by many military fans, and everyone said that the Fujian ship was represented
[This is what the Fujian ship looks like after it is launched]
But in fact, this is only the upper limit of the Fujian ship, not the upper limit of China's shipbuilding strength.
It may be hard to imagine how powerful China is in aircraft carrier construction.
At present, China can build 4 supercarriers like the Fujian ship at the same time, and the dumpling capacity is the first in the world, Lao Mei shook his head.
"Vibrant" Chinese shipyards
At present, there are two shipyards in China with experience in building aircraft carriers: Dalian Shipyard and Jiangnan Shipyard.
Among them, as early as the beginning of the 21st century, they participated in the construction and modification of the Varyag, and their representative works include the Liaoning ship and the Shandong ship, a total of two.
In the Dalian shipyard, there are a total of two docks that can accommodate supercarriers
And for Jiangnan Shipyard,
After all, judging from the satellite images circulating on the Internet, after the Fujian ship occupies one general dock, the other general docks can fully accommodate one more Fujian ship.
This also means that China has the strength to build 4 supercarriers at the same time,
Importantly, these two are not the only excellent shipyards in China, and the Hudong shipyard has the potential to build very large warships.
If necessary, there will only be more shipyards that China will be able to use to build aircraft carriers.
On the other hand, on the US side, due to the long-term monopoly of shipyards, the overall development situation is like a "pool of stagnant water".
China is the first in the world
The Newport News Shipyard in the United States undertakes 100% of the construction of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States, and has many large assembly docks.
【Newport News Shipyard】
However, considering that many nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States need to be docked at the assembly dock for maintenance and repair on a regular and long-term basis, and the USS Kennedy aircraft carrier that has been launched is still lying on its stomach, there may only be about two general docks that the United States can really use to build supercarriers.
Of course, this is only an ideal situation, and with the current economic development of the United States, the burden of building two supercarriers at the same time is too great.
Moreover, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States, which had no sense of crisis, greatly reduced the budget for aircraft carriers, putting the Newport News shipyard in a very awkward position.
Today, many experienced and skilled workers at the Newport News shipyard have been laid off, and the production capacity of warships has fallen far short of what it used to be.
Take the Kennedy, which is still lying in the nest, according to the original construction plan, to replace the aging Nimitz aircraft carrier.
But now at the end of 2023, there is still no news about the Kennedy, and the service is estimated to be delayed until after 2025.
In order to maintain the combat strength of the US aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz also had to extend its service life.
Looking at the warships launched by China over the years, both the production capacity and the quality are impeccable, and the speed of dumplings has completely exceeded the level of the United States, truly leading the world.
As for other countries, there is no way to compare with China.
For example, Russia, whose only aircraft carrier is still lying in a shipyard, although the Russian Ministry of Defense claims that it will be commissioned in 2024, but the reality is not so optimistic.
The situation in Europe is much better than in Russia, but it is still far behind China, and other countries and regions are even less comparable.
Behind China's strong production capacity, it reflects a strong economic foundation and a good economic cycle.
Unlike the world's largest economy such as the United States, although China ranks second in the world, its economy is full of resilience and is stable and improving in the midst of international turmoil, which fully reflects the bright prospects of China's development.
On the U.S. side, expensive spending has become a fiscal burden, and with $33 trillion in external debt, the overall economy is in recession.
Therefore, the United States does not dare to easily invest a large amount of money in the construction of military equipment, and only by investing more in the country's economic foundation can it "survive for a long time," otherwise it will be bringing about its own destruction.
[The second Ford-class aircraft carrier Kennedy is still lying in the nest]
China strives to form two economic cycles, both internal and external, relying on a strong domestic endogenous market internally, and promoting international trade cooperation externally to achieve a win-win situation.
China's economic vitality can be seen, and under this premise, a considerable part of the funds can be advanced into the construction of military equipment, so as to further promote economic flows.
A couple of aircraft carriers are enough
Since China now has such superior basic conditions, why don't we build aircraft carriers as vigorously as the United States?
In fact, for China, there is no need for us to build 11 aircraft carriers.
In a very different way from the U.S. foreign strategy, China does not strive for national interests in the ocean-going region, but more to protect homeland security.
The three aircraft carriers we currently have are fully capable of defending our interests in the "first island chain".
But taking into account the issue of China's territorial disputes, as well as the issue of the rotation replacement of aircraft carriers, we also need 1-2 supercarriers like the Fujian.
After possessing five aircraft carriers, it is believed that both the Taiwan issue and the South China Sea issue can be effectively resolved by some means.
Of course, we cannot completely ignore the interests of the oceans, such as the unrest in the region, which will affect the mainland's energy security.
If necessary, we need 1-2 aircraft carriers to maintain stability and peaceful development in the region, and preferably nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
[Type 004 aircraft carrier concept map]
In general, China has 6-7 aircraft carriers, of which 2 are nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and 4 have a displacement of more than 80,000 tons, which is enough.
At the moment, China already has 3 aircraft carriers, and it will not be too far to reach the set goals, so we are not in a hurry.
Resources:
[1] China Federation of Industrial Economics: "Announcement on the Sixth Batch of Selection of Manufacturing Individual Champions and the List of the Third Batch of Enterprises Passing the Review"