The US Navy is far ahead in technology with 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and France ranks second in aircraft carrier technology with one nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The British, Indian and Chinese navies are in the third group, each equipped with two conventionally powered aircraft carriers. Now, the Fujian ship has been completed and sailed, which is regarded as a "catfish effect", which has stimulated the enthusiasm of relevant countries to build new aircraft carriers, and France has taken the lead in announcing that it will design and build a new generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the second type.
USS Ford, the lead ship of the American "Ford-class" aircraft carrier
The French Navy currently has a domestically produced nuclear-powered "Charles de Gaulle" aircraft carrier, which is equipped with domestically produced "Rafale-M" carrier-based fighters, and uses American steam catapult systems and carrier-based early warning aircraft. Theoretically, France only needs to complete the design and finalization of the new generation nuclear power system, the domestic fifth-generation aircraft, the electromagnetic catapult system and the carrier-based early warning aircraft within the mission period, and can build the most modern domestic nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is comparable to the Ford-class of the United States and the next generation of 100,000-ton CV-20 aircraft carriers of the mainland.
Photo of the sea trials of the Fujian ship
Given the U.S.-French military security relationship, France could also limit itself to enlarging the size of the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and supporting it with a more advanced nuclear power system. However, judging from the 10-year design and construction cycle announced by France, the former should be leaned towards in order to avoid dependence on the supporting technical systems of US aircraft carriers. In any case, the French have a solid foundation for developing the next generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Compared to France, the performance of the Indian Navy is a bit unrealistically aggressive. In Indian military circles and social media platforms, the construction of domestically produced nuclear-powered aircraft carriers before China has become the hottest topic. They believe that they have the ability to build a new generation of domestic aircraft carriers before China.
India announced that it would immediately start building a third aircraft carrier and the second domestically produced aircraft carrier "Vishal", with a design target of 65,000 tons and a new aircraft carrier with a nuclear power system. However, for the Indian Navy and military shipyards, the construction of the 40,000-ton conventionally powered aircraft carrier "Vikrant" is already exhausting to the best of its ability. In terms of nuclear power system technology, the Indian Navy only has experience in the design and construction of small nuclear reactors for domestically produced "enemy destroyer" nuclear attack submarines, and the stability of its system remains to be seen.
Conceptual diagram of India's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Vishal
Now, it cannot be ruled out that the Indian Navy may transplant nuclear submarine reactors to aircraft carriers in batches in accordance with the model of the French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle". After all, this is the quickest and safest solution. As for the electromagnetic catapult system and carrier-based aircraft, and other supporting technical equipment, the Indians have long been accustomed to the "take-it-or-leave-it" mentality of building the army, and they can purchase it from the United States, but the premise is that the Americans are willing to sell it. If you want to wait for the relevant export technology of the French, I am afraid it will be 20 years later, after all, the next generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in France is only expected.