Recently, the PLA Navy has shown unprecedented activity overseas, whether it is the formation of naval destroyers going to various oceans.
Or the three Type 071 integrated landing ships cruising in the India Ocean, all of which demonstrated their firm determination to go to the open ocean with their majestic attitude.
However, among this powerful naval force, what is more striking is undoubtedly the dynamics of the three aircraft carriers of the Navy, Liaoning, Shandong, and Fujian.
The Liaoning is conducting intensive training exercises in the Yellow Sea, while the Shandong is leading a large formation to sail the Philippine Sea again.
After a short break, the Fujian ship also started its third sea trial mission to continue to temper its combat effectiveness.
This scene marks the first time in the history of the mainland that three aircraft carriers are carrying out tasks at sea at the same time.
This spectacular scene not only demonstrated the strong strength of the mainland navy, but also highlighted the firm steps of the mainland navy towards the open ocean and the deep blue.
Compared with the three aircraft carriers of the People's Liberation Army, the United States, which has 11 aircraft carriers, has encountered unprecedented challenges in aircraft carrier scheduling, and its use of aircraft carrier forces is stretched.
In the Atlantic direction, the USS Eisenhower, the only aircraft carrier in the deployment phase of United States, has been stationed in the theater for nine months, seriously exceeding the deployment period and having to enter a state of rest.
The long-term presence of this aircraft carrier not only seriously affects its own combat effectiveness, but also makes United States' aircraft carrier forces in the region vacant.
The USS Roosevelt, which went to the Middle East to replace Eisenhower, is also about to reach its six-month deployment deadline and is also facing the dilemma of overdue deployment.
However, this aircraft carrier still needs to continue to travel around and perform various tasks, and its combat effectiveness will inevitably be seriously affected.
At the same time, the United States organizes the so-called "RIMPAC-2024" exercises in the Pacific direction.
In order to demonstrate the magnificence of its military appearance in this exercise, the United States even had to send the aircraft carrier Vincennes, which had not yet entered the deployment state, to fill up the numbers.
This move undoubtedly further exposed the weakness of United States' aircraft carrier forces and the dilemma of scheduling.
Therefore, if we carefully calculate, we will see that United States number of aircraft carriers that can now actually be quickly put into battle is no more than that of China.
If we only look at the dilemma of United States in mobilizing aircraft carriers around China to reinforce the Middle East Eastern Mediterranean, it is not difficult to see that although United States has 11 aircraft carriers on its books, it has actually fallen into a dilemma of having no aircraft carriers available.
This kind of predicament, which is glamorous on the surface but worried inside, naturally makes the United States deeply anxious. They began to look at the structure of their naval forces, trying to find the root cause of this dilemma.
After in-depth analysis, some United States military experts went straight to the core of the problem.
They believe that the weakness of United States' aircraft carrier forces and the dilemma in scheduling are not accidental, but are caused by mistakes in its aircraft carrier construction and operation strategy.
They bitterly criticized the United States Navy for pursuing the construction and use of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers too much, while ignoring the importance and advantages of conventionally powered aircraft carriers.
They believe that the United States should learn from China, accelerate the construction of conventionally powered aircraft carriers to fill the gap, and optimize its aircraft carrier construction and operation strategy.
United States military expert Peter · Susiu published a thought-provoking article in The National Interest.
He pointed out that the importance of aircraft carriers to United States in safeguarding overseas interests and intervening in global conflicts is self-evident.
However, of the 11 aircraft carriers available in United States, only two or three are ready for a long time, which obviously cannot meet United States' strategic needs on a global scale.
He further pointed out that the serious shortage of aircraft carriers in United States is one of the important reasons for its difficulties in mobilizing aircraft carrier forces.
Faced with the inherent shortcomings of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and the weak status quo of United States' aircraft carrier forces, Susiu and other United States military experts have called on the US military to learn from China and start the construction of conventional aircraft carriers.
They believe that although nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have strong endurance and combat effectiveness, their inherent shortcomings such as high construction and maintenance costs, complex dock and dock facility requirements, and long-term maintenance time make them inconvenient and limited in practical use.
In contrast, conventionally powered aircraft carriers have the advantages of low construction cost, easy use and maintenance, and strong on-the-sail capability.
Therefore, they recommended that the United States Navy abandon its blind pursuit of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and instead learn from China to build more cheap, practical and flexible conventionally powered aircraft carriers.
Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with the views of United States military experts such as Susiou.
Compared with conventionally powered aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers do have many disadvantages, such as low navigation rate, short life-cycle availability, and poor emergency dispatch capability.
These shortcomings have long been confirmed by the Government Accountability Office of the United States Congress through long-term investigative research.
However, can learning from China to build conventionally powered aircraft carriers solve the problem of United States aircraft carrier shortage? The answer is clearly no.
The root cause of the aircraft carrier shortage in United States is not simply the problem of aircraft carrier power, but the evil result caused by a combination of complex factors.
Among them, the contradiction between the forward deployment mode of United States aircraft carriers and the collapse of shipbuilding industry's ship repair capacity is one of the important reasons for this dilemma.
With the exception of one aircraft carrier for forward deployment in Japan, United States aircraft carriers all adopt a long-cycle deployment model.
This mode of deployment makes it possible for the aircraft carrier to undergo lengthy shipyard maintenance after a long cruise at sea.
The long maintenance has forced other aircraft carriers to deploy at sea for longer periods of time, further worsening the need for repairs and leaving United States aircraft carriers in a kind of dead loop.
In contrast, the PLA has adopted a short-cycle deployment model.
Once or twice a year, one or two months of long-sea combat training is conducted, and the rest of the time is mainly short-term high-intensity offshore training.
This deployment mode not only maintains the high availability of the aircraft carrier, but also avoids the dilemma of no aircraft carrier availability caused by the aircraft carrier's long-term dock maintenance.
This flexible deployment mode allows the PLA to adjust the use and maintenance plan of the aircraft carrier in a timely manner according to the actual situation, thus ensuring that the aircraft carrier is always in the best combat condition.
United States' weak shipbuilding capabilities have further exacerbated its navy's lack of aircraft carriers.
There are now a limited number of docks in the United States that can carry out aircraft carrier docking maintenance, and there is only one dock that can carry out aircraft carrier overhauls.
This led to the fact that the aircraft carrier, which was already insufficient, even had to wait in line for overhaul.
This weakness not only makes United States aircraft carriers longer to maintain, but also makes it impossible to quickly mobilize sufficient carrier forces to respond in the face of emergencies.
At the same time, we also need to note that the United States has only one shipyard and one shipyard that can be used to build aircraft carriers.
This leaves the United States facing great pressure and challenges when building new aircraft carriers.
The supporting power production capacity required for conventionally powered aircraft carriers no longer exists, which makes United States face many difficulties and challenges even if it wants to build conventionally powered aircraft carriers.
Therefore, how can the United States easily learn from China in building conventionally powered aircraft carriers?
To sum up, the problem of United States aircraft carrier shortage cannot be explained by the problem of aircraft carrier power alone.
The root cause lies in the many mistakes and contradictions of the United States Navy in the construction, operation and maintenance of aircraft carriers.
To solve this problem, the United States Navy needs to carry out in-depth reflection and reform on many aspects.
And simply learning from China's construction of conventionally powered aircraft carriers obviously cannot fundamentally solve the problem of its aircraft carrier shortage.
Therefore, the United States Navy needs to study the current situation and future needs of its aircraft carrier force more deeply, and formulate a more scientific and reasonable aircraft carrier construction and operation strategy to ensure that it can effectively safeguard its overseas interests and interfere in global conflicts on a global scale.
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