Recently, the media reported on the training footage of the Navy's Shandong warship (17), and we found that the fighter regiment of the navy's carrier-based aircraft unit has been upgraded to a carrier-based fighter brigade, and Xu Ying, one of the first J-15 pilots, has also been promoted to vice captain of the Shandong warship. These changes mark a major change in the naval aviation training and training system.
In September 2012, the Liaoning (No. 16) officially entered service. In May 2013, the Naval Carrier Aviation Unit was established. At that time, there was a lot of speculation about the establishment of the carrier-based aircraft force, and it was once believed that it would adopt a carrier-based aircraft wing model similar to that of the US Navy. Taking the Bush aircraft carrier as an example, the eighth carrier-based aircraft wing it carries is equipped with nearly 100 carrier-based aircraft, including 4 carrier-based fighter squadrons, 1 carrier-based electronic warfare squadron, 1 carrier-based early warning aircraft squadron, 2 helicopter squadrons and 1 support squadron, and the overall combat effectiveness is even stronger than that of the air forces of many countries.
From the follow-up relevant news reports, it can be seen that Xu Ying was the head of a certain regiment of the carrier-based aviation unit at the time, so it was speculated that our carrier-based aircraft unit should be a division-level establishment, and the division below was the regiment-brigade-squadron, which was more stable for HNA, which urgently needed mature combat effectiveness, and was also in line with the tradition of our navy.
Of course, in the long-term training practice, the troops have also found that there are many shortcomings in this system, with many links and levels, relatively bloated institutions, and low joint combat capabilities, which are not conducive to rapid response. In 2017, the Navy and Air Eagle Force was reorganized from regiment to brigade, and the traditional four-level establishment of naval aviation was changed to aviation brigade-brigade-squadron three-level. Therefore, it can be speculated that the carrier-based aircraft forces will also adopt this formation. Now, the public announcement in the report that "a certain brigade of the Navy carrier-based aviation" proves that the above speculation is true.
At present, HNA should have 2 carrier-based aviation brigades. Judging from the public aircraft number, the J-15 on the ship has been lined up to 76 and 77, the training base has appeared No. 93, the total number of J-15 should be about 100, 2 aircraft carriers each carry 1 carrier-based aviation brigade, each brigade has 24-36 J-15, and some are in the aircraft carrier aircraft training base. With the launch of the new catapult aircraft carrier, the 3rd and 4th carrier-based aviation brigades will also be formed.
Looking at Xu Ying, the deputy captain of the Shandong warship, Xu Ying was originally a Su-30 pilot of the Air Force, and was transferred to the Naval Aviation Corps when he formed the carrier-based aircraft unit in 2013. At the end of 2017, he flew the J-15 fighter to complete the first night landing, leaving a strong mark in the history of naval aviation development, and the slogan of "SHOOT IT" written on his flight helmet (meaning to fire, dry him) was spread throughout the Internet through the news screen. His upbringing reflects our selection requirements for aircraft carrier captains. First of all, it is necessary to be a naval pilot with rich experience in taking off and landing carrier-based aircraft; second, he must have served on large ships such as destroyers and amphibious assault ships and master complex ship operation techniques; third, after training in many posts, he has more than 20 years of military experience; fourth, he has a strong strategic quality.
Take, for example, Captain Brownie, the captain of the USS Abraham Lincoln: He graduated from the U.S. Naval Officer School in 1990, became a naval pilot in 1993, received a master's degree in 2005, and completed his professional training in nuclear power in 2008. He has successively served as the flight instructor of the 125th and 146th fighter squadrons, the head of the department of the 94th fighter squadron, the deputy captain and captain of the 34th fighter squadron, and has carried out overseas deployment operations with the aircraft carrier many times. In 2009, he was appointed deputy captain of the aircraft carrier USS Vinson and in 2013 he was appointed captain of the using the using the using the Green Bay amphibious dock transport ship. In May 2017, he became the captain of the USS Lincoln. There were more than 450 take-offs and landings on board, and the cumulative flight time exceeded 2500 hours.
Compared with the captain of the US aircraft carrier, Xu Ying's resume is still relatively thin, but compared with his predecessors, it has been very perfect. In the late 1980s, the Navy opened the "Pilot Captain Class" at the Guangzhou Naval Academy to cultivate sea-air composite talents. At that time, the all-powerful god man Bai Yaoping was known as "the heavens can drive the plane, the sea can operate the ship", but due to the restrictions of the conditions, he only served as the captain of the frigate, and although he is now the deputy commander of the North Sea Fleet, he has not been able to join the aircraft carrier captains club like Xu Ying, which is a pity after all...
Today's naval aviation is in an unprecedented era of good, with the further advancement of military reform, HNA has its own independent training and training system, and is now gradually aligning with the U.S. Navy. Perhaps when the catapult aircraft carrier is in service, the new generation of carrier-based aircraft pilots represented by Xu Ying will truly embark on the position of aircraft carrier captain.