Contrast damage! The progress of the Chinese 003 aircraft carrier is gratifying, and the Indian aircraft carrier has launched another moth!

According to news from Indian social media, the Indian Navy outfitted the "Vikrant" aircraft carrier at the Cochin Shipyard dock, which has been outfitted for five or six years, will carry out its first sea trial around the end of the year, and is preparing to "Delivered to the Indian Navy around the end of 2021." According to photos published on Indian social media, around the end of last month, the "Vikrant" was towed by several tugboats and made a decent circle on the Kerala River.

So, to what extent has the construction of the "Vikrant", India's first "nationally produced aircraft carrier", have been carried out, and will it be "delivered to the Indian Navy" by the end of next year? Correspondingly, how is the construction progress of the Type 003 aircraft carrier, China's first "nationally produced aircraft carrier"? Who on earth can China and India point out the technology tree of "national aircraft carrier"?

2 flags of the Indian Navy

Let's first say that the Indian ship "Vikrant" has to come out every six months on average to have a sense of existence and to develop a new Deadline every year. I remember that in June of this year, we just reported the new Flag that the Indian Navy vowed to the sky, saying that we are prepared not to be afraid of sacrifices and overcome all difficulties. We must finish building the Vikrant before the end of this year.

At the same time, the Indian Navy also made a forward-looking statement, preparing to quickly launch the next-generation aircraft carrier research and development program after the "Vikrant" enters service. At the same time, according to the plan, this new PPT program includes such as a new generation of carrier-based aircraft. , Electromagnetic catapults and even nuclear power systems. Anyway, you can arrange what is the most advanced. If you don’t buy the right one, just buy the expensive one.

Now another five or six months have passed. Judging from the current performance of the Indian Navy and the photos of the "Vikrant" "towing" circulated on social media, I can only say that the Indian Navy has passed through this small After half a year of hard work, the two "great aspirations" have been at least half completed:

Next-generation nuclear-powered aircraft carrier program

It is said that it is half completed, mainly referring to the fact that the Indian Navy has indeed put forward a feasibility report for a new generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Vishal" some time ago. Unfortunately, after a detailed investigation of the tonnage, sub-system equipment, carrier-based aircraft, strategy and operational use of the Vishal, the Indian Navy admitted:

The "Vishal" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is not suitable for the future maritime strategy of the Indian Navy, and it is not very helpful to the Indian Navy’s upcoming maritime campaign missions. Therefore, it is prepared to temporarily shelve the construction plan of this "third aircraft carrier". In other words, the report was put forward, but the final conclusion was: "not to make."

To be honest, I think that the Indian Navy’s decision to temporarily shelve the R&D and construction plan of the "Vishal" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier may not be too stimulating strategically for the United States and the formation of closer strategic cooperation with the United States in the Indian Ocean. consider.

But technically speaking, it is very simple in one sentence: What do you use to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier? The main electromagnetic catapult of the nuclear reactor steam turbine will automatically land on the ship and stop the landing. Which subsystem can you handle? Don't talk about the carrier-based aircraft of the "Vishal", are you afraid that it still hasn't landed?

At the same time, from the perspective of the Indian army’s current army building strategy, it is obvious that with the Northern Command’s situation in which the North Command is in a difficult situation on the Sino-Indian border, a large number of Indian army building resources have been invested in the army and air force, the former It is the main force engaged in the "friction war" on the Sino-Indian border, and the latter is the "potential unit" of the Indian army's next preparation for "air raids on China."

According to domestic media reports, the Indian army is searching for cold-proof down jackets suitable for alpine operations in Europe and the United States at a price of US$10,000 per piece. We can actually launch it: The Indian Navy is currently raised by stepmothers in India. , There should be not much money to build the army.

Finish building the "Vikrant"

And the other half of the Indian Navy’s two “ambitions” have not been completed. Obviously, judging from the photos on Indian social media, the Indian Navy’s deadline for the Cochin Shipyard in the middle of this year should have been grumbled again. Not too small:

Judging from the video of the Cochin Shipyard released in June this year, although the "Vikrant" ship is still full of sheds and grounds, and the bridge is densely covered with scaffolding, the cleanliness of the ship is still messed up. But at least from the analysis of the picture, a three-coordinate air search radar has been installed on the bridge, and the "big hole" formed at the four-sided E/LM-2248 phased array radar antenna has also been blocked. It looks like The phased array radar is already in place.

At that time, we believed that although the Indian Navy vowed to complete the Vikrant by the end of the year based on the analysis of the construction situation at the time, it was difficult, but at least it was just completed in December 2019. The conditions during the main engine test run have improved to a certain extent, and the installation of ship’s electrical equipment on the bridge has also made progress. If the Indian Navy’s real Shiva possesses his body and suddenly rises up, chances are that children will really be able to reach the end of the year. Previously, the "Vikrant" was built, so we didn't say anything at the time.

However, judging from the photos posted on Indian social media this time, we can only comment that the so-called Indian Navy will "complete the Vikrant" by the end of the year. We can only give it one sentence: I believe you are a ghost. :

First of all, from the perspective of host performance, although the Indian side completed the test run of the "Vikrant" host with the assistance of the United States as early as the end of last year, almost a year has passed. "Vikrant" The ship does not yet have the ability to navigate autonomously. Last month's "trial voyage" on the Kerala River was also towed by several tugboats;

Secondly, from the analysis of the ship’s electrical system, although in the photos in the middle of this year, the "Vikrant" seems to have installed the four-sided E/LM-2248 phased array radar antenna, but from the transmitted, relatively clear Judging from the photos, it still shows no signs of installing an antenna. There is no obvious, protruding “polygon” antenna of the phased array radar on the tower structure where the phased array radar is scheduled to be installed. The installation position of the radar seems to be temporarily shielded by a board, probably to avoid sea water. Salt spray corrodes the internal structure or reserved pipelines and cables;

From the hull system, the scaffolding on the "Vikrant" bridge has been partially cleaned, but the various sheds and construction sites on the flight deck are still in a mess. Even most of the flight deck is not painted with gray primer. , Still retains the same red anti-rust primer as last year.

Therefore, from the analysis of the latest photos of the construction of the "Vikrant" aircraft carrier released by the Indian Navy this time, we have to make a comment: What has the Indian Navy done with the Cochin Shipyard this year? The hull is almost the same, the surface is almost the same, the ship's electrical system is almost the same, the key phased array radar system is not installed, and the entire hull is rusty like the illegal buildings on the Kerala River.

The only thing worthy of commendation, perhaps only the "Vikrant" finally installed the observation windows on the navigation bridge and the flying bridge. Not to mention, from the analysis of the public pictures, the "Vikrant" aviation command post uses a "large French window" similar to the "Queen" class aircraft carrier, and has an excellent command view.

Although the "non-marking glass window" has not been achieved due to the strength of the bridge, at least the Indian Navy is still quite fashionable. This may be the only design worth learning from the "Vikrant".

However, even if the Indian Navy’s new aircraft carrier really uses “sea-view room floor-to-ceiling windows”, it cannot avoid the fate of the “Vikrant” ship: the plan to be completed before the end of 2020 is definitely impossible to achieve. Yes, the plan to implement the first sea trial before the end of 2020 and deliver to the Indian Navy before the end of 2021 will definitely have to be delayed.

I think that according to the construction progress of the Indian Navy and the Cochin Shipyard, according to the most optimistic estimate, the "Vikrant" can be basically completed by the end of 2021, and the sea trial will start in 2022. The Indian Navy is playing tricks on "early service". The "Vikrant" is truly fully technical, with basic navigation and certain aviation capabilities, and it will have to wait until 2024 or even 2025 at the earliest.

An aircraft carrier has been built for more than 20 years, or even longer, and it has set a world record. Not to mention that even if the Indian Navy can put this "Vikrant" into service, the next ship-aircraft cooperative training, and even if there are enough carrier-based aircraft to operate it, the only MiG-29K/KUB It’s a trivial matter to face the problem of backwardness in service again, and we don’t want to talk about it.

News of Chinese aircraft carrier

However, since the Indian "Vikrant" was mentioned, correspondingly, we must also mention the Type 003 aircraft carrier that we are building ourselves at the Jiangnan Shipyard, as everyone knows, and mentioned many times before.

Actually, I don’t think there is any need for us to compare with a country of India’s size. After all, our domestically produced 002 aircraft carrier has been in service before India’s Vikrant, only the 002 appearance. There are still traces of the Soviet 1143.6 aircraft carrier.

And even from the perspective of a "fully self-developed aircraft carrier", I think that according to the current construction progress of the 003 aircraft carrier, it is expected that it will take shape around the middle of next year, and everyone will know this ship before the end of next year. The overall configuration and technical performance of the aircraft carrier.

Before the end of 2022, it is estimated that our Model 003 aircraft carrier will be able to begin outfitting, start sea trials around 2023, and enter service around 2024. At that point, who knows how far the "Vikrant" aircraft carrier can be built, maybe it's still soaked in the water for nowhere?

Finally, I read the article about the Indian aircraft carrier that I wrote in December last year. We must make a complaint: I can make no progress in a year, the progress of writing and even the equipment that can be eaten back. It seems There are really few, and the Indian Navy really did it.