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Recently, satellite images have been circulating in foreign media: a brand new large-tonnage flush-deck warship is being built at the Changxing Island base of Hudong-Zhonghua. Preliminary estimates show that the new ship is about 260 meters long and 52 meters wide, and is expected to have a displacement of 50,000 tons after completion. In other words, the new ship is not only larger than the 075, but also larger than any known amphibious assault ship (hereinafter referred to as "amphibious assault ship") in the world.

For comparison, the "America" ​​class is 257 meters long, 32 meters wide, and has a displacement of 45,000 tons; the "Izumo" class is 248 meters long, 38 meters wide, and has a displacement of 26,000 tons; the 075 type is 232 meters long, 37 meters wide, and has a displacement of 36,000 tons. The British "Queen Elizabeth" class is 280 meters long, 73 meters wide, and has a displacement of 65,000 tons. Although this is an aircraft carrier, not an amphibious assault ship, it is also included in the comparison as a reference.

What is even more striking is that there is a 130-meter-long "trench" on the port side of the new ship, which is generally believed to be the location for the electromagnetic catapult slide. Unexpectedly, the new ship's electromagnetic catapult slide is longer than that of the "Fujian", which is "only" 108 meters. In addition, there are openings on the port side of the ship and in front of the starboard bridge, which are probably used for elevators. According to the ship type, this is a large amphibious assault ship with a dock, but the aviation function of the ship is obviously the focus.

According to popular saying on the Internet, this is the legendary 076.

076 satellite image CSIS

Undoubtedly, a larger amphibious assault ship means a stronger amphibious combat capability, but the unprecedented electric missiles carried on it will theoretically give the 076 the ability to launch heavy fixed-wing combat aircraft including but not limited to the J-15, J-35, KJ-600, etc. Such a stronger aviation capability potential undoubtedly arouses people's reverie.

China will not build such a large warship just to be different. The uniqueness must have a unique purpose. At this time, there is a question that needs to be answered: Is 076 a lightweight version of the "Fujian"?

From my point of view, the answer is no. The "Fujian" has almost broken the Chinese people's obsession with aircraft carriers, but we can still see on the Internet that many Chinese people have turned "small aircraft carriers" into a new obsession. However, the 076 is not a smaller "Fujian", but an amphibious assault ship with part-time aircraft carrier functions.

Judging from the results of repeated demonstrations and ship experiments by the US Navy, small aircraft carriers are small aircraft carriers after all, and their combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of large aircraft carriers. The construction and operation costs of a small aircraft carrier may be only half of that of a large aircraft carrier, but the combat effectiveness of two small aircraft carriers is not as good as that of a large aircraft carrier. Large aircraft carriers have a more balanced combination of carrier-based aircraft and a higher dispatch rate and turnover rate of carrier-based aircraft, which small aircraft carriers do not have.

The United States is a pioneer in amphibious assault ships, and the "America" ​​class is its latest masterpiece. The first two "America" ​​class ships cancelled the dock to increase aviation facilities and fuel capacity. This made the "America" ​​class only capable of vertical landing, and no longer able to deploy and recover hovercraft, landing craft and amphibious vehicles. The last three "America" ​​class ships restored the dock, at the cost of losing aviation facilities and fuel capacity, and restored the horizontal landing capability, returning to the traditional amphibious assault ship.

Due to the large flat deck design, the America class is not only suitable for dispatching and recovering helicopters, but also can operate vertical-short take-off and landing fighters such as the Harrier and F-35B. In addition to not being able to carry traditional carrier-based fixed-wing early warning aircraft, the America class has considerable fixed-wing aircraft carrying capacity, making it a good part-time aircraft carrier.

However, due to the large tonnage, large deck, and large hangar characteristics of the amphibious assault ships, the basic design of the "America" ​​class is bound to be short and fat, which will lead to greater resistance and lower speed. In fact, the "America" ​​class can only travel at a speed of 22 knots.

Taking the "America" ​​class amphibious assault ship as a benchmark, the West has a number of scaled-down warships in service, such as Italy's "Trieste" class and Australia's "Canberra" class. However, in order to increase the take-off weight of the F-35B, these warships have added a ski-jump deck at the bow, but this also reduces the deck area that can be used to park and operate helicopters.

Comparison of Type 076, Type 075 and Fujian Ships The War Zone

Japan's "Izumo" class is a different idea. The design does not have space for a dock, and it is not suitable for carrying a large number of amphibious forces. As it is oriented towards being a full-time helicopter carrier, the hull is designed to be thin to reduce sailing resistance, and the speed can reach 30 knots. The larger deck area is obtained by increasing the overhang, but the tonnage and space inside the ship are limited, and the performance ceiling is low.

The British "Queen Elizabeth" class aircraft carriers are even further away from the dual attack. The "Queen Elizabeth" class was originally designed to have space for both catapult takeoff and ski-jump takeoff, and even allowed for design changes during construction. But in the end, because the cost of the US catapult was much higher than expected and the progress was far behind the needs of the UK, it could only lock in ski-jump takeoff.

As an aircraft carrier that considers both catapult takeoff and ski-jump takeoff, the deck of the Queen Elizabeth class can be either diagonal or straight, or fully straight, it's just a matter of drawing lines. After the decision to use ski-jump was made, of course it was fully straight. The F-35B takes off from the port side ski-jump deck and lands directly on the rear deck, without the need for a dedicated diagonal deck. In this way, the starboard deck provides a large parking area for the F-35B.

In comparison, the 076 has an electric missile installed on the port side, which is functionally equivalent to the "Queen Elizabeth" class. However, my country's carrier-based aircraft do not have the vertical and short-range take-off and landing capabilities. The electric missile solves the take-off problem, and arresting cables need to be placed to help with landing.

Although it is difficult to determine whether the Type 076 has an arresting cable at the current construction progress, it should have one, and it is likely to be an electromagnetic arresting cable that works with an electric bomb. In this way, the power generation and recovery energy during the aircraft arrest and deceleration process can be injected into the energy storage system for the next electric bomb.

But this also means that the 076 has returned to the design of the full-deck in the World War II era. The aircraft carrier adopted the inclined deck after World War II to improve the landing safety, sortie rate and turnover rate. After the take-off and landing runways of the aircraft carrier are separated, although the one-time full-deck sortie rate has not changed much, the more useful cycle sortie rate is much higher.

At the same time, when landing on the inclined deck, in case of landing failure, the carrier-based aircraft will protest and rush out directly to the port side (the inclined deck is generally in the direction of left front-right rear, this is just a habit of placing the island on the right rear), and fall into the sea without affecting the aircraft parked on the front deck.

When launching aircraft on the straight deck, with the help of catapults, the shorter length is not a problem. The straight deck can also be used to temporarily park aircraft in batches, which is much faster than transferring them to the hangar under the deck by elevator. The hangar can then focus more on parking spare aircraft and maintenance. Part of the straight deck area is also used for refueling and loading ammunition. After all, it is much safer to perform these dangerous operations in an open space than in a hangar.

Typical World War II full-deck aircraft carrier data map

Due to the obvious benefits, many imaginary drawings of the 076 had two sections of decks, one oblique and one straight, but the real 076 is completely straight. Although the width of the 076 deck is unusually large, the oblique deck running from left front to right rear intersects with the take-off runway, which makes the oblique deck meaningless; and the right-side placement of the island determines that there can be no oblique deck running from right front to left rear.

The 076 gave up the canted deck, which meant giving up the high sortie rate and turnover rate. This is of course because the tonnage is not enough and it is impossible to have both, but in a sense, it also defines the 076: it is a dual-attack aircraft carrier that can also serve as an ISR aircraft carrier, rather than a dual-attack aircraft carrier that can also serve as a strike aircraft carrier. For this type of warship, the priority of ensuring the sortie of a small number of heavy carrier-based aircraft is higher than the continuous sortie rate and turnover rate of the warship.

From a mission perspective, the two existing attack aircraft carriers that focus on aviation capabilities, whether the "America" ​​class or the "Izumo" class, when used as aircraft carriers, will give priority to the role of attacking aircraft carriers. In other words, the F-35Bs on board will be mainly used for strike missions, rather than for monitoring the sea and air situation.

For aircraft carriers, the most important role in monitoring the air situation is played by fixed-wing early warning aircraft. Early warning helicopters are not suitable because they have insufficient cruising altitude and airborne time. The cruising altitude of the aircraft determines the detection distance of the early warning aircraft for low-altitude targets, and insufficient airborne time cannot provide meaningful air situation monitoring.

The Queen Elizabeth class has the same problem: lacking fixed-wing AWACS, it can only be used as a strike aircraft carrier. In theory, the E-2D can take off from the ski-jump deck, but the Queen Elizabeth class lacks arresting cables, so the E-2D can only take off, not land. In this regard, the Liaoning and Shandong are different. As long as the problem of reliable deployment of AWACS from the ski-jump deck is solved, the arresting cables for landing are ready. The Queen Elizabeth class can also be equipped with arresting cables, but installing a complex and heavy arresting cable system just for the E-2D is a bit of a waste of time.

This also makes the 076 more unique: it has electric missiles and electric interceptors, but no inclined deck; it can dispatch heavy carrier-based aircraft, including early warning aircraft, but the dispatch rate and turnover rate are not high. In other words, the 076 is not positioned as a strike aircraft carrier. The 076 is likely to be the first modern aircraft carrier in history that focuses on ISR missions.

In fact, when aircraft carriers were first introduced, they were mainly used for ISR missions, although there was no term ISR at that time. ISR stands for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance.

076X platform drawn by foreign netizen HI Sutton

The first aircraft carrier appeared in 1922, shortly after World War I. At that time, the newly born aircraft were not powerful enough in terms of speed, range, bomb load, etc., and avionics did not exist. Although Mitchell proved in 1921 that even airplanes could sink scrapped warships, the main function of carrier-based aircraft, which were weaker than land-based aircraft, was to provide aerial reconnaissance for the fleet. At that time, carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft were light in weight and had a low take-off speed. They did not require a take-off deck and could be launched directly from large warships using hydraulic catapults. To return, they only needed to land on the water and then be hoisted back to the mother ship with a crane for use again.

During the Battle of Midway, the Japanese fleet suffered a heavy blow because the reconnaissance aircraft carried by the cruiser "Tone" malfunctioned and failed to detect the approaching US fleet in time.

However, with the development of carrier-based aircraft, by the time of World War II, the speed, range, and ammunition carrying capacity of advanced carrier-based aircraft were "sufficient". Whether it was Taranto, Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, or the Coral Sea, aircraft carriers became the backbone of the navy's large fleet. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, aircraft carriers were the final word. From then on, whenever possible, the navies of various countries pursued the halo of "aircraft carrier navy", and even kept pursuing "pocket aircraft carriers" that looked good but were useless.

But whether it is a World War II aircraft carrier or a post-war aircraft carrier, they are all strike aircraft carriers. In a sense, they are an extension of battleships, except that the ship's guns have been replaced by aircraft and the shells have been replaced by bombs. Compared with ship guns and shells, the delivery distance of aircraft has been greatly increased, and the power of bombs has been greatly increased. Moreover, the accuracy of these weapons has nothing to do with distance, but only with the pilot's bombing skills.

The primary mission of carrier-based aircraft is to attack enemy ships, while fleet air defense is necessary to preserve itself. The U.S. Navy invented carrier-based early warning aircraft, but its nature as a strike aircraft carrier has not changed. In other words, the dispatch rate and turnover rate of carrier-based aircraft are the core of the combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers, and the oblique-vertical two-stage deck is a rigid requirement.

Attacking aircraft carriers also fits the US Navy's operational philosophy. The US Navy's military construction goal is oriented towards ocean control and built around comprehensive sea and air control. The purpose of sea and air control is to strike enemy ships and enemy land targets, not just to prevent the enemy from striking its own fleet and land targets. Due to the lack of meaningful opponents, the US aircraft carrier's mission of striking the enemy is much more important than preserving itself.

Then missiles appeared. They were powerful, long-range, and highly accurate, but they required the support of the entire strike chain from intelligence to strikes. The Soviets tried every possible way to locate aircraft carriers and then attack them with missiles. But even with satellites, aircraft carriers in the ocean were still not easy to detect and track, especially with real-time and accurate positioning information. However, the combination of the Soviet Navy's ocean surveillance satellites, supersonic bombers, and heavy anti-ship missiles still created tremendous pressure. The U.S. Navy attached great importance to fleet air defense, and the "Aegis" system and F-14 fighter jets came into being.

The vertical launch of Aegis was first used for ship-borne air defense missiles, but the versatility of vertical launch soon made it used for the launch of cruise missiles, anti-submarine missiles, and anti-ship missiles. The ammunition bay capacity was also greatly increased compared to the inclined rail launch.

For the US Navy, the versatility of vertical launch is mainly reflected in land attacks, and anti-ship is still the task of carrier-based aircraft. Carrier-based aircraft launching anti-ship missiles not only greatly extends the range of anti-ship missiles, but also has the advantage of mobile launch, increasing the variability and suddenness of the strike.

But larger vertical launch systems are also convenient for launching heavy anti-ship missiles. The Chinese Navy has keenly seized this opportunity. The Eagle Strike 18 supersonic anti-ship missile (subsonic cruise, supersonic sprint) and the Eagle Strike 21 hypersonic anti-ship missile have greatly changed the pattern of naval warfare.

Vertical launch also facilitates the launch of anti-submarine missiles. Traditional anti-submarine missiles have a range of only more than 30 kilometers. Due to the limitation of anti-submarine search and tracking distance on the ship, a longer range is unnecessary. At the same time, anti-submarine helicopters and their own anti-submarine torpedoes can also perform long-range anti-submarine operations.

However, due to the limited take-off weight, the Z-9, which is the largest in China, has only a limited anti-submarine search distance and air time when it carries anti-submarine torpedoes. It can only provide useful anti-submarine search distance and air time without anti-submarine torpedoes. This created an opportunity for China's first long-range anti-submarine missile: under the guidance of the Z-9, it can be launched from a warship to directly strike enemy submarines at a long distance. Although the Z-20 has greatly increased its take-off weight, the lack of anti-submarine torpedoes still means a greater anti-submarine search distance and air time. In this way, the new generation of Z-20, combined with longer-range anti-submarine missiles, has greatly improved China's ship anti-submarine capabilities.

Attack 11 UAV data map

Vertical launch is of course suitable for launching cruise missiles and hypersonic land attack missiles. The former has been demonstrated in the "Aegis" era, and the latter is the unique weapon of the Chinese Navy.

Vertical launch, advanced missiles and large ammunition storage capacity make the 055 an unprecedentedly powerful naval warfare platform, but the hands must be able to see first. The 055 faces the same problem as the battleships of the World War I era: limited by the laws of physics, the ability to detect long-range targets is weak. Although satellites and seabed hydroacoustic detection networks have their own roles, the fleet's own long-range detection capabilities are also indispensable. At this time, the importance of drones is highlighted.

When drones first began to show their power in land warfare more than a decade ago, how to use drones in naval warfare became the focus of debate among equipment researchers, and how to design the drone carriers that match them was also a controversial issue. Traditional thinking tends to treat ship-borne drones as ship-borne manned aircraft without pilots. In this case, there is no essential difference between drone carriers and traditional aircraft carriers, except that the carrier-based aircraft are unmanned.

However, apart from the fact that the carriers are reusable, drones are not superior to missiles in performing strike missions, after all, the characteristics of naval warfare are that the number of targets is small and the value is high. However, drones are still somewhat superior when used for ground strikes, after all, the total tonnage of ammunition delivery is required to be higher.

Therefore, the two attack drones with ground strike capabilities are very attractive, because drones basically complete the elements of amphibious combat. If the 076 can operate the Attack-11, or even larger and more powerful unmanned fighters, it can play a similar role to the F-35B in use: bombing beachheads and enemy positions in shallow depths. In addition, its built-in fixed-wing fighters also have certain air combat capabilities, which can be used for air combat self-defense or to protect amphibious fleets.

In the potential battlefields of the future, amphibious combat may be unprecedentedly fierce. At this time, the requirement for a warship in air combat is not "better than not having it", but it must be effective. The dispatch rate and turnover rate of the full vertical deck are not enough to support continuous high-intensity air combat. If the 076 focuses on air combat, it will be a bit useless.

However, referring to the land warfare practices in recent years, UAVs have demonstrated completely different characteristics from manned aircraft. Not only do their roles in specific areas far exceed those of unmanned manned aircraft, but the ISR role of UAVs with long flight time is even more subversive and will be particularly eye-catching.

Traditional high-altitude and medium-altitude long-flight drones are particularly suitable for ISR missions, and their low-speed, large-wingspan flights are particularly fuel-efficient. However, large wingspans are not suitable for shipboard deployment, and low-speed, low-maneuverability aircraft have insufficient battlefield survivability. Enemy fleets with some capabilities generally have strong air defense capabilities, and even carrier-based fighters.

Aircraft performing maritime ISR missions need to be closer to high-performance tactical aircraft in terms of performance: high speed and good maneuverability, but this also means greater fuel consumption and a larger take-off weight.

It is generally believed that the 076's electric missile comes from the Fujian, but it is lengthened. The Fujian's electric missile is to meet the needs of launching heavy carrier-based aircraft. The lengthening of the 076's electric missile rail is not necessarily for launching heavier carrier-based aircraft. It is likely that the 076 has insufficient power and the rail must be extended.

After all, the Type 076 is an amphibious assault ship. The short and fat ship shape determines the large resistance and low speed. The main engine power cannot be too large, but this also limits the power that can be provided for the electric missile. The length of the electric missile of the Fujian is limited by the design of the front deck. The Type 076 can theoretically use the full length of the ship, and it is much easier to lengthen the slide rail.

Although the Type 076 can also follow the "Izumo" class route, with a thin hull and high speed, that would return to the "small aircraft carrier" approach, and costs would rise rapidly. Before large-deck warships reach the displacement threshold of "large aircraft carriers", the combat effectiveness of "small aircraft carriers" does not rise synchronously. China already has the "Fujian". If it needs more aircraft carriers, it should seriously build large aircraft carriers. Small aircraft carriers cannot follow the idea of ​​shrinking large aircraft carriers. Letting small aircraft carriers focus on long-range ISR capability construction is a new idea.

It has been reported that in the 076 tender document circulating on the Internet, there is a requirement for an aircraft with a catapult take-off weight of 30 tons, which is far more than the take-off weight of known carrier-based drones. After all, the US X-47B only has a take-off weight of 20 tons.

The Northrop X-47B was tested as one of the prototypes for the selection of carrier-based unmanned fighter jets by the US Navy. The aircraft has a wingspan of 19 meters, a speed of M0.9, and a range of 3,900 kilometers. Later, the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray became the first drone to be officially deployed on ships, with a wingspan of 22.8 meters, a speed of M0.7, a range of more than 4,000 kilometers, and a take-off weight of more than 20 tons.

X-47B drone Wikipedia

The X-47B has a tailless flying wing layout, which is more stealthy and suitable for penetration reconnaissance and bombing, which is equivalent to reconnaissance and strike at sea. It can guide strikes beyond visual range in penetrating reconnaissance and surveillance. The MQ-25 adopts an advanced conventional layout, has better long-range cruising performance, and is suitable for ISR, refueling, anti-submarine, etc. If the take-off weight of any of them is increased to 30 tons, the range is expected to be greatly increased, and the usefulness is further increased.

Of course, such heavy UAVs have strong strike power when used as tactical aircraft, but they are still subject to the problem of insufficient sortie rate and turnover rate. After all, sporadic sorties of three or two aircraft in wartime will not be very effective in high-intensity naval battles, and low-intensity naval battles will be an exaggeration.

Of course, the 076's electric bomb is not only used for heavy UAVs. Electric bombs are electric bombs, and they can be ejected by manned aircraft and UAVs alike. The 30-ton ejection capability means that the J-15 or J-35 can also use it, but it has the same problem as heavy UAVs, the dispatch rate and turnover rate are insufficient, and it is not very useful. The KJ-600 is another problem. It is very useful, but the problem is that it has no escort.

Finally, we have to return to heavy ISR drones. ISR requires heavy carrier-based aircraft, but it does not require a high dispatch rate and turnover rate. After the heavy carrier-based ISR drones are deployed, the focus is to grasp the air and sea conditions in the distance and guide the heavy carrier-based weapons to strike. The aircraft has its own self-defense air combat capability, and long-range ship-to-air missiles can also provide air defense protection, so that heavy ISR drones that lack fighter escorts still have a certain degree of survivability. In a sense, this is an expansion of the Chinese-style long-range anti-submarine thinking and a better display of the power of the 055 and 076 combination.

If the "Fujian" represents the Chinese Navy's efforts to catch up with the world's leading level, then 076 may represent the Chinese Navy's innovative thinking.

076 also illustrates two issues:

1. China has high confidence in electric missiles, and the cost is highly controllable. The United States is a pioneer in electric missiles, but the research and development itself and the difficulty of growth have led to high costs and low reliability. China is just the opposite. It has long been said that China's electric missiles are highly reliable, but the construction of 076 began before the "Fujian" had actually tested the electric missiles at sea, which fully demonstrated China's confidence in electric missiles. Due to the relatively low-cost positioning of 076, the installation of electric missiles also proves that China's electric missiles are very effective in cost control.

2. The construction of 076 is very fast. The dry dock for building 076 was just completed in September 2023, and 076 began construction in October. In less than a year, it has already taken shape. Since 2021, the Chinese Navy has launched three 075s and another one is under construction. This is an incredible speed in Europe and the United States. It is true that China's shipbuilding capacity is 200 times that of the United States. Chinese shipbuilding (especially military ships) is not only fast, but also of good quality, advanced technology and low cost. This makes the US Navy want to compete in the navy, but it is powerless, because the naval competition is not just a problem of shipyards, but also requires the entire supply chain to keep up. When China was "poor only in production capacity", the United States was "poor only in money". But money is just money, and only production capacity can produce more and better new ships.

When the 055 was born, the author pointed out that it is not only the "sword-carrying guard of the aircraft carrier", but also the backbone of the advanced surface combat group that can fight independently. The combination of aircraft carrier combat group and advanced surface combat group will be a new path for the Chinese Navy. Now the 076 has made the surface combat group with the 055 as the backbone even more powerful, and the Chinese Navy is gradually getting better.