New Chinese Carrier Concept Looks A Lot Like U.S. Navy’s Ford Class

China’s growing carrier ambitions were underscored recently by the use of its newest operational carrier to send a signal to Taiwan.

China to start constructions of Fourth Aircraft Carrier Type 004.CVN ?..

Will Chinas Type 004 Aircraft Carrier be Nuclear Powered?

CN Type 004..

美國軍事情報分析指出,中國海軍業已開工建造核子動力航空母艦,但是核子反應爐的施工,安裝,測試,尚需求俄羅斯的技術支援及協助,目前得知中國海軍希望安裝最新型的核子反應爐,以提供未來50年的使用,美軍情報透露出中國海軍希望得到最新型A1B reactor,否則就是安裝舊型號.A4W. reactor.如此而已.其中部份美國海軍戰略專家,無法相信中國海軍如何在20年的時間內,突飛猛進,超越美國海軍60年發展航空母艦的技術,以及其他軍事項目,令人執疑是否又是竊取美國海軍的軍事機密? 誘或是得到俄羅斯的密秘支援?

.CHINA CVN NEED RUSSIA HELP FOR A1B reactor.or A4W reactor.installation skill & onther technology .

China’s next Aircraft Carrier: Type 004 will be nuclear powered or conventional

Two pieces of artwork from Chinas Jiangnan Shipyard have recently emerged depicting what appears to be a new aircraft carrier design. This could be a glimpse at one concept for a planned future Chinese carrier commonly referred to as the Type 004. The images show a vessel that is distinct from the Chinese carrier Fujian, also known as the Type 003, which Jiangnan is building now. It also has some broad external similarities to the U.S. Navys Ford class and Frances future New Generation Aircraft Carrier.

Twitter user @HenriKenhmann, an independent China-focused defense analyst who runs the website East Pendulum, posted copies of the artwork, seen below, online earlier today. The appearance of these images also follows the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Navys (PLAN) first domestically-built carrier, the Shandong, making its first voyage out into the Western Pacific proper this week. To get there, the ship sailed through the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan, sending a signal to authorities on the island at a time of increased friction with the government on the mainland.

One would imagine that any future Chinese CATOBAR carrier would have an advanced electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), as is the case with Fujian. The U.S. Navys USS Gerald R. Ford is the only operational carrier in the world currently equipped with such a catapult system. This will be a feature on the other flattops in that class. Its also expected to be a component of the future French New Generation Aircraft Carrier design..

The United States and France are also the only two countries operating CATOBAR carriers of any kind at present. The types the two countries have in service now are all nuclear-powered, as well. Frances New Generation Aircraft Carrier will have nuclear propulsion, too.

India also plans to acquire a conventionally-powered CATOBAR-configured carrier in the future, which may have EMALS catapults.

With all this in mind, its perhaps not surprising that the overall look of the carrier in the new art from Jiangnan is very reminiscent, at least externally, of both the Ford class and the French New Generation Aircraft Carrier designs. This is particularly true when it comes to the very rearward placement of the island superstructure and its configuration with what looks to be fixed-face radar arrays on its upper sides. The U.S. Navy often touts Fords island arrangement, and how that impacts the configuration of the ships flight deck, among other things, as being highly beneficial for a number of reasons, as you can read more about here.

How much the new carrier concept artwork from Jiangnan does or doesnt reflect the current plans for the Type 004 remains to be seen. Regardless, the PLAN does seem to have very clear ambitions to expand the size of its carrier force to include increasingly more capable ships like the forthcoming Fujian.

Though there is a very active debate among experts and observers about the future utility of aircraft carriers in a world with ever-more-advanced anti-ship threats, the PLAN certainly seems to feel that they are still valuable power projection platforms, both regionally and on a more global scale. The apparent recent use of Shandong to send a message to the government in Taiwan around Taiwanese President Tsai Ing Wens meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday. In the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the third most senior government official.