Three squadrons - three AUG
We have already talked more than once about what China is doing in terms of creating fleet day of tomorrow and how it turns out for a country led by the Chinese Communist Party. It turns out just excellent, such a pace of ship construction can be the envy of all countries of the world.
And if you consider that for this China does not have to go on a hungry ration, then in general things are going just fine. For China and its navy, of course. For many in the world, it is true, what China is doing causes a real gnashing of teeth, but today no country in the world is able to build ships at such a pace.
At present, the powerful construction of the fleet from new ships and the parallel modernization of old ones can be clearly traced. And the main thing in naval construction is the formation of squadrons / AUG. The quantity, as it becomes clear, is three units.
It took the Chinese naval command 15 years to go through a fairly decent path: to form the first AUG, albeit half of a training nature, to build its own first aircraft carrier on its own, and to lay down the third. Plus, active work is underway to develop a fifth-generation carrier-based fighter and, in addition to it, a deck-based strike unmanned aerial vehicle.
Probably the only fleet that could match in terms of pace and quality is the Japanese. The United States today is preoccupied with maintaining its huge fleet in a combat-ready state, and new ships there are not as frequent as those of the Chinese and Japanese.
However, even the USA and Japan, which are on the same scale, are not yet able to outweigh the dynamics of China's "dispersal". Yes, the US has an inherently intimidating fleet, but ... but there are so many nuances that it is always considered separately.
But the United States has an excellent aircraft carrier group. American aircraft carriers are indeed a force, albeit a little limited.
Why can't China follow the path of the Americans and create such a group of ships?
And China is coming. The fact that aircraft carrier forces are being created in the country can be seen with the naked eye. Moreover, they are created with an eye on the American (as the best in the world) system.
Naturally, the presence of aircraft-carrying strike groups will allow China a lot: to defend its interests, territorial claims, which China has more than enough, will expand China's ability to project power to other regions of the world.
In general, everything is the same as that of the United States, but with an eye on the growing fleet of new ships behind its back. Is it quite? Indeed, yes.
And China has where to apply its new fleet. It is obvious that the region of the South China Sea, where the exercises of the Chinese Navy are so actively conducted today, can easily become an area where China will begin to defend its interests.
So the teachings are just the beginning. In the future, there is a permanent presence of Chinese warships in the South China Sea, and in case of a very ugly scenario, the interests of several countries will collide there.
And then it turns out who will have the advantage in the air - that will have the advantage on the water.
So, in principle, the South China Sea is a springboard for educational work with a perspective. And when my studies are over, I won't be very surprised if China begins to defend its interests around the world. For example, in Africa, where recently the presence of China has been noticeable with the naked eye.
And everything goes according to plan ... And the plan is being traced. At least three stages can be seen, after the completion of which the PRC will have a fleet capable of fully solving any tasks in any area of the World Ocean, without looking back at possible opposition.
The first stage has already been implemented. As part of this stage, a training AUG was created as part of the Liaoning aircraft carrier, three destroyers and three escort frigates, a helicopter carrier and two nuclear submarines.
A decent grouping for any fleet other than the American one. And this AUG has already performed training tasks, preparing both the personnel of the ships, and the pilots of aircraft and helicopters, to work as part of a single strike group.
The second stage will be the construction and commissioning of the second full-fledged aircraft carrier "Shandong" and the preparation of a group of surface and submarine ships for it. The work with Shandong is planned to be completed by 2025, and then the Chinese fleet will have TWO strike groups of ships, which will include an aircraft carrier, a helicopter carrier, 6-8 destroyers and frigates, 2 submarines and 2-4 support vessels.
Considering that Japan's main regional competitor will be able to deploy approximately the same groupings, but the air wing of the Japanese aircraft carrier will be half that of the Chinese, certain conclusions can be drawn now. The aircraft carrier, converted from the Japanese Akagi-class destroyer-helicopter carrier, is no match for the Shandong, which, although lightweight. But a full-fledged aircraft carrier. And its 40-wing wing is definitely stronger than the 12 F-35B on the Japanese ship.
The second stage will actually be completed by about 2025. And immediately start the third stage.
The third stage in China is planned to be carried out until 2030-2035. The whole snag in the developed project of an aircraft carrier with a nuclear power plant. Plans for the construction of the first such ship are constantly being adjusted, but certain work is being carried out.
An aircraft carrier with a nuclear power plant will be more independent than its predecessors, in addition, aircraft are planned to be launched using electromagnetic catapults, which will actually allow more aircraft to be taken on board.
In general, the Chinese are very good at keeping silent about their plans, but a certain amount of information that was gleaned from the Chinese media today allows us to conclude that the plans of the Chinese command are worth 70 aircraft on board the new aircraft carrier.
These will be fighters, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition, in China, work is in full swing on the creation of new aircraft AWACS and electronic warfare, focused on deck-based.
AWACS and EW aircraft on the deck of an aircraft carrier are such a necessary component of modern warfare that we simply will not talk about their usefulness. I will only note that when new machines (exactly when, and not if) land on the decks of Chinese aircraft carriers, a new era will begin in stories the Chinese fleet.
China already has in service quite decent AWACS and RTR aircraft based on the AN-12. When it becomes possible to place the equipment from the same KJ-200 kit into the volume of an aircraft capable of taking off and landing on the Shandun deck, China will get a very tangible advantage over all the participants in the Asia-Pacific region, except the United States. But even so - everything will be very impressive.
So the first flight of the Xian KJ-600 prototype, which took off not so long ago, is just the beginning.
It is planned that the KJ-600 will be able to operate from the decks of the new aircraft carriers. When this happens, it will add additional detection range to the AUG and provide target designation to the aircraft of the aircraft carrier's wing. And from coastal airfields, ship groups can serve all the same KJ-500, which, in terms of their dimensions, will not be able to fit on the decks of aircraft carriers.
So, if you dream a little, then: by 2030, in just 9 years, China may have three aircraft carriers. And even four, if everything goes as the Chinese command would like.
Using these ships, three AUGs will be formed, which will enhance the capabilities of the Chinese fleet and put the fleet into new orbits. The fleet will be able to protect the interests of China in any area of the World Ocean.
If by that time the Chinese can actually build two new aircraft carriers, then the first, Liaoning, will remain a training class for naval pilots. aviation... By the way, the former "Varyag" copes with this role quite well, for the first regiment of naval pilots has already been trained with the help of this ship.
In general, it should be said that the purchase and completion of the Liaoning greatly helped the Chinese fleet in terms of personnel training and pilot training, in fact, recouped the construction costs.
Moreover, it was on the Liaoning that the issues of naval interaction and many other issues were worked out.
The Chinese command took a very big risk buying the unfinished Varyag. The Chinese had too many problems, because no one canceled the embargo on military technology. Therefore, the Chinese laid the foundation for the development of the aircraft carrier fleet on their own, but they succeeded.
Many experts in the world do not express doubts that China will be able to build the next generation aircraft carriers. Work is going on, albeit not at the pace that the Chinese command would like, but it is going on.
In the event that the plans come true, China will have at its disposal three strike groups of ships with aircraft carriers. Of course, this is not the American fleet with its resources, but in this situation, the PLA Navy comes out on top in the Asia-Pacific region and in the coastal zone of Asia will be able to resist even the American fleet, subject to support from the coast.
In principle, this is not even a fantasy, but a fairly well-made plan.
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