No country in the world knows what warships China is building, and according to the information published on the Internet, the 076 ship is already in the final stage of construction.
Judging from the name, the naming of the 07X should be the same as the 075, which belongs to the amphibious assault ship, but the design of the 076 can be said to be unprecedented.
Why? First of all, it adopted a two-ship design, which also used electromagnetic catapult technology, and at the same time, the internal compartments of the amphibious assault ship were retained, with a displacement of 50,000 tons, comparable to that of an aircraft carrier.
Even the U.S. military was stunned by such a design, and they didn't know what kind of reputation China was doing.
There are not many warships with the two-ship island design, the most famous should be the United Kingdom "Queen Elizabeth" aircraft carrier, the "Queen Elizabeth" aircraft carrier uses Chai Ran combined power, electric propulsion. The intake and exhaust of two gas turbines requires large intake and exhaust channels. The double-island layout not only solves the problem of gas turbine intake and exhaust, but also allows an outboard elevator to be arranged between the two islands.
And why did China adopt the Twin Ship Island? It is speculated that there may be two main reasons, the first is that like the United Kingdom aircraft carrier, the 076 uses two sets of gas turbine generator sets as power.
If the intake and exhaust needs of these units are all crowded together, safety, damage resistance and redundancy will be problematic.
Therefore, it is optimal to split the chimney and air intake into two groups. The 076 uses electromagnetic ejection, so it is a matter of course to use all-electric propulsion.
The second is naturally that 076 also has an important use, that is, it is used as a drone carrier, the forward ship island is mainly responsible for command and navigation, and the backward ship island is mainly responsible for the take-off and landing and dispatch of drones. In addition, the twin islands can also improve the airflow conditions over the flight deck, providing a more stable aerodynamic environment for take-off and landing carrier-based aircraft.
In this way, the forward ship island is responsible for the intelligence and dispatch of manned aircraft, and the backward is responsible for the command and dispatch of UAVs, so that the two ship islands can integrate and dispatch manned aircraft and UAVs more quickly and conveniently, and give full play to the power of 1+1>2.
In addition, there is also a set of backup command system on the rear-facing ship island, in case the command system of the forward-facing ship island is broken, the backup command system in the rear can be activated immediately, improving the survivability of the battlefield.
The 076 adopts a dual-ship island, and the biggest consideration should be to deploy heavy fixed-wing UAVs, such as stealth fixed-wing UAVs (UCAVs) of the Attack-11 level, or other large UAVs.
The theory of integrated sea and air warfare with UAVs as the protagonist is still blank, which means that 076 needs to carry out a lot of exploration work to find a practical theoretical and practical basis for naval warfare to enter the unmanned era.
However, the value brought by this is irreplaceable, because it can perfectly solve the problem of training carrier-based aircraft pilots, and cancel the cockpit, life support system, and related pilot control equipment, saving a lot of space and weight, and can load more fuel, ammunition, weapons, and shipboard electronic systems.
Under the conditions of the same tonnage, carrier-based UAVs have more powerful strike capabilities and a larger combat radius. The combat radius of traditional carrier-based fighters is mostly within 800 km, while the combat radius of carrier-based UAVs can easily exceed 1,500 km.
Secondly, carrier-based UAVs have better air mobility. Because it does not need to consider the pilot's physiological endurance, the maximum overload can reach 7~9 G, and it can make many high-speed maneuvers that traditional carrier-based aircraft cannot perform, and can even get rid of missile attacks. This gives it an advantage when fighting against traditional fighters.
Thirdly, the structure of carrier-based UAVs is simpler, and the size of the fuselage can be more compact under the same tonnage conditions, which can effectively increase the number of UAVs carried by aircraft carriers, and then improve the aviation combat power of aircraft carriers. Finally, the aerodynamic layout of the carrier-based UAV greatly improves the radar stealth performance.
Like traditional aircraft carriers, carrier-based aircraft on UAV carriers in the future will also form a system of aircraft types that cooperate with each other, and this system will be more diverse and complex.
However, 076 has a dock and an electromagnetic catapult at the same time, and its function should not only be limited to the UAV carrier, which is the meaning of the twin ship islands, which is to command manned fighters forward. It does not interfere with each other, and at the same time, it can also perform landing and transportation tasks.
Such a design is more similar to the all-round warship proposed by Academician Ma Weiming, and the concept of the all-round ship is based on the cluster breakthrough of the mainland's shipborne high-energy weapons and all-electric ship technology.
According to Ma Weiming's description:
The all-round ship has a displacement of about 10,000 tons, and in terms of air defense, it is divided into three levels: with a range of 200-600 kilometers, it uses a universal electromagnetic launcher that can be repeatedly and automatically loaded to launch anti-missile missiles to achieve point-to-point defense;
10-200 km, the electromagnetic railgun is used to achieve target surface interception;
Within 10 kilometers, laser cannons are used as the last line of defense to intercept terminal missiles.
In terms of anti-ship and land attacks, it is also divided into three levels: 600-1000 kilometers, using repeatable self-loading universal electromagnetic launchers to launch long-range cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to complete attacks on sea and shore targets;
200-600 km, using electromagnetic rockets (artillery) to attack sea and shore targets;
Within 200 kilometers, the electromagnetic railgun can be used to complete the attack on sea and other shore targets, and one electromagnetic railgun can increase the strike capability of the opposite shore by an order of magnitude.
In terms of anti-submarine and anti-torpedo, anti-submarine missiles are launched from electromagnetic launchers to attack submarines, and electromagnetic coil guns are used to intercept incoming torpedoes.
To put it simply, an all-round warship is a ship-borne high-energy weapon, which is propelled by an integrated power system, allowing a single ship to achieve systematic air defense, anti-submarine and precision strikes against the sea and shore. In the view of Academician Ma Weiming, the emergence of high-energy weapons such as electromagnetic railguns, electromagnetic rockets, coil guns, and laser cannons has greatly enhanced the overall offensive and defensive performance and sustained combat capability of a single ship platform, and the successful development of the ship's integrated power system has provided sufficient energy support for high-energy weapons on board. This will completely overturn the existing style of warfare at sea.
Although China has made many breakthroughs in the research of high-energy weapons and integrated power systems, it is estimated that it will take 5-10 years for the all-round ship to be born.
Personally, I think that 076 is more like some technical verification of the all-round ship, which can be used as a drone carrier, but also can carry aircraft and transport tanks, landing forces and other land combat forces, and there will also be high-energy weapons on the ship, which will be China's first type of ship, it is foreseeable that the appearance of 076 will cause heated public opinion.