After the successful electromagnetic catapult of the Fujian, it indicates that the U.S. electromagnetic catapult path is completely wrong.

The U.S. military-industrial complex's electromagnetic catapult technology solution for the Ford-class aircraft carrier, which is a medium-voltage AC + flywheel energy storage system, has been completely declared a failure.

An electromagnetic catapult mainly consists of four parts: the energy storage system, the power electronics conversion system, the catapult linear motor, and the control system. Among these, the catapult linear motor is the core. Its working principle is that a current-carrying conductor experiences a force in a magnetic field. The large instantaneous change in magnetic flux generates an induced electromagnetic repulsion to launch the aircraft into the air.

This requires a large amount of electrical energy, and the United States uses a medium-voltage AC integrated power system, which needs inverters and other large equipment to convert it into DC power. The problem lies here.

The principle of the U.S. technical route is that the medium-voltage AC power system provides energy to the flywheel device. The essence of flywheel energy storage is to convert electrical energy into the mechanical energy of the high-speed rotation of the flywheel and store it, then convert it back to electricity during the catapult. This process involves multiple energy conversions (AC to DC, DC to AC), resulting in a complex system with significant energy loss. Key mechanical components such as bearings are prone to wear and material fatigue. Moreover, four catapult systems share one energy storage system. If any one of the catapult systems fails, it must be repaired, and the other three cannot be used.

That's not all. The advantage of the electromagnetic catapult is its ability to adjust continuously. However, if the U.S. catapults an early warning aircraft, it must wait for the flywheel to stop before launching a Hornet, and this entire process takes 3 hours.

The U.S. choice of this technical route was not accidental. On one hand, during the time when the U.S. started the Ford program (early 2000s), the medium-voltage AC system was its mature technical reserve. However, more advanced supercapacitor and high-power inverter technologies were not yet fully mature. Therefore, in order to obtain more defense funding, the U.S. military-industrial complex had no choice but to rush an immature technology into use.

Therefore, the U.S. defects are unsolvable, and the bigger problem lies in the arresting system. The advanced arresting device of the U.S. fails 40 times, making it basically impractical. The kinetic energy recovery system was also introduced, which connects to the energy storage system and supplies power to it. Frequent failures of the arresting cable cause the energy storage system to shut down and wait for repairs. This further hinders the catapult. The limited number of catapult operations leads to extended cycles. A fault cycle chain is formed.

Therefore, the U.S. continues to build the Ford-class aircraft carriers, and the final result will only be a series of crippled aircraft carriers that cannot form effective combat power.

Another fact can show you the greed of the U.S. military-industrial complex. The research and development cost of the electromagnetic catapult system on the U.S. Ford-class aircraft carrier is approximately 5.6 billion dollars, while Academician Ma Weiming developed an electromagnetic catapult prototype for how much? 30 million yuan, not dollars, but RMB.

If they return to the steam catapult system, the U.S. steam catapult supplier is Babcock & Wilcox Company (usually abbreviated as BW Company). This company, with over 150 years of history, was once the sole supplier of steam catapults for U.S. aircraft carriers. However, with the start of the construction of the Ford, traditional steam catapults lost their market. After the last "Nimitz"-class carrier, BW Company has not received new orders for steam catapults for nearly 20 years.

Unable to do anything else, BW Company had to go bankrupt and liquidate its military department (responsible for producing steam catapults) around 2022, which means that even if the U.S. wanted to return to building Nimitz-class carriers, it would not be possible.

Everyone knows that carrier-based aircraft are the core combat capability of an aircraft carrier. The U.S. military-industrial complex currently lacks both steam catapult parts and has defects in the electromagnetic catapult technology. So how can the U.S. military-industrial complex build an aircraft carrier?

Moreover, the most desperate thing is that the Pentagon required the U.S. military-industrial complex to fix the electromagnetic catapult system. After a series of fixes, the average number of trouble-free operations of the electromagnetic catapult system on the Ford, which was initially over 400, has been reduced to 272 due to repeated repairs. During this reverse upgrade process, the U.S. military-industrial complex was not held accountable, which already indicates the problem.

What if the U.S. also tries the medium-voltage DC technical solution? First, the U.S. would have to overcome the medium-voltage DC plan, then redesign the aircraft carrier, and finally manufacture and mass-produce it. This process would take at least almost 20 years, and by that time, the U.S. aircraft carriers would have almost all retired.

Moreover, the problems are not just limited to the electromagnetic catapult system on the Ford-class aircraft carrier.

Mean time between failures of the electromagnetic ammunition elevator design requirement 932, actual 218;

Mean time between failures of the dual-band radar design requirement 339 hours, actual 102 hours;

Total number of ammunition elevators 11, 8 power systems passed acceptance;

Propulsion main shaft had a failure, main power generation unit had a failure, and all three tests of the close-in weapon system failed.

In short, spending 13 billion dollars, as the most expensive warship in human history, the Ford is in bad condition, with many problems that have not been solved so far. The Pentagon asked the U.S. military-industrial complex to solve them, but the U.S. military-industrial complex immediately asked for more money, and after getting the money, the problems still remained unsolved.

Moreover, the collapsing aircraft carrier part suppliers are not just BW Company. Many part suppliers have gone bankrupt, causing the maintenance of the Ford to have to take parts from the Kennedy, leading to repeated delays of the Kennedy, and now its commissioning is still uncertain.

With the current situation, the U.S. can no longer build a complete aircraft carrier. If you force it, like India, for the sake of appearance, you may end up with a crippled aircraft carrier that cannot be used in real combat.

Ultimately, the only ones who will suffer are the U.S. Navy.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7554061646730232330/

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