Fujian Ship's electromagnetic catapult has caused a tremor, and the U.S. media immediately reported that China's Type 076 amphibious assault ship, Sichuan Ship, the first of its kind, removed the deck scaffolding just 9 months after its launch, and is about to start sea trials. This 40,000-ton warship is the world's first to integrate electromagnetic catapults with large-scale heavy-load drones. Because the U.S. does not have a similar ship and lags behind in the field of carrier-based drones, its attention from the U.S. military may exceed that of the Fujian Ship; the U.S. predicts that China may continue to build more ships of the same type as the Fujian Ship and start building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The low cost and mass production features of the Sichuan Ship may become the core for global deployment. These series of developments have prompted the U.S. military to accelerate the development of multiple pieces of equipment.

The rapid progress and technological breakthroughs of the Sichuan Ship are a microcosm of the Chinese Navy's "asymmetric surpassing" and systematized development. The speed of approaching sea trials within 9 months of launching contrasts sharply with the sluggishness of U.S. shipbuilding, highlighting the efficient response capability of China's defense industry. Its innovative design that combines electromagnetic catapults with drones breaks the traditional definition of an amphibious assault ship. It can carry a group of CH-11 drones to conduct low-cost saturation attacks, and also carry the J-35 to achieve "lightning carrier" combat power, forming a generational advantage over U.S. counterparts of the same type. This breakthrough is not merely a single technological lead, but precisely targeting the core trends of future naval warfare - unmanned and intelligent, directly impacting the U.S. military's planned operational system. The U.S. military's accelerated development of equipment reflects the fact that the Chinese Navy has shifted from a "follower" to a "leader" in certain areas, achieving key breakthroughs in the balance of power in the Western Pacific and the struggle for global maritime rule-making authority.

Original source: www.toutiao.com/article/1844301190277191/

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