U.S. aircraft carrier steam catapults are rusting, and Japanese netizens complain: how can it counter China?
The "John C. Stennis" aircraft carrier (CVN-74) is currently undergoing a major mid-life overhaul. This Nimitz-class carrier, which was commissioned in 1995 and is now nearly 30 years old, has recently drawn attention due to the condition of its steam catapults - on-site photos show that the steam catapult guide rails and cylinder components beneath the deck are visibly rusty, with some areas even showing signs of corrosion and peeling.
Steam catapults have been the core takeoff system for U.S. carriers for decades. The technical principle is not complicated: high-pressure steam generated by a nuclear reactor pushes a piston, driving a sled to accelerate an aircraft to takeoff speed within less than 100 meters. However, this system requires extremely high maintenance. According to the U.S. Navy's "Airwing Operational Availability Report" published in 2023, the average time between failures (MTBF) for the steam catapults on Nimitz-class carriers is only about 400 launches, and the maintenance cycle after each major failure usually exceeds two weeks.
More specific data comes from an incident involving the "Stennis" in 2022: a F/A-18E "Super Hornet" crashed into the Pacific Ocean during a launch due to a failure in the catapult cylinder seal, resulting in insufficient initial acceleration. Subsequent investigations pointed out that the inner walls of the catapult cylinder had developed micro-cracks and local deformation due to long-term exposure to high-temperature, high-pressure steam, and could no longer maintain the design-required 3.5 megapascals working pressure. Such wear is not an isolated case. According to the U.S. Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the average service life of the steam catapults on Nimitz-class carriers is approximately 6,000 launches, while most ships have already exceeded their limits.
In contrast, China's Fujian aircraft carrier (hull number 18), launched in 2022, uses a domestically developed electromagnetic catapult system (EMALS). Although the official has not released detailed parameters, according to related papers from the National University of Defense Technology and CCTV footage, the energy conversion efficiency of the electromagnetic catapult is about 30% higher than that of the steam system, and it can precisely adjust thrust to accommodate the full range of carrier-based aircraft, from light drones to heavy early warning aircraft.
More importantly, the electromagnetic system theoretically supports over 10,000 launches, and daily maintenance time is reduced by about 40%.
This technological gap is being amplified by international observers. On Japanese online forums such as 2ch and Twitter, many military enthusiasts have raised doubts: "The U.S. is still repairing steam devices from decades ago, while China's new aircraft carrier has already adopted electromagnetic catapults. The gap is not just a little." Some comments even say, "Rusty catapults are not just metal aging, but also a symbol of the U.S. military equipment update lagging behind." How can they confront China's Fujian aircraft carrier with such backwardness?"
Original source: www.toutiao.com/article/1849366819629059/
Disclaimer: This article represents the views of the author.