China currently has 35 Type 052D, 8 Type 055, and 41 Type 054A/054B ships. In contrast, the US has a total of 75 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and 22 cruisers. If it comes to main combat ships, China's scale has not exceeded that of the US, let alone the fact that the US currently has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
However, recently, American media stated that the world's first navy belongs to China. In the article, the American media said that China, which does not rely on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, has built the world's strongest navy with 370 warships.
The reason why the American media made such a judgment is that China has now put into service three hypersonic missiles: YJ-17, YJ-19, and YJ-20. Moreover, China has even turned combat ships into hypersonic strike platforms by relying on hypersonic missiles, which has revolutionized the naval warfare model centered on carrier-based aircraft established by the US after World War II.
What is the situation? Let us sort out the development model of modern naval warfare together.
After World War II, the US maintained global hegemony through aircraft carrier battle groups
Before World War II, battleships were undeniably the supreme power at sea. This was a huge, armored, steam-driven ship propelled by propellers, with a displacement of 8,000-9,000 tons and 6,000-8,000 horsepower. It had rotating turrets, 4-6 heavy guns, and a ram at the bow below the waterline to collide with enemy ships.
The existence of battleships brought the ocean into the steel age. Especially when Britain invented the Dreadnought, it dominated the design standards for battleships, just like the US aircraft carrier. The Dreadnought was equipped with 10 12-inch main guns, ensuring uniform long-range firepower output, while abandoning the design of medium-caliber guns in the pre-Dreadnought era. The medium-caliber guns, which occupied space for large-caliber main guns, would significantly reduce the firepower during long-range shooting.
As a revolutionary warship, the Dreadnought made a qualitative leap in mobility and firepower. The Dreadnought was the first true modern battleship. "Dreadnought" not only became the synonym for modern battleships, but also led all countries to start building "Dreadnoughts." According to statistics, there were as many as 150 worldwide.
After World War II, the global naval power structure underwent a complete transformation. The era of battleships came to an end, and aircraft carriers officially established their position as the core of maritime supremacy.
Aircraft carriers did not have thick armor, but they could replace battleships because of their carrier-based aircraft. The range of a battleship's guns was only a few kilometers, while carrier-based aircraft could expand the combat range to hundreds of kilometers away. Before the battleship could see the carrier, it was already sunk.
The United States, with its unparalleled industrial strength and rich practical experience, did not start from scratch, but deeply learned and drew lessons from the innovations and experiences of British aircraft carriers in the war, thereby leading the development of global aircraft carrier technology. (Excluding the Soviet Union.)
The "Forrestal"-class and the later "Kitty Hawk"-class conventional aircraft carriers, as well as the groundbreaking "Enterprise" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the "Nimitz"-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, all reached several times the tonnage of British aircraft carriers. A larger hull meant stronger aircraft carrying capacity, more sufficient aviation fuel and ammunition reserves, as well as better long-range sustained operational capabilities.
Especially the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier, which entered service in 1961, opened the nuclear era of aircraft carriers. Nuclear power gave aircraft carriers almost unlimited endurance, eliminating the need for fuel replenishment for conventional power aircraft carriers, allowing them to travel at high speeds for a long time and quickly deploy to any hot spot at sea, becoming the ultimate tool for America's global strategy.
The United States developed the aircraft carrier into a carrier battle group (Carrier Battle Group), integrating air defense, anti-submarine, anti-ship, and land attack capabilities. The composition of the carrier air wing has become increasingly complex and complete, including fighter jets, attack aircraft, early warning aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, and anti-submarine helicopters, making the aircraft carrier a powerful mobile military base at sea.
The US Navy has always regarded the aircraft carrier and its fleet as the core force for implementing its global strategy. Before the 1990s, the US always took the aircraft carrier as the core platform for oceanic operations. In recent years, the US has shifted to a coastal strategy, repositioning the aircraft carrier from a core platform for oceanic fleet confrontation to a base and platform for influencing land situations and conducting attacks on land and near-sea areas.
In other words, the US aircraft carrier strike group relies on carrier-based aircraft to deliver firepower. The aircraft carrier is equipped only with self-defense weapons systems but has a large number of electronic information equipment, with strong internal and external connectivity and command capabilities. Other ships in the formation are organic components of the aircraft carrier's offensive and defensive capabilities, mainly responsible for air defense, anti-submarine, and land attack missions, etc.
But China has created a different model, which is a dual-firepower model of missiles and carrier-based aircraft.
China Builds a New Naval Warfare Model
Why does the aircraft carrier battle group still rely on carrier-based aircraft as the core combat force even though missile technology is becoming increasingly advanced?
First, airplanes can fly over, circle above the target area, conduct reconnaissance, identification, re-targeting, precise strikes, and even air combat to seize air superiority. Once a missile is launched, it cannot be retrieved and can only strike preset targets, unable to respond to changing situations.
Second, a carrier air wing can continuously launch aircraft 24 hours a day, maintaining presence in the target area, forming continuous deterrence and strike pressure. After a missile salvo, it takes a long time to reload (reloading the vertical launching system at sea is extremely difficult), resulting in a gap in firepower.
It can be said that carrier-based aircraft provide continuous, flexible, and extensive strike capabilities, which are incomparable to one-time missiles.
But when we completely connect all platforms and build a cross-platform information network, it is different. Especially, our military has developed several types of carrier-based hypersonic missiles. Among them, the YJ-19 not only can be carried by the Type 055 destroyers and Type 052D destroyers, but also can be used in the 533mm torpedo tubes of the existing Type 093, Type 093A, and Type 039, 039A/B/C submarines. Therefore, when we heard the introduction, we mentioned that it can be used for submarine launches.
It can even be deployed on the Type 054B frigates and large unmanned combat vessels. Our Type 054A and Type 054B still use 32-unit 650mm vertical launching systems, without using larger diameter 850mm vertical launching systems. The size of the YJ-19 fits perfectly with the Type 054 and Type 054B.
This means that the Chinese Navy will achieve a decisive advantage over the US aircraft carrier strike group in terms of long-range combat capabilities. Hypersonic missiles, due to their extremely high flight speed, maneuverability, and low-altitude penetration characteristics, can effectively break through the current carrier-based air defense and missile defense systems, thus greatly enhancing our anti-ship combat range and damage effect.
Imagine, even a frigate like the Type 054B, after being equipped with such missiles, can have the capability to severely damage or even destroy an aircraft carrier. This not only greatly enhances the firepower density and sustained striking ability of the fleet, but also forms a saturation attack advantage in multiple directions, multiple batches, and high intensity at the tactical level.
Keep in mind, among China's 370 warships, there are 60 missile destroyers, 50 Type 054A, and more than 100 hypersonic fire-fighting platforms, which are enough to deal with the US forces that can only muster three or four aircraft carrier groups.
This is why the American media says that even without nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the Chinese Navy still builds one of the most intimidating maritime combat forces in the world through the hypersonic strike system.
China's Aircraft Carrier Battle Group Combines the Advantages of the US and the Soviet Union
In fact, China's aircraft carrier battle group integrates the advantages of both the US and the Soviet Union. After the US established a carrier-based aircraft-centered carrier battle group, only the Soviet Union did not follow the US model.
The Soviet aircraft carrier was called the heavy cruiser model, combining the aircraft carrier and the cruiser. The main task of the carrier-based aircraft was air defense and anti-submarine, while the anti-ship mission was undertaken by supersonic anti-ship missiles. However, the serious single function of Soviet carrier-based aircraft seriously limited the initiative of the maritime aviation force. The lack of anti-ship capability of Soviet carrier-based aircraft meant that the carrier group could not rely on its own aviation force to launch long-range anti-ship attacks, and had to depend on the missile firepower of surface ships. Its design purpose was to carry out "asymmetric strikes" against the US aircraft carrier battle group, but it ignored the importance of maritime air superiority, which made the carrier essentially a "defensive" platform, losing the inherent advantages of carrier-based aircraft for offense and defense.
But China is different. The aircraft carrier still assumes core tasks such as maritime air superiority, while the missile firepower output is handled by missile destroyers and frigates. Relying on China's comprehensive combat information network platform, the information between the aircraft carrier and various warships is shared, and even the early warning aircraft can guide our hypersonic missiles, accurately targeting the enemy. This way, we have both the "asymmetric strike" capability against the US aircraft carrier and the mobility and flexibility of carrier-based aircraft.
With the support of hypersonic weapons, "detect and strike, strike and destroy" is gradually becoming a reality, which poses unprecedented challenges to the survival capabilities of traditional large surface ships.
Additionally, the so-called "two-core" combat system of carrier-based aircraft and hypersonic missiles further expands the tactical options and flexibility of the navy in high-intensity modern naval warfare. On one hand, carrier-based aircraft can go forward to perform reconnaissance, electromagnetic suppression, and mid-range guidance tasks, providing critical information support for hypersonic missiles to conduct beyond-visual-range strikes. On the other hand, the powerful penetration and termination capabilities of missiles can effectively reduce the risks faced by manned platforms, forming an organic complementarity between firepower and mobility. Depending on the battlefield situation—whether it's an oceanic battle, regional denial, or control of important routes—the Chinese Navy can flexibly allocate these two core combat forces to achieve optimal combat effectiveness, thereby gaining greater initiative in high-end confrontations.
China Still Needs Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carriers
Of course, although the American media said this, China still needs nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers do not need frequent refueling, effectively reducing the demand for logistics support and expanding the operational radius. Nuclear power units can fully demonstrate their high speed and high maneuverability, while also allowing the entire ship to be less dependent on large oil tankers.
The unlimited endurance and continuous high-speed advantages of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers allow them to be rapidly deployed to any sea area in the world. Considering factors such as endurance and combat capabilities, only large aircraft carriers and submarines are more suitable for using the costly nuclear power units. During the process of long-range operations, the lower the dependence on supply support of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the stronger its practicality; the practicality of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is far superior to that of a conventional-powered aircraft carrier.
It can be said that nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are important strategic weapons for maintaining world and regional peace and safeguarding national maritime sovereignty. They have significant meaning for enhancing national status and protecting national territorial security. As a maritime power, China needs nuclear submarines even more.
Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7549261762139308554/
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