UCAVs on a carrier?
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LearningTranscript
00:00Ok, let's talk Chinese Carrier Wings So, in the last video we discussed what may
00:19be the long term plan of the Chinese Navy from a strategic point of view.
00:25The aircraft carrier type 003 is going to be launched soon, the type 004 will follow
00:33and then surely there is a long term plan on how to use them.
00:37The end state in 10 or 15 years is going to be a carrier fleet but its main mission is
00:46probably still uncertain.
00:48It can either be the centerpiece of a defensive posture to defend the first and the second
00:53island chain, or it could be an offensive force to contrast the US Navy in blue waters
00:59and to support ground operations in the Malacca Strait, or it could even evolve from a defensive
01:05force to an offensive force for what we know.
01:08Fact is, the US Navy is the only opponent that could conceivably contrast a fleet of
01:146 to 10 type 003 and 004 aircraft carriers trying to access the Indian Ocean.
01:22Sir, I suspect many Indian viewers will be upset by this observation.
01:28Come on Otis, let me have some fun from time to time!
01:37Anyway, the carrier is only a mobile infrastructure.
01:42What makes the carrier worth having is the carrier wing.
01:46In fact, the capabilities of the aircraft based on the carrier are basically the offensive
01:52capabilities of the carrier group.
01:54Some kind viewers in a previous video pointed out how the Chinese are intensely working
02:00on hypersonic and ballistic anti-ship weapons, and this may indeed be another piece of the
02:07puzzle.
02:08In fact, these weapons in the near future may become an important part of the capabilities
02:14provided by the carrier battle group.
02:17However, this is a subject for another time.
02:19In this video we are focusing on the potential carrier wing of the type 003 and 004.
02:27And since we like being different, where everybody else would start from the fighters, we start
02:32from the force multipliers.
02:34O-Axes, Tankers, Drones.
02:38Probably the most important force multipliers of all are the airborne early warning radars.
02:50And in September 2020 the KJ-600 made its maiden flight.
02:55The Chinese have invested heavily in the development of O-Axes and they have several models in
03:02service.
03:03However, it is not easy to convert that kind of platform for naval use.
03:10In fact, albeit some have found some similarities with the larger Xian Y-7, the KJ-600 is smaller
03:19and probably designed a dock.
03:21Its development though was unusually long for the Chinese.
03:25In fact, it was necessary to build a technology demonstrator.
03:31The JZY-01 flew for the first time in 2001.
03:36It has been used during the years to test several different configurations and the current
03:41configuration has been seen for the first time in 2012.
03:46The KJ-600 has the same general configuration of the E-2 Hawkeye because, well, it's just
03:54concurrent engineering.
03:56There is nothing intrinsically special or secret in the E-2 platform.
04:02As we speak, in April 2022 the aircraft is still in development, so we don't have a wealth
04:08of news about it.
04:10The radome seems to be an actually rotating radome, which is different from the most recent
04:15Chinese configurations, but it seems unlikely that the radar is not going to be an AESA
04:22radar.
04:23Chinese are reporting that the KJ-600 is going to benefit of a very advanced solution in
04:30terms of battle management and network-centric warfare.
04:35It is suspected to have 4 or 5 operators stations that will benefit of the integration with
04:42an indigenous high-speed data link, the DTS-03.
04:46The data link will feature a bandwidth of 2 Mbps, a range of 400 km and will support
04:53obviously voice and data communications.
04:56Sir, have you ever wondered if military data links do support music streaming?
05:02Uh, please ignore him.
05:05We don't know if the DTS-03 supports music, but we know that the DTS-03 supports ADOT
05:12networking.
05:13This means that the network can be formed spontaneously and can be composed by all the
05:20assets that support the data link within range, without the necessity of having a node
05:27or several nodes to create the network.
05:31Probably in different contexts it would be called a peer-to-peer network.
05:35Some numbers about the radar range have been bouncing around in the press, but they are
05:40the usual meaningless numbers.
05:42What seems certain though is that the KJ-600 is going to be definitely an improvement if
05:49compared with the current situation.
05:52In fact, on the current type 001 and 002, the Liaoning and the Shandong, the Chinese
05:57used Kamov 31 helicopters in the same role.
06:03And it is clear that the KJ-600 compared with the helicopters will have more time on station,
06:10more operators, more computing power, more electrical power, and it will be faster.
06:17All observers agree that the KJ-600 will require a catapult to take off from a carrier,
06:23so it surely won't be on board of 001 and 002, but it seems only logical that it will
06:32be deployed on 003 and the following.
06:36We have no news of the introduction of a tanker aircraft on the type 003 carrier.
06:48This may not be an anomaly since even the United States Navy doesn't have a dedicated
06:54tanker anymore, and the F-18 covers this role too, but this is a missing capability, it
07:03is a compromise, it is not by design.
07:06In fact, this is going to change in the near future with the introduction of the MQ-25
07:11in the United States, but there is no sign that the Chinese are going down this way as
07:18well.
07:19We can speculate that once you have a platform like the KJ-600, while removing all the electronics
07:26and all the OX equipment, you can possibly adapt that platform for the tanker role, but
07:34this is just speculation.
07:41China since 2019 has introduced in service a stealth UCAV, the GJ-11 Sharpsword, which
07:50probably a world first.
07:52It has a flying wing configuration not dissimilar from the MQ-25 or the Neuron, the Okhotnik
07:59and several other experimental projects.
08:03It is designed as a ground attack unit and it has two weapon bays that can house each
08:09kind of compact PGMs.
08:11We know that it is in service with the Air Force, but its actual use so far it is actually
08:17shrouded in secrecy.
08:18The wingspan is estimated to be 14 meters, the empty weight is 6,350 kilos and the maximum
08:27takeoff weight is 20,200 kilos.
08:31It is subsonic, the engine has no afterburner and the speed is estimated to be around 500
08:38knots.
08:39The transfer range is declared to be about 4,000 kilometers, which means that probably
08:44the combat range is in the region of a bit more than a thousand kilometers.
08:50Not enormous but pretty decent.
08:52Some analysts believe that the aircraft as it is now cannot operate from carriers and
08:58granted it will need an adaptation, however if the engine thrust is probably low for carrier
09:04operations the wing seems capable of quite a lot of lift and you can spot quite large
09:12flaps on the trailing edge.
09:15So while it is questionable that it could take off from a ski jump, I don't believe
09:21there will be any special issues in launching it from a catapult even at maximum takeoff
09:27weight.
09:28The maximum takeoff weight is a bit high but that's what the sources are saying so take
09:33it with a pinch of salt.
09:34In any case there are official drawings that show a drone like the GJ-11 on the deck of
09:39a type 003 or type 004 carrier or even on the deck of the conjectured type 076 amphibious
09:50assault ship.
09:52All these three types of ships will be equipped with electromagnetic catapults, at least according
09:58to the plans.
10:00Operating a drone from a carrier is obviously more challenging than operating a drone from
10:05a land base, however it is a technology that doesn't require a particular breakthrough
10:10so it is probably within reach of everyone who wants to put the effort in it.
10:16And if this was the case it may well happen that the Chinese are going to be the first
10:23to deploy a combat drone on board of a carrier.
10:33All these systems that we have just described do exist with the purpose of supporting the
10:38combat component of the carrier wing and the combat component will be the subject of the
10:44next video.
10:45If you like this video there are several other videos about the Chinese Navy, the Chinese
10:50Air Force on the channel and they're going to appear beside me.
10:54Thank you very much to all those who are supporting the channel on Patreon or being a member and
11:01if you like this video just thank you very much for watching and see you there!