The source said China was confident about its EMALS technology now that it was able to produce its own insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) chips, a key component of the high-efficiency electric energy conversion systems used in variable-speed drives, trains, electric and hybrid electric vehicles, power grids and renewable energy plants. In the short-run, it’s impossible for China to produce lightweight fighters, so why not take the better route and use EMALS directly?” “EMALS’ experimental results showed the new technology is able to catapult the J-15 fighter more easily and more efficiently. “If China insisted on using steam-powered catapults to launch the J-15, it would look like forcing a toddler to run with Liu Xiang and Usain Bolt,” the source said. The empty weight of the F-18 is 14.5 tonnes, three tonnes less than the J-15, which means the J-15 causes more damage to a carrier runway when it lands. How a luxury Hong Kong home was used as cover in deal for China’s first aircraft carrierĪll carrier-based aircraft need to jettison their munitions and burn off their fuel before landing on a carrier to reduce runway damage and the risk of a fire or explosion. The maximum take-off weight of an F-18 Super Hornet is 29.9 tonnes according to the website of manufacturer Boeing. But they were replaced by the lighter F-18 Super Hornet in 2006 after 32 years of service. The US Navy also relied on a heavy carrier-based fighter in the past, the 33.7 tonne F-14 Tomcat. “The maximum take-off weight of the J-15 fighter is 33 tonnes and experiments found that even the US Navy’s new generation C13-2 steam catapult launch engines, installed on Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, would struggle to launch the aircraft efficiently,” the source, who requested anonymity, said. Its weight is one of the key reasons military leaders have pushed for the use of an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) on China’s third carrier, construction of which is expected to start next year, rather than steam-powered catapults, a military source told the South China Morning Post. The J-15, with a maximum take-off weight of 33 tonnes, is the heaviest active carrier-based fighter jet in the world but the sole carrier-based fighter in the People’s Liberation Army Navy. While Beijing is narrowing the aircraft carrier technology gap with the United States, the country’s carrier programme is still hindered by the capabilities of its carrier-based warplanes.Ĭhina spent more than a decade developing its first carrier-based fighter, the J-15, based on a prototype of a fourth-generation Russian Sukhoi Su-33 twin-engined air superiority fighter – a design that is now more than 30 years old.īreakthrough to power most advanced jet launch system on China’s second home-grown aircraft carrier
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