Chinese Carriers
There seems to be some buzz out there about Chinese aircraft carriers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/asiatoday/china-likely-to-become-ai_b_11164324.html
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/21/will-china-become-an-aircraft-carrier-superpower/
We usually don’t talk about seapower on this blog but doing a simple count of carriers in the world is useful:
- Total Carriers (100,000+ tons): 10 (all U.S.)
- Total Carriers (42,000 – 59,100 tons): 5 (China, Russia, India, U.S., France)
- Total Carriers (40,000 – 41,649 tons): 8 (all U.S.)
- Total Carriers (26,000 – 32,800 tons): 7 (Brazil, India, 2 Australian, Italy, Japan, Spain)
- Total Carriers (11,486 – 21,500 tons): 10 (UK, 3 French, Egypt, 2 Japanese, South Korean, Italy, Thailand)
Summarizing the count (and there is a big difference between a 100,000+ Nimitz class carrier the Thailand’s 11,486 ton Charki Naruebet):
- U.S. 19 carriers
- U.S. Allies: 14 carriers
- Neutrals: 5 carriers (India, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand)
- Potentially hostile: 2 carriers (China, Russia)
- Total: 40 carriers
China and Russian both have one carrier of over 55,000 tons. These Kuznetsov class carriers can carry around 36 – 41 aircraft. Each of our ten Nimitz class carriers carry around 80-90 aircraft. Our amphibious assault ships can carry 36 or more aircraft. In all reality, these carriers are their equivalent.
To be commissioned in the future:
- 2016 U.S. 100,000 tons (CVN-78)
- 2016 Egypt 21,300 tons
- 2017 Japan 27,000 tons
- 2017 UK 70,600 tons !!!
- 2018 India 40,000 tons
- 2018 U.S. 45,000 tons
- 2019 Russian 14,000 tons
- 2019 South Korea 18,800 tons
- 2020 UK 70,600 tons !!!
- 2020 China 65,000 tons !!!
- 2020 U.S. 100,000 tons (CVN-79)
- 2021 Turkey 26,000 tons
- 2022 Italy TBD
- 2025 India 65,000 tons
- 2025 Russia 100,000 tons !!!
- 2025 U.S. 100,000 tons (CVN-80)
- 2028 South Korea 30,000 tons
- 2029 Brazil TBD
- 2036 South Korea 30,000 tons
- TBD India 4 carriers at 30,000 tons
- TBD Singapore TBD
- TBD U.S. 7 carriers at 100,000 tons (CVN 81-87)
- TBD U.S. 9 carriers at 45,693 tons (LHA 8-16)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carriers_in_service
Now, the first article states that the Chinese plan to have six carriers deployed by 2025. There are only two shown in these listings, the active Liaoning (CV-16) and the newly build CV-001A to be commissioned in 2020. So maybe four more 65,000-ton carriers by 2025?
Needless to say, we are probably not looking at a “carrier gap” anytime in the near or mid-term future.