Comprehensive minute-by-minute illustrative thread, on how the Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian conducts cyclical attack operation.
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The optimal air wing composition:
⏺️24x J-35(green & red), divided into 2 attack waves of 12 each.
⏺️24x J-15T (blue & purple), divided into 2 attack waves of 12 each.
⏺️4x J-15D electronic warfare fighter (orange).
⏺️4x J-600 AEW&C (light blue).
⏺️~10 helicopters (black) for anti-submarine, search and rescue missions.
Cyclical operations are the most common attack mode of aircraft carriers, they divide the carrier airwing into attack waves and launch them with intervals in between.
This allows sustained operation for a long periods of time.
🔹Wave 1 (green J-35 stealth fighters) takes 12 minutes to launch 12x J-35, + 2 min to launch 1x KJ-600 (light blue) + 1 min to launch 2x J-15D EW fighter (orange).
= 15 minutes.
**Catapults can launch aircraft with 30 second intervals.
A comprehensive thread about Chinese aircraft carrier operations.
How do we compare to the US aircraft carrier operations?
For the PLA navy, there are 2 main types of carrier attacks:
🔹Full-deck strike (Full deck sortie).
🔹Cyclical operation.
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Full-deck strike is when we launch all fighters in a single strike package.
Cyclical operation is when we divide the fighters into attack waves, and launch them sequentially.
Full-deck strike is used when you want overwhelming firepower delivered in the initial phase of combat.
However, full-deck strike cannot be sustained for long, since all the fighters would need to land in a short span of time, which puts immense pressure on the deck crew to rearm and refuel.
The most important characteristics to 6th generation fighter is stealth.
6th gen stealth means, All-Aspect Stealth (stealthy from all directions) and Broadband (multi-spectrum) stealth.
What is it, how does it work?
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5th gen stealth is achieved by aligning control surfaces to as fewer directions as possible, this edge alignment ensures radar signals are reflected back towards specific directions.
This is a simplified explanation without going into specular reflections or creeping waves etc.
HOWEVER, the problem with 5th gen stealth is that they are detectable by low frequency radars with long wavelengths.
Resonant scattering is when radar waves interact with a target in a way that causes them to be scattered strongly, often at specific frequencies, due to the target's size and shape resonating with the radar's wavelength.
India will most likely procure the Su-57 to meet the challenges of Pakistan's J-35A supplied by China.
How does the 2 fighter compare?
An objective comparison between the J-35a and Su-57.
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🔹Stealth
From edge alignment to detail treatment, the J-35A is leagues ahead of Su-57, which has many protrusions and inconsistent surface treatment that are detrimental to radar stealth.
Issues such as right angled seams, rounded engine protrusions, and the glaring "pimple" of an EOTS at the front, will all contribute to radar reflections.
This is how China's PLA is changing to meet the challenge in the age of drone warfare.🧵1/6
This is the new 35mm revolver cannon SHORAD system (Short Range Air Defense), with the new HQ-13 short range missile.
They will be mass deployed with our medium and light combined arms brigades.
Previously, as in around the early years of the Ukraine war. Our go to SHORAD system force design down to the company level, revolved around the Type-625 system. (pictured below)
But as we observed the Ukraine war, we've realized this is not enough.
We need credible mechanized air defense systems down to the platoon level.
Only then, can our armored, mechanized and motorized formations punch through an open field without being bogged down, and hunted by loiter munitions and drones.