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2009-5-22 10:46:03
Admiral Wu Shengli, member of the Central Military Commission and commander of the navy, revealed in an interview with Xinhuanet a few days ago that the China Navy will develop a new generation of warships and aircraft. To further increase the modern scientific and technological content of equipment, we must speed up the construction of key weapons and equipment and develop a new generation of weapons and equipment such as large surface combat ships. Earlier, China's Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said at a meeting with visiting Japanese Defense Minister Yasushi Hamada on March 20th, 2009 that China is the only big country without an aircraft carrier, and China cannot have an aircraft carrier forever. This statement was interpreted by overseas media as the first time that the China government publicly announced the aircraft carrier construction plan. According to experts' estimation, if China builds an aircraft carrier for its own use and equips it with a complete combat formation, it will cost tens of billions of RMB. At a time when the international economy is in recession and the domestic economy is facing challenges, a large purchase order of tens of billions of yuan will undoubtedly boost and accelerate China's economy.
"At that time, it was the time when the sun set. We walked more than ten kilometers in the car and saw the afterglow of the sun shining on the aircraft carrier. At first we thought it was a building, but on closer inspection, we found it was an aircraft carrier. It feels very fresh to see anything on it, because at that time, everyone had never seen an aircraft carrier and many technical equipment did not understand it. " Rear Admiral Zhang Haijun, who is over 500 years old and now a professor at the National Defense University, talked about the first time he saw the retired aircraft carrier "Melbourne" bought from Australia in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province 1985. His face is still full of excitement, and his eyes show infinite emotion.
Since then, Zhang has been a staunch supporter and advocate of the development of Chinese aircraft carriers. In his memory, because the aircraft carrier needs huge capital and high-tech support, the manufacture of this kind of ship was once a monopoly patent of the world's maritime powers. China, which was famous for its poverty in the past, has long implemented a national defense strategy and has nothing to do with aircraft carriers. "They are all stumped by a money word." Zhang said with emotion.
The formation cost tens of billions of dollars.
"If China wants to build an aircraft carrier, a 60,000-70,000-ton medium-sized conventional power carrier like the former Soviet Union' Varyag' should be the best choice," Song Xiaojun, editor of Ship Knowledge magazine, told reporters. According to his analysis, foreign aircraft carriers with displacement between 30,000 tons and 60,000 tons belong to medium-sized aircraft carriers. If only the cost of the aircraft carrier itself is calculated, the cost of a medium-sized aircraft carrier in the 1970s and 1980s was about $654.38+05 billion. Because the first manufacturing of aircraft carriers requires more R&D expenses, it is estimated that the unit price for manufacturing 60,000 tons of aircraft carriers in China needs more than 2 billion dollars.
But an aircraft carrier alone is not enough. "Building an aircraft carrier and making it combat-worthy is a very huge systematic project." Zhang said to him.
"First of all, as a combat platform, the aircraft carrier itself is only the first step. An aircraft carrier needs multiple destroyers and frigates to form a formation to have combat effectiveness. " Zhang told reporters that taking the Russian ship-borne Su -33 fighter as an example, the unit price is 50 million US dollars, and the 60,000-ton aircraft carrier can carry about 50 planes and helicopters. If there are 24, the price of light fighters will exceed one billion dollars.
In addition, an aircraft carrier needs multiple destroyers, frigates, minesweepers and submarines for all-round protection, and conventional aircraft carriers need fuel supply to truly form a formation. "Now the unit price of the' modern' class destroyer with a displacement of 7,000 tons sold in Russia is 600 million US dollars." Zhang said that based on this calculation, the total price of ships escorted and replenished by an aircraft carrier formation should be more than several billion dollars.
In addition to the formation cost, the aircraft carrier also needs the supporting deep-water port dock, as well as daily maintenance costs. Zhang said that according to foreign experience in using aircraft carriers, the service life of aircraft carriers is generally 25 to 30 years. When ships are used for 5 to 10 years, intermediate maintenance and overhaul of some equipment are necessary.
Manufacturing is cheaper than buying.
China people have never built an aircraft carrier, and the construction cost is much higher than that of experienced foreign countries. Why not consider buying ready-made ones from abroad?
In this regard, Song Xiaojun said: "The road of independent research and development will go sooner or later. In the long run, going early is cheaper and more profitable than going late. If some key technologies are purchased from abroad, the war potential of such weapons and equipment will be greatly reduced. "
Zhang stressed that China has the ability to build its own aircraft carrier. He said that in some core technologies, although it is difficult, I believe it can be solved through technical research. "From a technical point of view, China may choose to build an aircraft carrier with a sliding flight deck. One of the key technologies here is the take-off and the other is the blocking cable for landing. The other is the air control technology that commands take-off and landing. Technologies such as air guidance. "
However, from an economic point of view, the reason is probably simpler-building your own aircraft carrier is more cost-effective than buying it from abroad. Regardless of what benefits independent research and development will bring to China's economy in the future, it is not cheap to buy someone else's boat at present. When talking to reporters, Zhang compared buying an old aircraft carrier to giving away an "old Lincoln car". Although it is free, if you want to use it, you must buy a lot of parts from abroad and pay a high maintenance fee. "This cost is very high," Zhang said. "Take India's direct purchase of old Russian aircraft carriers as an example. The final trial of this old aircraft carrier will cost at least 3.4 billion US dollars, which is equivalent to the cost of a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States. "
Besides, China people build their own aircraft carriers, and there are many places to save money. "It can be seen from the development of China's space industry that China can save costs in many aspects in building aircraft carriers." Song Xiaojun told reporters, first of all, after more than 20 years of research, we have quite mature technology in shipbuilding and electronic equipment. At the same time, a large number of destroyers, frigates and submarines built by China's naval forces can also be directly used for aircraft carrier formation, avoiding many repeated construction costs.
On the other hand, Zhang suggested that China's cheap labor will make the maintenance cost of Chinese aircraft carriers much lower than that of foreign countries, and the labor cost of an aircraft carrier is very high. It is understood that at present, the maintenance cost of each Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the United States in the 50-year life cycle is 20 billion to 30 billion US dollars, of which the largest single expenditure is manpower. "This also means that if you can reduce labor costs, you can save a considerable amount of money."
In addition, Zhang also mentioned that the upstream and downstream industries involved in the construction of aircraft carriers have a strong "synergistic effect", which can ensure fast and good delivery under the premise of stable prices, thus saving a lot of construction costs. At the same time, taking the road of "integration of defense and civilian technologies" can also make full use of the advanced technology and equipment of private enterprises and save costs for the development of aircraft carriers.
"The development of aircraft carriers in China is also a business."
"Although building an aircraft carrier is a huge investment, it is not groundless for China to consider building an aircraft carrier at this time, but it is very urgent and necessary." Zhang told reporters that at present, China navy has reached a new stage in technology and equipment, and needs a core thing to integrate the power structure and truly enhance the strength of the navy. "The aircraft carrier is a core that can drive the development of the naval power structure. As a floating airport at sea, the aircraft carrier can enable the navy to quickly form combat effectiveness and have combat capability against the air and the sea. "
It is understood that although China's territorial waters cover an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers and its exclusive economic zone covers an area of nearly 3 million square kilometers, disputes over the sea area have been constant: Japan and the United States should cooperate to defend the Diaoyu Islands; Philippine legislation encroaches on Huangyan Island in China and some islands and reefs in Nansha Islands; Malaysian Prime Minister Badawi boarded the Diaogun Reef and Guangxingzi Reef in Nansha Islands to "declare sovereignty" ... China's principle "sovereignty belongs to me, disputes are shelved, and the development of * * * is facing severe challenges.
But "in addition to maritime security considerations, from an economic point of view, it is also the best time for China to build an aircraft carrier." Song Xiaojun said.
According to his analysis, first of all, the prices of raw materials at home and abroad are relatively low, and the cost will be saved. In addition, the financial crisis has forced China shipbuilding industry, which is already overcapacity, to survive the fittest. In this context, the construction of aircraft carriers and corresponding formation ships can accelerate the process of survival of the fittest and make some common marine supporting equipment localized as soon as possible.
Moreover, building an aircraft carrier now will give China a huge boost to its domestic economy. "Building an aircraft carrier is not a matter of buying clothes at once, but more like cultivating a child. This will take a long time, so its pull and stimulus to the economy will last for a long time. " Zhang said to him. He told reporters that a ship needs at least tens of thousands of manufacturers to cooperate with the country's ongoing 4 trillion investment, and the huge aircraft carrier project construction will benefit many industries. These include shipbuilding, electronics, military industry, electric power, aviation, aerospace and other industrial sectors. At the same time, the construction period of several years will also stimulate the development of a large number of enterprises and related infrastructure in the middle and lower reaches, stimulate the rise of related stocks, and provide a large number of employment opportunities for the society.
China's aircraft carrier will even contribute to the recovery of the world economy. Zhang told reporters that it is impossible for China to develop an aircraft carrier behind closed doors. It should take the road of international cooperation, learn, introduce and make use of all available technologies in the world, and then make comprehensive integration, and carry out innovation and development on this basis. "From an economic point of view, for foreign countries, China's development of aircraft carriers is also a business that will attract the active participation of world military manufacturers."
"For such a big project, the construction of China's aircraft carrier will form a long-term technical and economic growth point. I hope this day will be realized soon. " Looking into the distance, maybe he remembered seeing an aircraft carrier for the first time many years ago. In the heart of this rear admiral, this is a heavy long-cherished wish.
Some people say that it takes a lot of money and energy to build an aircraft carrier in China. With this financial resources, it is better to buy more destroyers and build two more submarines from abroad; With this manpower, it is better to do more processing trade and export to earn foreign exchange. Why did China build an aircraft carrier? Why build it now? Can the proceeds from building an aircraft carrier make up for the cost? This paper will try to answer these three economic questions. Someone suggested on the Internet that it might cost China nearly $3 billion to build an aircraft carrier. With this money, we can build many new missiles, many new planes, many new satellites and, of course, many destroyers and submarines, which can improve our military strength. Why do you have to build an aircraft carrier?
With the recent increase of news that the China government and military are going to build aircraft carriers, several major countries in the world have expressed their concern and predicted the performance of aircraft carriers and their formations that China may build. The main parameters include: the aircraft carrier is conventional power, with a displacement of about 50,000 to 60,000 tons, and can carry about 40 Russian Su -33 carrier aircraft and some helicopters.
At present, nine countries in the world have aircraft carriers.
According to the data, there are currently 26 aircraft carriers in service in 9 countries in the world. In addition, Japan has two quasi-carriers, and South Korea has 1.
Specifically, the United States has the largest number of aircraft carriers in the world, with 12 aircraft carriers, including 9 Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the latest being Reagan, and others are conventional power carriers. Ranked by the number of aircraft carriers, Britain followed closely, with three "ever-victorious" class conventional power carriers.
India also has three conventional aircraft carriers, namely Viklandt, Vilat, Admiral of the fleet and gorshkov, all built by the former Soviet Union.
French * * * has two aircraft carriers, namely "De Gaulle" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and "Kerry Duhamel Du Monceau" conventional power carrier.
Brazil also has two aircraft carriers, of which 1 is a "giant" conventional power carrier, and it also purchased 1 from the French "Fuxi" conventional power carrier.
Russia has only 1 aircraft carrier Kuznetsov Admiral of the fleet, which belongs to the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.
Italy owns 1 light aircraft carrier "garibaldi" and is now preparing to build 1 new aircraft carrier.
Spain owns 1 conventional power carrier "Prince asturias".
In addition, Japan has two quasi-carriers, both of which are "Dayu" class amphibious landing command ships, and plans to build four more quasi-carriers.
South Korea has 1 quasi-aircraft carrier, namely Dokdo.