There are five major countries that legally possess nuclear weapons in the world, and the total number of other countries that actually possess nuclear warheads but are not recognized is close to 10. There are more than 10 countries that can launch satellites on their own, and at least six countries can independently produce nuclear submarines. There are also at least seven or eight countries that can manufacture three generations of fighters relatively independently. There are also six countries that can manufacture more than 40,000 tons of conventional aircraft carriers.
At present, there are three companies in the world that can independently carry people to the sky and return safely. But there are only two real steam catapults in the world, even in electromagnetic catapult! Few high-end clubs with less than two members in the world are related to weapons and military production! This implies that the design and production of modern catapults, whether steam or electromagnetic, seems to be more difficult than the whole system of huge and complicated manned space flight!
Not to mention the contrast between the development and production of nuclear weapons that are blooming everywhere. Of course, if we go deep into the system, in the history of global weapons and equipment in the past nearly 1 century, there are at least four countries that independently develop catapults, especially steam catapults; In addition, as many as seven or eight navies have normally used steam catapults. 2 1 century, there are only two "shrivels" in the world.
For example, the first practical steam catapult was actually invented and manufactured by the Royal Navy and applied to ships. Later, the superpower navy purchased patents and gradually upgraded its technology to the C 13 series of giant steam catapults until it could eject the C 13B super steam catapult of a 33-ton carrier aircraft. In the Cold War era, the Soviet Union also developed a 30-ton steam ejection system for target ejection.
Only the counterweight was ejected on land, and a serious ejection overspeed accident occurred, which led to the fact that it was not completely repaired by the end of the Cold War. A physical plane never really ejected on land from beginning to end, and finally it was completely abandoned. As for the navy that used to operate steam catapults, there are even more. After World War II, Britain gave a gift to foreign aircraft carriers, and the Melbourne medium-sized aircraft carrier acquired by the Australian Navy had a practical steam catapult.
By 1985, when it was sold to a shipyard as scrap, the light steam catapult on it was actually intact. This accident has a great influence on the future. The Brazilian navy also acquired the old French aircraft carrier, which was actually used until after 2000. Even the first aircraft carrier "Viklandt" bought by a country in South Asia from Britain has a light steam catapult. Moreover, because the seller cheated on the warranty, the South Asian Navy relied on its limited technical strength to connect another steam pipeline from the power boiler. Finally, the steam catapult with pipeline failure was restarted, and the carrier aircraft was safely ejected into the sky!
It can be seen that in the era of light steam catapults, the overall technology is not so unattainable. Only after the emergence of the heavy steam catapult C 13 with the ejection capacity of 30 tons, the qualified members of the catapult club decreased instantly. Only two navies of the United States and France actually use C 13 series steam catapults. Other countries are not completely incapable of developing heavy-duty steam catapults after technological upgrading, mainly because they are stuck in advance at the application end.
Because only medium and large aircraft carriers will use heavy steam catapults. However, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, large aircraft carriers were directly demolished; Britain's 50,000-ton new aircraft carrier continues to take the STOVL route. As for other countries, before and after the end of the Cold War, there was no plan to develop an ejection aircraft carrier of more than 50,000 tons, which was unbearable in terms of comprehensive national strength. Therefore, the supporting heavy catapult, as the most important sub-project, lasted for 30 years and was only produced by superpowers. It can be said that the research and development of heavy steam catapult has not been rolled out, which is essentially a matter of national strength.
As for the most advanced electromagnetic catapult, before the Ford-class design was made public, I'm afraid there was no project planning outside the superpower, that is, in essence, most countries, including some big countries, didn't know what electromagnetic catapult was! It's just that a long ear suddenly pops out of the ground, which not only completely breaks through the synchronization between electromagnetic catapult and the heavy steam catapult, but also makes the exchange between super power and electromagnetic catapult a product of relative "three noes". Can only say that talent is super different, can not be measured by common sense!