The main weapons and equipment of an aircraft carrier are the various carrier-based aircraft it carries, such as fighters, bombers, early warning aircraft, fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, rescue helicopters, etc. Aircraft carriers use carrier-based aircraft to carry out air interceptions and sea-to-sea operations. Carrier-based aircraft are the best offensive and defensive weapons for aircraft carriers. Theoretically, no shipborne radar can have a scanning range that exceeds that of an early warning aircraft, no shipborne anti-ship missile can have a range that exceeds that of a fighter jet, and no shipborne anti-submarine equipment can have an anti-submarine capability that exceeds that of an anti-submarine aircraft or anti-submarine aircraft. helicopter. The entire aircraft carrier battle group can search, track, lock, and attack hostile targets hundreds of kilometers away under the overall control and command of the aircraft carrier, so there is no need to install other offensive weapons.
Aircraft carriers are also equipped with self-defense weapons, including artillery weapons and missile weapons. The aircraft carriers of the former Soviet Union are also equipped with long-range ship-to-ship missiles. From this point of view, the aircraft carriers of the former Soviet Union are a "mixture of aircraft carriers and cruisers." The weapons and equipment include anti-aircraft, anti-ship and even anti-submarine missiles. The self-defense weapons are unambiguous. It plays a great role in its own protection. Generally speaking, aircraft carriers mainly have the following types: According to the tasks they undertake, they can be divided into attack aircraft carriers, anti-submarine aircraft carriers, escort aircraft carriers and multi-purpose aircraft carriers. According to the type of carrier-based aircraft, they can be divided into fixed Wing aircraft carriers and helicopter aircraft carriers; according to tonnage, they can be divided into large aircraft carriers, medium aircraft carriers and small aircraft carriers; according to power, they can be divided into conventionally powered aircraft carriers and nuclear powered aircraft carriers.
Mission classification
According to the type of mission performed, it is divided into attack aircraft carrier, anti-submarine aircraft carrier, escort aircraft carrier and multi-purpose aircraft carrier. Attack aircraft carriers mainly carry fighter jets and attack aircraft, while anti-submarine aircraft carriers carry anti-submarine helicopters. Multi-purpose aircraft carriers carry not only helicopters, but also fighter jets and attack aircraft. Most of the aircraft carriers equipped by various countries are multi-purpose aircraft carriers.
Displacement classification
Super aircraft carrier (full load displacement of 80,000 tons and above); large aircraft carrier (full load displacement of 60,000 tons to 80,000 tons); medium aircraft carrier (full load displacement of 30,000 tons) to 60,000 tons) and small aircraft carriers (with a full load displacement of less than 30,000 tons).
Carrier-based aircraft classification
There are fixed-wing aircraft carriers, short take-off and landing aircraft carriers and helicopter aircraft carriers. The former can take off and land fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters including traditional take-off and landing methods. All kinds of aircraft, including those with a general tonnage of more than 40,000 tons, are currently equipped by the United States, Russia, Britain, China, and India. The middle ones can only take off and land helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft that can take off and land vertically. They are smaller in tonnage, usually light aircraft carriers of 40,000 to 20,000 tons, and are mostly equipped by Western European and other countries. The latter has the smallest tonnage and can only carry certain helicopters and a small number of vertical takeoff and landing fighters.
Power plant classification
Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and conventional-powered aircraft carriers. Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers use nuclear reactors as their power plants. Conventionally powered aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier with steam turbine as its basic power. The disadvantage of conventionally powered aircraft carriers is that they have a huge chimney, which is very obstructive and easily exposes targets. Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers do not have chimneys. Moreover, the endurance of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers is much greater than that of conventionally-powered aircraft carriers. For example, the U.S. "Nimitz"-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can travel 100,000 nautical miles at a maximum speed of 35 knots (the equatorial circumference is 30,000 nautical miles) when fully loaded with nuclear fuel.
Others
In addition, the navies of some countries also have a similar-looking ship called an "amphibious assault ship", which can also take off and land military helicopters or vertically Fixed-wing aircraft taking off and landing. This kind of amphibious landing ship is like a reduced aircraft carrier. This kind of ship is also widely used, mainly as a means of transportation for beach landing. Carrier-based aircraft are the main weapons of an aircraft carrier, and their performance determines the combat capability of the aircraft carrier. The more aircraft carriers have, the stronger they are. The aircraft carrier itself also exists to allow aircraft to take off, land, repair, and enable long-term operations. Compared with Compared with battleships, naval guns and weapons, which have a traditional maximum attack distance of only 40 kilometers, carrier-based aircraft have a combat range of more than 1,000 kilometers. They can also extend the range by aerial refueling, and can return to the aircraft carrier after the attack to load ammunition and take off again. Attack, its combat continuity and mission-diversified combat capabilities are also the biggest differences between the roles played by carrier-based aircraft and cruise missiles in naval warfare.
Carrier-based aircraft can be divided into bombers, anti-submarine aircraft, torpedo aircraft, attack aircraft, fighters, early warning aircraft, electric warfare aircraft, helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft according to their types of uses. Among them, attack aircraft and fighter aircraft are the core of the aircraft carrier's force. Components; based on layout and take-off and landing methods, carrier-based aircraft can also be divided into helicopters, traditional take-off and landing aircraft and vertical take-off and landing aircraft. In today's context of no longer large-scale wars, reduced military expenditures, and limited aircraft carrier space, in order to save costs, the functions of a single carrier-based aircraft have been diversified. Full-time level and dive bombers have been merged into attack aircraft. Many full-time fighters have been retired and replaced with fighter-bombers. Instead of being replaced by Strike Fighters, full-time shipboard torpedo planes and reconnaissance aircraft also disappeared from aircraft carriers.
Due to its special and harsh combat environment, carrier-based aircraft are completely different from land-based aircraft in many designs. For example, in the selection of fuselage materials, it is necessary to consider that the body will be corrosive if it is placed on the deck for a long time. In environments with complex conditions such as salt spray, pollutants and high-temperature radiation, materials must be carefully selected; structurally, due to the long-term use of landing hooks for landing and extreme longitudinal overload during ejection and take-off, the overall strength of carrier-based aircraft must be higher than that of land-based aircraft. The aircraft is better; aerodynamic technology must strictly require low approach speed, high lift, stall control and angle-of-attack flight capabilities, etc. When an aircraft carrier sails to a distant battlefield to conduct independent operations, it is difficult to replenish the carrier's aircraft forces. These factors that directly affect its survival rate are particularly important.
Carrier-based fighters and attack aircraft
The F-35 joint fighter is a new generation of carrier-based aircraft expected to be used by the navies of the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries.
Carrier-based fighter jets, attack aircraft and combat attack aircraft are the main force of aircraft carriers. As of 2011, the American F/A-18, F/A-18E/F and French Rafale M are in service. , British Sea Falcon II (this model is also used by Italy, Thailand and Spain), Indian Sea Falcon, Russian Su-25, Su-33 and Brazilian A-4 Skyhawk. Britain, the United States and many of their allies plan to equip a new generation of F-35 joint strike aircraft. This aircraft is a fifth-generation fighter with stealth and vertical/short takeoff and landing capabilities. Its C type and B type will replace the Hornet and Sea Hunter respectively. Eagle series, since Italy and Spain are also one of the potential buyers, the types of carrier-based aircraft will be greatly unified by then. Russia is expected to replace the Su-33 with the MiG-29 in the future, and the Indian Navy is also expected to adopt the former as a new carrier-based aircraft. . The Chinese Navy's J-15 was developed from the T-10K-3 test aircraft (Su-33 prototype) purchased by China from Ukraine and will be deployed on the Varyag aircraft carrier and future Chinese-made aircraft carriers.
Among the above-mentioned carrier-based aircraft currently in service, the Sea Falcon and Sea Falcon II carrier-based aircraft are vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Although their combat capabilities are stronger than those of helicopters, they can carry out a certain degree of It is used for air combat, anti-ship, and ground attack operations. However, because it must take off and land vertically/shortly, it is limited in load capacity, so the weapons and fuel it can carry are generally not as good as traditional takeoff and landing aircraft.
Carrier-based helicopters, anti-submarine aircraft, and early warning aircraft
The only fixed-wing early warning aircraft in service is the E-2 airborne early warning aircraft, which is used by the aircraft carriers of the United States and France, and the United Kingdom and Russia are anti-submarine helicopters. Or a modified version of the Falcon series that takes off and lands vertically. The former is planned to be equipped with an early warning model of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Generally speaking, ship-based helicopters are responsible for anti-submarine, search, medium-range guidance, transportation and rescue tasks, but they are not enough to undertake interception operations against enemy fighter jets or missiles. Their long-range strike capabilities are also insufficient, and their capabilities as early warning aircraft are not as good as fixed-wing aircraft. Compared with land-based helicopters, ship-based helicopters are smaller and lighter in size and have foldable rotors and tail booms for easy storage in the hangar. Some ship-based helicopters can even take off and land on the water. There are mainly five types of military helicopters in service on aircraft carriers in various countries around the world, including the US Navy's "SH-60 Seahawk", "SH-3 Sea King" and the Russian "Ka-27". The U.S. Navy also uses the fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft "S-3 Viking", but due to the end of the Cold War and the sharp reduction in mission requirements, it is mostly used for other tasks, such as reconnaissance and aerial refueling. In addition to carrier-based aircraft, most modern aircraft carriers only have the minimum weapons to protect themselves, including various air defense missiles, short-range defense weapon systems, and electronic warfare weapon facilities. The reason for this development is due to the transformation of the role of aircraft carriers and the advancement of radar equipment. During the Enlightenment period, the ability of aircraft carrier-based aircraft to attack ships was still unclear, and they were positioned as a tool for battleship reconnaissance at sea.
In this way, there is no need to worry too much about the deck design affecting the number of carrier-based aircraft. In addition, since shipboard radar had not yet appeared at that time, aircraft carriers would inadvertently enter the range of enemy ships. In order to counterattack, aircraft carriers would be equipped with naval guns. During World War II, carrier-based radars developed vigorously. Aircraft carriers could effectively avoid surprise attacks by enemy ships. In addition, the attack capabilities of carrier-based aircraft had been proven. Aircraft carriers themselves did not need weapons other than anti-aircraft artillery. Medium and large-caliber naval guns disappeared soon after. . Later, when aircraft entered the era of jet supersonic speeds, traditional air defense guns were simply unable to cope. Therefore, the United States planned to hand over all air defense tasks to carrier-based aircraft.
However, in the 1980s, as the Soviet Navy strengthened its anti-ship missile strike capabilities and developed a large number of anti-ship missiles launched from multiple platforms such as submarines, aircraft and surface ships for saturation attacks, this tactic was extremely It is possible to break through the air protection network composed of carrier-based fighter jets and escort ships. Therefore, the aircraft carrier itself is equipped with anti-aircraft missiles, close-in weapons, electronic warfare and other weapons to ensure its own safety. If it is a traditional powered aircraft carrier, it can also launch thermal bombs to dodge. Infrared guided missiles. Taking the U.S. Nimitz-class aircraft carrier as an example, it is equipped with the Evolved Sea Sparrow missile (RIM-162 ESSM) with a range of about 50 kilometers, the Sea Sparrow missile with a range of 26 kilometers, and the RIM-116 rolling missile with a range of 9.6 kilometers. , a 20mm Phalanx close-in defense system with a range of 4.5 kilometers, and an electronic counter warfare device (ECM, such as the SRBOC interference wire launch system) that interferes with enemy radars. The Soviet Union and Russian aircraft carriers are exceptions. Due to the insufficient strength of their naval fleet air defense networks and the country's emphasis on single-ship combat capabilities, the "Kiev" class and "Kuznetsov" class ships themselves have much stronger firepower than the aircraft carriers of Western countries, including Anti-submarine rockets, anti-ship missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and close-in defense weapons. Italy's "Garibaldi" is similarly armed, and the latter is the only aircraft carrier that can launch torpedoes. In addition, the country's "Cavour" and France's "Charles de Gaulle" also have vertically launched anti-aircraft missiles, with shorter response times than the "Nimitz" class.
In addition to corresponding enemy weapons, the aircraft carrier also has a complete fire-fighting system. The former uses duplex designs such as sea dragons, foam, steam, and seawater, and is mainly configured on the deck and hangar, which can be used in the central control room. or regions operate independently.