kiniesiology meet super computer

i seriously doubt that... There's nothing out there that can project force in such a flexible way as a supercarrier.

You can't use B2's or B52's to tell somebody "you better not, or else we'll".
No, if those puppies take off, and approach whoever you want to intimidate, you will get into a fight. It's just not flexible in that way.
But send a carrier into an area, in international waters and you can get em nervous without actually starting a war..
And if you get into an actual fight, the carrier task force has the muscle to follow through on that earlier threat all by itself...
And it can do it in many different ways on very short notice.

Nothing else compares to that.
And a small carrier just doesn't have that capability.

Nice clip! I used to be involved in this program (early) and am excited that it so close to fielding. The VSTOL version is perfect for use with the Navy's multipurpose amphibious assault ship (Wasp). There are three variants, the typical AF version, the Marine version with the short take off and landing and the Navy version that carries more fuel and had more wing area for carrier landings. The pictorial at this link illustrates the three nicely.
JSF.mil > F-35 > Variants

They are doing sea trials on a carrier right now. Like last week...

...but they don't really have a capable plane they can fly from the carrier yet.
We have almost 100 years of experience on how to equip and operate carriers effectively. It will take the Chinese 20 years to get that carrier operational.

Anyone who thinks that we don't need big carriers should study the Falklands war.

As much as I'm in awe of them, new aircraft carriers cost a trillion to build and even more to operate long-term.
There are more efficient methods of getting missiles and planes to a location.

They work well for "big ship" presence when pulling up to port of a third world nation while policing the globe, but against superpowers they are big vulnerable targets. All the eggs in one basket.

Planning weapons now has much to do with foreign policy later.

yes, but for those in Washington, is more about lobbyists and getting re-elected.

I think you're seriously underestimating the Chinese if you really believe that. They've proven themselves to be a quick study on most things.

What i find interesting, is that everybody seems to be building carriers these days. And not just helicopter/VTOL carriers like the USS Wasp, but angled deck, Stobar and Catobar carriers.
The Chinese, the ozzies, the UK, India,

Economic crisis, sure, but everybody seems to be buying hardware.
One could say there's a bit of an arms race going on, but nobody wants to call it that way.


Country Name Hull number Tonnage Class Type Commission date Status
India INS Vikramaditya[6] - 44,570 tons Admiral Gorshkov Conventionally-powered STOBAR carrier 2012 (planned) Undergoing trials[14]
China Shi Lang - 60,000 tons Varyag Conventionally-powered STOBAR carrier 2015 (expected) Undergoing trials[13]
Australia HMAS Canberra LHD 01 27,851 tons Canberra Conventionally-powered STOBAR carrier 2014 Under construction
Australia HMAS Adelaide LHD 02 27,851 tons Canberra Conventionally-powered STOBAR carrier 2015 Under construction
India INS Vikrant[6] - 40,000 tons Vikrant Conventionally-powered STOBAR carrier 2014 (expected) Under construction
India INS Vishal[6] - 65,000 tons Vikrant Conventionally-powered carrier 2017 (expected) Under construction
United Kingdom HMS Queen Elizabeth[7] R08 65,600 tons Queen Elizabeth Conventionally-powered supercarrier 2020 (expected) Under construction
United Kingdom HMS Prince of Wales[7] R09 65,600 tons Queen Elizabeth Conventionally-powered supercarrier 2023 (expected) Under construction
United States USS Gerald R. Ford[3] CVN-78 100,000 tons Ford Nuclear-powered supercarrier 2015 (expected) Under construction
United States USS John F. Kennedy[15] CVN-79 100,000 tons Ford Nuclear-powered supercarrier 2018 (expected) Ordered
United States CVN-80 (unnamed)[3] CVN-80 100,000 tons Ford Nuclear-powered supercarrier 2021 (expected) Ordered

And most of these, US excepted, are not replacing an existing carrier of it's size, they are the biggest ships ever for those respective navies.

The only ones missing from the party, are the Russians, hell, they are selling off their equipment instead of building/buying/refurbing

Carrier battle groups are just that: Groups. The capability to project power at distance from a carrier is a very complex undertaking that requires a level of logistics and other war fighting ability (ASW, Command and Control, etc) that is hard to replicate.

What we do is fly at night. Most countries don't.

The last thing on earth I fear is a Chinese deep water navy...we have submarines and carriers, without the "Group", are grapes. Tracking ships at sea is the easiest task.

Electronics and communication. The U.S. simply isn't training the next generation.

I'm not sure what the Chinese & Indian naives are going to do but the rest are
F-35 customers. I'd guess that India wants it also.
I'd agree that China is gonna suck eggs aircraftwise for 10 years or so but 10 years is nothing to them. Couple that with the protection (ASW) that a big target needs and 20 years is realistic. I saw a photo of the Chinese carrier recently but what didn't show was the US nuke boat following along.:D Pure supposition on my part, but if I was a betting man...........

My 15 year old spends his time building complex worlds in Minecraft, executing squad maneuvers with other players against zombies in Half Life and hacking together booby traps in Gary's Mod.

That is training the next generation...

Aircraft carriers wouldn't be much for war against a fellow superpower. We can sinks theirs and most likely they can sink ours.

They are for 2nd/3rd world countries...which is what we've waged war against utilizing the AC's. Because they can't shoot back.

Don't they give troops X-Box shooting games to play for recreation? I heard the military likes how they desensitize players to violence.

Studies are inconclusive. They give them X-Boxes because that's what they like to do in their free time. And in fact there are some schools of thought that the frustration of asymmetric warfare can be somewhat released in FPS games.

We use games to train. Done right they work well.

I've been following it forever, also.

The competition between Boeing (X32) and th LM X35 was really interesting. I would have failed the Boeing entry based on sheer ugliness.

Originally, they were going to have VTO also, but that increased the cost by a ton: deleted from program.

Yes, several changes from the X-35. I'm guessing that the single rear-hinged door helps to force-feed the fan on takeoff.

Actually when I asked when China would have theirs operational, I wasn't referring to an aircraft carrier - should have been more specific. I was asking about when they would have their version of the F35 operational. I was remembering to the situation where China had their spyware snooping through our DOD files and files of military contractors. If I remember correctly there was a reference to the fact they had obtained some design info on the F35. The whole story has really gone to the wayside pretty quickly. I was horrified to hear one government defense official say they had been snooping for 3 or 4 months undetected.

@1:20 mark - full down elevator after take off. Interesting.

To avoid a stall. All cat and carrier launches are like that.



The 'Chinese' aircraft carrier (singular - one) is an OLD mothballed Soviet (Russian) carrier that was towed to China.

It's been totally refurbished, but is NOT Nuclear.