in2ebook Chapter 1515 Electromagnetic Arrest (Chapter 1514 is under review and should be released soon)
Chapter 1515 Electromagnetic Arrest (Chapter 1514 is under review and should be released soon)
At 19 p.m. that evening, the opening music of CCTV's "News Broadcast" sounded on time.
But what is different from usual is that the host announced at the beginning that today's program will last 45 minutes.
This surprised Xi Boyang, who was sitting in front of the computer.
He glanced down at the date in the lower right corner and confirmed that there were no important meetings or leaders' visits today.
"Did someone important pass away?"
As Xi Boyang thought about it, he pulled out a notebook from the bookshelf next to him.
The photography enthusiast back then is now the editor-in-chief of a well-known online media. He has to always pay attention to these somewhat boring news so as not to miss any important information.
However, he had just turned to a blank page in his notebook and had not had time to look up again when he heard the host say in a calm tone:
"Today, my country's first aircraft carrier, Liaosheng, successfully completed the take-off and landing test of carrier-based aircraft, marking the entry of my country's naval construction into a new historic stage..."
"In the next seven days, the Xinwen Lianbo will launch a series of special documentaries titled "Sea and Sky Eagles", reviewing the development history of my country's naval aviation and the construction process of the Liaosheng..."
"..."
"Snapped--"
A drop of ink was thrown onto the paper, spreading into a blue-black petal.
But Xi Boyang didn't care about these things at all. He just stared at the screen in front of him with lifeless eyes:
"???"
As an editor of the military section, he certainly knew that the Liao Province had suddenly left the port a few days ago and conducted its eleventh sea trial, which was not supposed to have happened.
The timing of this sea trial is unusual, considering that Liaosheng is expected to hold a commissioning ceremony at the end of December.
There are even more pessimistic views that there may be serious defects in some systems on the ship, so they have to increase the number of sea trials, which will delay the time of entering service.
This situation has been very rare in the past decade or so, but for military fans like Xi Boyang who have experienced the 90s, it is not something unimaginable.
What's more, the Chinese Navy has never come into contact with aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft. Even if there are any omissions, it is completely understandable.
Of course, some people also think that this voyage may be a response to the USS George Washington entering Manila Bay, so it may conduct test subjects related to aviation operations, such as ship-aircraft coordination and even touch-and-go.
But no matter what, absolutely no one would have thought of it.
The navy came without making any noise, and then came a big one...
Xi Boyang had no time to listen to the host's other main content at this time. He quickly grabbed the mobile phone on the table and prepared to call several editors under him.
But in an instant, I put it down again.
Such big news, he had to write it himself!
When Xi Boyang's attention returned to the scene in front of him, the screen had already begun playing carefully edited footage:
The majestic figure of the Liaosheng cutting through the waves, the shocking moment when the main wheels of the J-15 touched the deck, the close-ups of the pilots concentrating on their operations, the cheers of the deck crew after the successful landing, and the snapshot of the moment when the No. 01 aircraft took off from the deck...
The special report not only reviewed the eleven sea trials of the Liaosheng, but also showed in detail the entire process of the carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing from beginning to end.
In the history of Chinese official propaganda, it is almost unprecedented to disclose a major military development so quickly and in such detail.
"Drip-drip-"
The penguin icon in the lower right corner of the computer flickered slightly a few times.
That was the message from one of his assistants.
Only five words.
【Editor-in-Chief, Kanjun.com】
There is also a link below.
Xi Boyang clicked it without even thinking about it.
After a long loading process that lasted several minutes, what appeared before his eyes was a photo of a carrier-based aircraft that was so high-definition that he could see the details of the landing gear.
The J-02 numbered 15 has lowered its tail hook and pulled the arresting cable into a clear V shape.
As the wheel scrolls down, there are nearly a hundred high-definition photos of the Liao Province number and the J-15.
The transparency of information is astonishingly high, covering the entire process, including ground training, aircraft carrier landing, shipboard preparation and ski-jump takeoff.
"My grass..."
Xi Boyang's right hand couldn't even hold the mouse steadily, and he kept repeating the same interjection:
"Fuck, fuck, fuck..."
With seven years of rich work experience, he couldn't even think of a decent title at the moment.
There was only one thought left in my mind:
"This news is about to explode..."
……
Just as Xi Boyang expected, the Internet was ignited almost the moment the CCTV news ended.
Compared with the past, mobile Internet has become the main force in the dissemination of hot topics for the first time, actively pushing this news to many users who have never cared about military and politics in the past, creating a true "national topic" for the first time.
On the Weibo platform, the topic #Huaxia aircraft carrier completes carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing# refreshed the historical record of visits, and the popularity value once exceeded ten digits, so that the CEO had to make a special post to clarify that the popularity value was generated by a special algorithm, not the actual number of people participating in the discussion.
But the message went almost unnoticed.
Because the server soon crashed due to excessive traffic, the technicians had to urgently expand the capacity before they could barely restore normal access.
During this period, traditional BBS forums with relatively slow traffic continued to play a professional role.
Even so, traffic on some military forums surged fivefold within half an hour after the news was broadcast, and administrators had to temporarily close the new user registration function.
Xi Boyang, a senior moderator who goes by the alias "Haiying", published a long post titled "From Varyag to Liao Provincial Ship: A Complete Record of China's Journey to Aircraft Carriers" within an hour of the news broadcast.
It received over 100,000 views within two hours of being published.
"Do you remember the difficulty when the Varyag passed through the Bosphorus Strait in 2000? Türkiye put forward 20 security conditions at that time and asked us to meet them one by one..."
The post reviewed in detail the entire difficult process of China's acquisition of this aircraft carrier, from the Black Sea Shipyard purchasing the then-abandoned Varyag, to passing through the Bosphorus Strait after arduous negotiations, being forced to detour around the Cape of Good Hope because the Suez Canal was not open, to several landmark nodes such as the reconstruction by the Dalian Shipyard after returning to China.
The historical photos included in the post have triggered countless emotions: the rusty Varyag being towed by a tugboat through the strait; Huaxia technicians inspecting the hull in the ice and snow; the Dalian Shipyard was brightly lit during the reconstruction process...
Comparing it with the bright and beautiful light gray paint job of the Liao province number in the photo on the military website, there is a world of difference.
In more professional military forums, discussions are more technical.
The user "Flying Dutchman" was even quicker, publishing "Analyzing J-19 Performance from CCTV Footage" at 25:15, which was pinned and featured at pm.
"Pay attention to the color of the radome of aircraft No. 03, which is the same grayish white as the J-11BG. What does this mean? It means that the J-15 is likely equipped with an active phased array radar of the same level as the J-11BG!"
The original poster captured the key frames in the news in detail, "Looking at the new electronic countermeasure antenna at the tip of the vertical tail and the friend-or-foe identification system under the cockpit, all these show that the J-15 is designed completely in accordance with the standards of a 3.5-generation fighter."
Different opinions quickly emerged below the post:
"Even so, ski-jump takeoff is still a major flaw. Although the F/A-18E/F's radar may be slightly inferior, it can take off with a full load of fuel and weapons by catapult, and its combat radius and mission flexibility far exceed the ski-jump takeoff J-15."
The debate continued to heat up until another user, "Aircraft Carrier Captain", made a bombshell observation: "Have you noticed the front landing gear of aircraft 07 and 08? They are much thicker than the other four!"
This discovery immediately took the discussion in a new direction.
Soon, more details were discovered: the color of the skin under the nose of aircraft 07 and 08 was also different, which looked like structural reinforcement; there were subtle changes in the antenna layout behind the cockpit; and even the shape of the engine tail nozzle was different.
"I bet these two are catapult models!" one user excitedly asserted, "The mysterious 'new runway' at the Xingcheng base is not a runway at all, but a test facility for electromagnetic catapults..."
The discussion became increasingly heated and did not die down until late at night.
It was not until four o'clock in the morning of the next day that the access traffic showed a slight downward trend.
But at this moment, a bolder speculation emerged——
User "老王fromtheshipyard" posted a post titled "Looking at the progress of domestically-made aircraft carriers from the footage of Liaosheng leaving the port."
"Look carefully at the news video of the Liao Province leaving the Dalian Shipyard. The dry dock in the background has been emptied of seawater, and there are transport vehicles transporting large components that appear to be sections." The post was accompanied by carefully labeled screenshots. "Combined with the previous expansion project of the Dalian Shipyard, I have reason to believe that the first domestically-made aircraft carrier has entered the substantive preparation stage and may even start construction soon!"
This speculation was like a bomb, making the already boiling online discussion even more heated.
As expected, netizens showed their nature of being fickle-minded, and their focus quickly shifted from the Liao Province to the "domestic aircraft carrier" whose existence has not yet been confirmed.
There are many different ideas: some people insist that for safety reasons, the first domestically-made aircraft carrier should be a replica of the Liao Sheng; some people cite the "evidence" of the J-15 catapult type, believing that the new aircraft carrier must be equipped with a catapult; there is an even more radical view that China may skip the steam catapult and try the electromagnetic catapult directly...
……
Outside of China, this news did not seem to cause much stir.
Of course, this is mainly because 7pm China time corresponds to daytime in Europe and the United States, which means that the fastest media have to wait until the next day to release the news.
But the Internet self-media, which has already taken shape, has almost entered a carnival.
Thousands of kilometers away from the Bohai Sea, on the surface of Manila Bay, the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Washington is preparing to start a new day of flight operations.
Captain David Rothman was sitting in a private lounge next to the bridge, playing a YouTube video on the laptop in front of him.
The title of the video is "In-depth Analysis: China's J-15 carrier-based aircraft takes off and lands on an aircraft carrier for the first time."
"Interesting..." Rothman stroked the stubble on his chin, his eyes fixed on the slow-motion replay of the J-15 landing on the screen.
"What attracts you so much, David?" a voice came from behind.
Rothman turned around and saw Vice Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the Seventh Fleet, standing in the doorway.
"Sir!" Rossman immediately stood up and saluted, while making room for the other party to see what was on the screen.
Compared with the media, intelligence agencies certainly act much faster.
In fact, before the CCTV news report, satellites had already observed several carrier-based aircraft on the deck of the Liao Province, which led to the speculation that the Chinese Navy had completed the carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing test.
Therefore, this news itself is not news to the two.
Swift walked closer and glanced at the screen: "This is not the official video, right?"
"No, this is an independent analyst's channel, but he is indeed very insightful." Lausman returned to his seat and explained, "Also, our Internet connection to the Chinese website is not very stable."
Swift shrugged and sat down next to Lawsman.
On the screen, the video was playing just at the part where J-07 No. 15 was preparing to land.
The blogger suddenly paused the video and explained in English: "Pay attention here. Although the weather conditions are good, it can be seen from the waves and windsock in the background that the aircraft carrier is rolling to the right, and the wind is coming from the right front side. Landing in such sea conditions is extremely challenging..."
"He actually knew all this..."
Swift was a little surprised.
"One of the guests on this channel was an F14 pilot aboard Kitty Hawk."
Rothman explained succinctly.
The video continued to play, and the J-07 No. 15 landed smoothly on the deck, with almost no signs of being affected by the sea conditions.
The blogger in the video continued to comment: "Note that the landing posture of this No. 07 aircraft is almost exactly the same as the previous aircraft."
At this time, another voice interrupted: "This requires a lot of experience to achieve...but the Chinese Navy, which has never used an aircraft carrier before, is obviously not satisfied with this."
The two of them sang in unison, and really gave the whole video a bit of the feel of an NBC studio.
"Then there is only one other possibility - the Chinese Navy has anticipated this situation in advance and designed relevant response procedures in the landing assistance system, so that it can give almost the same landing posture under different ship swing and wind direction conditions..."
"..."
Apparently, Lieutenant General Swift was also somewhat interested in this video.
"I have to admit that the Chinese are much more prepared than I thought."
Lausmann gave a very high evaluation of his Chinese counterparts from afar.
"Take-off and landing training is only the most basic part of the use of an aircraft carrier. At least in the foreseeable future, this ship will not pose any real threat to us..."
Swift nodded, looking somewhat noncommittal:
"I boarded the Kuznetsov in 93. It is difficult for the Su-33 to carry large-sized air-to-surface ammunition in normal take-off mode."
Rothman seemed much more conservative:
"The J-15 uses an engine with better performance than the AL31F. Even if it also uses a ski-jump takeoff, it can achieve a larger takeoff weight."
As he spoke, he picked up a previous briefing from the side and flipped it open to find a satellite image:
"In addition, according to satellite reconnaissance results, new construction has appeared in the naval aviation training base in Xingcheng, Liaoning Province, and it is very likely that a catapult is being built."
Swift did not take the briefing, but just glanced at it:
"I know this, but looking back at our development process from the Midway class to the Forrestal class, Enterprise class, Kitty Hawk class, and Nimitz class, even if we overcome the technical obstacles of the catapult, it still takes a long time of training and trial and error to be proficient in using aircraft carriers. What's more, the Chinese side inherited an aircraft carrier like the Varyag, which has inherent defects. It is very likely that the entire idea of scheduling and using carrier-based aircraft will be misguided..."
While the two were talking, the video on the screen had already played the final scene of aircraft No. 08 completing the landing.
Compared with the previous short clips that lasted only a few seconds, the landing process of aircraft No. 08 was a complete, ultra-long shot lasting over half a minute.
Rothman suddenly sat up straight: "Wait!"
He quickly paused the video and clicked the left arrow several times to rewind the progress bar.
Swift watched him puzzledly as he replayed the last part.
At 0.25 times the speed, the deceleration process of Unit 08 after being hooked on the arresting cable was extremely smooth, without the "sudden stop" feeling of the traditional hydraulic arresting system.
This time, the lieutenant general, who was slow to realize the situation, also noticed some clues.
"This is not right..." Swift slightly widened his eyes, and then subconsciously looked at the F/A18 fighter jet on the deck outside the window, "This deceleration curve is too gentle..."
Both of them were carrier-based aircraft pilots and had made no less than a thousand carrier landings in their careers.
It is obvious that the J-15 almost evenly reduced its speed from over 150km/h to 0, which is completely different from their landing experience.
"I think I heard from a technical representative of General Atomics." After a few seconds of silence, Lawsman finally spoke up, "The new arresting device on the Ford-class aircraft carrier can ensure that carrier-based aircraft complete the deceleration process with a more even overload... This was even a highlight when the plan was originally designed."
The moment he heard the word "Ford", Swift's expression changed slightly:
"You mean...electromagnetic blocking?"