Four photos recently circulated on Twitter show that the progress of China’s Type 003 aircraft carrier built by Jiangnan Shipyard has reached about 60%, and its first electromagnetic catapult is already being installed.
The photos are marked with a floating watermark “谈笑看世间” and the date “2021-08-29”. If the photos are true, then this should be the latest construction progress of China’s Type 003 aircraft carrier.
It can be seen from the photos that there are still holes in the middle deck, which means that many important devices have not been in place, but the island has been completed, and its shape is different from the Type 002 Shandong aircraft carrier, with simpler lines and obviously more stealthy considerations. The upper flight command bridge area is specially designed, with a large area, and the view can cover the whole flight deck, the portholes are bigger than the lower flight bridge area, and the portholes are only open to the middle, showing the ingenuity of the shipbuilding unit.
It can also be seen that the construction of the first electromagnetic catapult of the Type 003 aircraft carrier has begun, and the grid-shaped part should be the electromagnetic acceleration zone, the end of which should be the buffer zone of the catapult.