The same flight deck, almost identical to the airframe coated, can be seen at first sight by those who know how to do it: the flying sharks on board the liao ning ship have changed. The head's sharper, the hanger is deformed, and even the landing gear is thick。
The old 15 is quietly fading out the master list, followed by his "brothers" — stabbing 15t. A ship-boarded aircraft that was officially in place only in 2013 was invited to the next line when it reached the age of 13, a rare phenomenon in the world。
In accordance with international practice, thirty or forty years of service on board a ship are normal retirements. The "early layoff" of the 15th was put on the "the world's shortest carrier" hat, but it was hidden behind it, not a story of failure。
In late june 2026, the osei osei disclosed that the liaoning fleet had completed a 40-day long-sea training course. The lenses were swept through the deck, and all fixed-wing aircraft had been replaced with the shape of scrambling-15t, with almost no trace of the old-age scrambling-15。
This was accompanied by a variety of helicopters, including direct-20j, straight-8c, straight-9 and card-28, with the entire formation clearly "modernized" over the past few years. To figure out why shakira-15 was replaced so quickly, it had to look back at its origins。
The technology of the plane was the soviet soviet soviet soviet union-33, with the design genes of the 1980s. When china had no skills, it had no experience, and it was the only sample that could be used。
The problem is that the subject of the reference is not in itself advanced. Radars are the old generation of mechanical scans, and the air and power structures cannot keep up with the pace of the information battle, the most deadly being the engines — using the russian-made al-31f series and a family used by su-27, whose potential has long been exploited。
Crushing of 15t and c-15d is heavier than the old money, and the requirements for push are naturally higher, and the old engines carry no new demand. The upgrade of the 15t is almost head to toe。
The radar has been replaced by a new generation of active phase-control arrays, which are far more remote and resistant to interference; the weapon can be mounted on a long-range air missile, the thunderbolt-15, to keep its opponents at a distance beyond the limits of their firepower. In short, the eyes are bright and the fists are long。
A seemingly unattractive but critical change was made from the original reverse l to a single font, which facilitated the loading of more advanced thunderbolt-10 close combat rounds, followed by an air combat capability. The apparent thickening of the forward landing gear and the multiple ejection pullers mean that the plane can both slide up the deck and get the electromagnetic projector to "smash."。
That's the best place to kill 15t: three carriers. The fujian ship had been ejected with electromagnetic projectiles, liao ning and shandong had been sliding decks, and in the past different carriers had been equipped with different aircraft。
There is now a 15-t, no pick-up on deck. As early as september 2025, there were public reports confirming that shaft-15t had completed the eod test on board the fujian ship。
The engine is even bigger. A complete navalization of the "sea and the pacific" (model fws-10h) specially developed for the use of ships -- salt-resistant fog, corrosive, reduced infrared features with a maximum thrust of 13. 2 tons, which is one block higher than the russian-made al-31f。
The "heart disease" that's been bothering the chinese ship for over a decade has finally been waiting for the root cure. But there is also a transition in reality。
Considering that the liaoning and shandong ships still have a number of old-fashioned and 15-engine engines in russia, the current partial volume-15t is still wearing russian hair in order to streamline ground maintenance and avoid running the two safeguards systems simultaneously. The national production will not be completed until the old plane is completely out。
The retreat of the old 15 will not end up like this. The aircraft is in perfect condition and can be transferred to the naval air force school as a teaching platform, where new pilots are trained and the next generation of naval aircraft reserves are trained。
This "old transition officer" approach, which has been done by naval forces around the world, and similar paths since the united states army's f/a-18 phase-out, cannot be wasted. Even more noteworthy is the fact that the invisible ship also joins the “friends circle” of the jumper。
The military expert outpost mentioned in its analysis that a new generation of invisible ship-boarding-35s and ejection-15ts could be adapted to a smooth jump and drop pattern. This means that the liaoning and shandong ships do not have to wait until the next generation of electromagnetic projectors are in service and are now ready to use the 4-generation aircraft。
It's a good judgment from futt's outpost. The liao ning and shandong ships have been in service for a long time, have been trained for years and have been built on third-generation aircraft; the combined operational capability is now multiplied by the direct replacement of fourth-generation aircraft with hidden capabilities。
An old carrier with a new aircraft, equivalent to an old car with a new engine and new electrical controls, is not a feeling running. In future, when two or even three carriers work together, the movement flexibility of the aircraft on board will be completely released。
An aircraft can take off from the slide deck, drop it on the carrier, refuel it, then take off by ejection, and then return to the slide deck. The carriers used to borrow from each other。
It's even more obvious when you put your vision on a global scale. Russia's soo-33 is also available on the kuznetsov, a carrier who for several years has not been able to go to sea; india's mig-29k problems are ongoing; europe has no modern aircraft of its own。
It took many decades for the chinese navy to travel from nothing, from emulation to self-study, to board four generations of invisible aircraft. The "short life" of scrambling 15 is actually a matter of happiness。
It did not wait for the day when nature retired because the younger generation ran too fast and stepped on its shoulders directly to the new steps. It is not a loser who has been eliminated, but a cornerstone that has pushed the chinese ship-carrying enterprise from zero to the starting line。
On the future deck of the liaoning ship, the chinese naval aviation personnel will be increasingly well-represented, with the long-range and anti-ship strikes on the deck, the key to air control and covert surprises, and the next generation of projects being advanced by shen fei。
