China building homegrown aircraft carrier
Print Edition
CHINA is building its second aircraft carrier, this time entirely with domestic technology, its defense ministry said yesterday, in a leap forward in its naval development.
The 50,000-ton vessel is being built in the northeastern port of Dalian and will be conventionally, rather than nuclear, powered, ministry spokesman Colonel Yang Yujun said.
The yet-to-be-named vessel will carry J-15 fighter-bombers and other aircraft, and use a ski jump mode for launching fixed-wing aircraft, Yang said. The J-15 is a copy of Russia’s Sukhoi Su-33.
“After an overall consideration of various factors, the relevant authorities started the research and development of China’s second aircraft carrier, which is currently under independent design and construction,” Yang said.
China currently operates an aircraft carrier that was purchased as an incomplete hull from Ukraine more than a decade ago, and then armed and equipped in China before being commissioned in 2013.
Christened “Liaoning” after the port in which it was refitted, the vessel has yet to take on its full aviation complement and is currently undergoing testing and training.
Yang said the second carrier is being built entirely with domestic technology but has drawn on China’s experience refitting its first carrier “with new improvements in various aspects.”
Plans for a second aircraft carrier had long been rumored, but yesterday’s announcement was the first official confirmation.
China is also steadily adding cutting-edge frigates, destroyers and nuclear submarines to its fleet.
Yang said the date of the second carrier’s launch will “depend on progress made at the current stage.” As to how many flat-tops China aimed to build in total, he said authorities “will take into consideration various factors.”
The second carrier will be about the same size as “Liaoning,” but only about half the size of the United States Nimitz class nuclear powered super-carriers.
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