China’s first aircraft carrier sets off for open seas
Print Edition
CHINA’S first aircraft carrier has set off for the Western Pacific for an open-sea training exercise, according to the Defense Ministry.
It is the first time the Liaoning, which was commissioned by the Chinese navy in 2012, has headed to “distant sea waters.”
The ministry said a navy formation including the Liaoning set off on Saturday for training in the Western Pacific, without elaborating on the location, as part of an annual training plan.
China said last month that its aircraft carrier, bought as an incomplete hull from Ukraine more than a decade ago, was ready to engage in combat.
The Liaoning recently completed its first live-fire exercise along with fighters in the Bohai Sea in eastern China and, on Friday, the military announced it had carried out a series of fighter launch, recovery and air combat exercises slightly farther afield in the Yellow Sea.
The training was guided by the People’s Liberation Army Navy Commander Wu Shengli.
The Defense Ministry said that several carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters took off and returned after completing an air tactical confrontation and air refueling exercise.
The training “strengthened the synergy among different vessels in the formation and refined its overall capability,” the ministry said.
On Saturday morning, the Liaoning carried out training in the East China Sea, according to footage shown on the state broadcaster China Central Television.
The training and tests were normal arrangements in accordance with annual plan made by the navy.
The Japanese Defense Ministry said it had spotted the Liaoning as part of a fleet of eight Chinese warships that included destroyers and frigates, in the central part of the East China Sea for the first time.
Last December, the Defense Ministry confirmed China was building a second aircraft carrier.
China could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years, the Pentagon said in a report last year.
China’s successful operation of the Liaoning is the first step in what some military experts believe will be the deployment of domestically built carriers by 2020.
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