Chinese aircraft carrier programme
As of 2024[update], the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has two active carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, with the third, Fujian, currently undergoing sea trials.
Wang Yunfei, a retired PLA Navy officer[2] and other naval experts[3] projected in 2018/2019 that China might possess five or six aircraft carriers by the 2030s.
[7] Prior to the ship's departure for China, the RAN stripped Melbourne of all electronic equipment and weapons, and welded her rudders into a fixed position so that she could not be reactivated.
The PLAN subsequently arranged for the ship's flight deck and all the equipment associated with flying operations to be removed so that they could be studied in depth.
[13][irrelevant citation] It has also been claimed that the Royal Australian Navy received and "politely rejected" a request from the PLAN for blueprints of the ship's steam catapult.
[7] China also negotiated with Spain in an effort purchase the blueprints for proposed conventional take off/landing ships from Empresa Nacional Bazán, specifically 23,000-ton SAC-200 and 25,000-ton SAC-220 designs.
However, the Spanish firm was paid several million US dollars in consulting fees, indicating the probable transfer of some design concepts.
[10] However, neither ship was dismantled and both were instead converted into tourist attractions, with Minsk turned into a theme park[15][16] and Kiev a luxury hotel.
The 67,500 ton ex-Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag (Kuznetsov class), which was only 68% completed and floating in Ukraine, was purchased through a private Macau tourist venture in 1998.
[18][19] In 2011, People's Liberation Army Chief of the General Staff Chen Bingde confirmed that China was constructing at least one aircraft carrier.
[24] In mid-2007, Chinese domestic sources revealed that China had purchased a total of four sets of aircraft carrier landing systems from Russia[27] and this was confirmed by Russian manufacturers.
[30] On 7 June 2011, People's Liberation Army Chief of the General Staff Chen Bingde confirmed that China was constructing its own aircraft carrier.
[32][33] On 21 May 2012, Taiwan's intelligence chief Tsai Teh-sheng told the Legislative Yuan that the PLA Navy plans to build two carriers, scheduled to start construction in 2013 and 2015 and launch in 2020 and 2022 respectively.
[35] On 24 April 2013, Chinese Rear Admiral Song Xue confirmed that China will build more carriers and these will be larger and will carry more fighter-planes than Liaoning.
Together with the enlarged hangar, the island (which has been made smaller by 10%), and extended on sponsons in the aft-starboard quarter, space has been freed up allowing for up to eight more aircraft and helicopters to be carried.
The island includes a second glazed deck which permits the bridge and flight control areas to be separate, creating greater operational efficiency.
It also features a faceted upper area of four active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs) for the S-band Type 346 radar.
[55] According to Chinese media reports, the J-15 cannot take off from Liaoning with a full fuel and munition load, being unable to get off the carrier's ski jump-ramp if the payload exceeds 12 tonnes (26,000 lb).
[56] In a follow-up review by Rick Joe of the Diplomat in 2021, he argued that the source of this Chinese media was unreliable and proved that the J-15 was able to take off with MTOW when the speed of the carrier was taken into calculation.
[61] Rick Joe, who writes extensively on Chinese aviation and naval developments for The Diplomat, commented that "fixed-wing carrier-borne AEW&C are a vital and essential part to any navy that seeks to field a robust and capable carrier airwing, and their ability to enhance a carrier group's offensive and defensive capabilities and overall situational awareness and network-centric warfare is unmatched by any other platform type that will exist in the near future.
"[62] Analysts H. I. Sutton believed the KJ-600 will be a massive boost to the Chinese Navy, and "once it enters service on the carriers, it will greatly enhance the aerial and maritime situational awareness, and the offensive and defensive capabilities of the carrier group", and that "Chinese aerospace and military industry has certainly shown its ability to develop quite modern and capable AEW&C systems for other air, naval and ground applications".
