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Wednesday 19 November 2008
China aircraft carrier project taking shape
China is assembling its first aircraft carrier battle group and will eventually deploy it in the South China Sea to protect oil routes and territories, a military source said yesterday.
China is assembling its first aircraft carrier battle group and will eventually deploy it in the South China Sea to protect oil routes and territories, a military source said yesterday.
The carrier and its support vessels would be built in Shanghai and two other major shipyards in the nation’s north, the Shanghai-based expert said, refusing to be named.
The expert, who visited one of the shipyards earlier this year, said he saw a naval vessel hull under construction that officers at the shipyard told him would be part of the future aircraft carrier battle group.
“I don’t know whether the hull I saw is the main body of the carrier or the hull of a support vessel. It’s hard to tell; we can’t get close as it’s under heavy protection,” he said.
“But I can tell you that the new aircraft carrier will be conventional and small [compared with the US nuclear ‘supercarriers’] and will hold no more than 60 aircraft.”
He said the nation had been unable to master the technology of magnetic or steam catapults, which are used to hurtle planes off the ships’ limited runways. The lack of technology meant the carrier would have to follow a Russian model.
Earlier last month, a Russian industry source told Jane’s Defence Weekly the People’s Liberation Army Navy was seeking to buy carrier-based Su-33 multiple-role fighter jets from the Komsomolsk-na-Amure Aviation Production Association, on the Amur River, bordering China.
And the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipbuilding Enterprises Development Co, the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co in Liaoning and another new shipyard in Tianjin’s Binhai New district were all believed to be involved in the programme, the expert said.
“China’s first indigenous aircraft carrier will be a diesel-powered conventional vessel, not the nuclear-powered ones like the American carriers,” he said. “And they are still testing and developing onboard weapons and electronic systems.”
He said it would take four more years for the carrier to go into service, and “will provide the much-needed air coverage for our South Sea fleet - especially since we have territorial disputes in the South China Sea”.
“An aircraft carrier battle group can also protect our oil transport routes.”
The expert said other countries should not exaggerate the impact on the region of the nation’s move to acquire a carrier. “There is no surprise at all that China wants to build aircraft carriers ... because even India has already got four carriers.”
In an interview with London’s Financial Times on Monday, Major General Qian Lihua , director of the foreign affairs office of the Defence Ministry, said the world should not be surprised if China built an aircraft carrier.
“Even if one day we have an aircraft carrier, unlike another country, we will not use it to pursue global deployment or global reach,” General Qian told the paper, referring to the US, which operates 12 aircraft carrier groups, including nine nuclear-powered carriers.
In July, the Kanwa Defence Review said Beijing had finished the design of its first carrier and had started to manufacture some of its sub-systems, with several manufacturers indicating at a maritime equipment exhibition in Guangzhou earlier that year that they had been chosen to produce such sub-systems.
Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po quoted a military source as saying China would have its first carrier by 2010 during the National People’s Congress in March last year.
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China aircraft carrier project taking shape
Minnie Chan
19 November 2008
China is assembling its first aircraft carrier battle group and will eventually deploy it in the South China Sea to protect oil routes and territories, a military source said yesterday.
The carrier and its support vessels would be built in Shanghai and two other major shipyards in the nation’s north, the Shanghai-based expert said, refusing to be named.
The expert, who visited one of the shipyards earlier this year, said he saw a naval vessel hull under construction that officers at the shipyard told him would be part of the future aircraft carrier battle group.
“I don’t know whether the hull I saw is the main body of the carrier or the hull of a support vessel. It’s hard to tell; we can’t get close as it’s under heavy protection,” he said.
“But I can tell you that the new aircraft carrier will be conventional and small [compared with the US nuclear ‘supercarriers’] and will hold no more than 60 aircraft.”
He said the nation had been unable to master the technology of magnetic or steam catapults, which are used to hurtle planes off the ships’ limited runways. The lack of technology meant the carrier would have to follow a Russian model.
Earlier last month, a Russian industry source told Jane’s Defence Weekly the People’s Liberation Army Navy was seeking to buy carrier-based Su-33 multiple-role fighter jets from the Komsomolsk-na-Amure Aviation Production Association, on the Amur River, bordering China.
And the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipbuilding Enterprises Development Co, the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co in Liaoning and another new shipyard in Tianjin’s Binhai New district were all believed to be involved in the programme, the expert said.
“China’s first indigenous aircraft carrier will be a diesel-powered conventional vessel, not the nuclear-powered ones like the American carriers,” he said. “And they are still testing and developing onboard weapons and electronic systems.”
He said it would take four more years for the carrier to go into service, and “will provide the much-needed air coverage for our South Sea fleet - especially since we have territorial disputes in the South China Sea”.
“An aircraft carrier battle group can also protect our oil transport routes.”
The expert said other countries should not exaggerate the impact on the region of the nation’s move to acquire a carrier. “There is no surprise at all that China wants to build aircraft carriers ... because even India has already got four carriers.”
In an interview with London’s Financial Times on Monday, Major General Qian Lihua , director of the foreign affairs office of the Defence Ministry, said the world should not be surprised if China built an aircraft carrier.
“Even if one day we have an aircraft carrier, unlike another country, we will not use it to pursue global deployment or global reach,” General Qian told the paper, referring to the US, which operates 12 aircraft carrier groups, including nine nuclear-powered carriers.
In July, the Kanwa Defence Review said Beijing had finished the design of its first carrier and had started to manufacture some of its sub-systems, with several manufacturers indicating at a maritime equipment exhibition in Guangzhou earlier that year that they had been chosen to produce such sub-systems.
Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po quoted a military source as saying China would have its first carrier by 2010 during the National People’s Congress in March last year.
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