China To Launch First Home-made Aircraft Carrier This Month

China’s first home-made aircraft carrier is conducting outfitting and will be launched later this month.

The first home-made aircraft carrier of China is conducting outfitting, and relevant work is forging ahead very smoothly. As to the further good news that you have mentioned, I think that you won’t be kept waiting for too long. The fit-out will continue for some time before the 70,000-tonne pride of the navy is commissioned, defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian was quoted as saying by local media Thursday.

“Regarding the news about whether the ship will be launched in time for the navy’s anniversary, I believe you won’t have to wait too long,” he added.

The second carrier, 0001A or the Shandong differs from the Liaoning. It has a revised flight deck arrangement, retains the ski-jump bow and has a displacement of about 50,000 metric tons as well as conventional engines but the fighter jet launch systems similar to those of the first aircraft carrier, CNS Liaoning.

Based on the images put on Chinese social media platforms, the carrier might support Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) enabling it to accommodate carrier onboard delivery aircraft, early warning aircraft, Electronic warfare, anti-submarine patrol aircraft and other electronic information systems.

The South China Morning Post earlier this week reported that President Xi Jinping might attend the launch on April 23, the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

China currently has one aircraft carrier, Liaoning which is a refurbished vessel from former Soviet Union. It is building a second one while the third is in the pipeline.

The most important difference lies in the roles of the two vessels, Zhu Chenghu, a professor at National Defense University was quoted as saying by China.org. While the Liaoning is primarily for training and research purposes, the new carrier will focus on combat and defense.