Chinese Second Home-made Aircraft Carrier to Get New Propulsion System

China’s second home-made Type 002 aircraft carrier will get a new propulsion system.

Chinese research team led by Ma Weiming, a naval engineer, , have developed a medium-voltage, direct-current transmission network to replace the older alternating current system for the country's second domestically-built Type 002 carrier, which could provide more power for its electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday. 

The Liaoning, and its sister warship, the Type-001A, which is the country's first home-made aircraft carrier, are both conventionally powered and use a Soviet-designed ski-jump, steam-catapult launch system, said the report. 

The EMALS could hold wear and tear on the planes to a minimum and allow for the launching of more aircraft in a shorter time period than with the older launch system, a major developmental shift in Chinese aircraft carrier construction, Zhang Ye, a research fellow at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Naval Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday.

With China's newly developed integrated propulsion system (IPS), its warships could handle EMALS and laser-weapons without turning to nuclear power, said Li Jie, a Beijing naval expert. 

The new system can support the use of high power-consuming weapons, such as electromagnetic guns, and solve the power shortage problems of older vessels, Song Zhongping, a Phoenix TV commentator and military expert, was quoted as saying by Global Times on Sunday. 

Li also noted that the IPS could be used on other large warships, including the PLA Navy's new destroyer, 055. 

The PLA's Naval branch has run "hundreds of tests" using the EMALS with China's J-15 fighter jets, Yin Zhuo, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Equipment Research Center, told the China Central Television on Friday.