China's aircraft carrier Liaoning departs Hong Kong on July 11
China will now be able to move ahead with its third aircraft carrier, after it announced a breakthrough on technology for launching aircraft.
The new technology would be the most advanced jet launch system in the world that doesn’t use nuclear power, China's military said. The new developments on its integrated propulsion system would create more power for an electromagnetic catapult. Aircraft would be launched more quickly and in less time than the alternatives, steam-catapult and ski-jump systems. The country’s two prior carriers, the Liaoning and the Type 001A, are ski-jump launch systems, a technology designed by Russia.
“China doesn’t need to copy the United States and use nuclear reactors to support EMALS and other energy-hungry weapons on the ship, because it now has more advanced technologies to solve the problem,” a naval expert close to the project told the South China Morning Post. Engineers were stuck on developing the coveted Electromagnetic Launch System, or EMALS, because it requires so much power that a non-nuclear-powered ship would likely be unable to handle it. Previously used ski jumps are limited in launching heavier aircrafts.
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Chinese-built Aircraft Carrier Set for Sea Trials
Chinese-built Aircraft Carrier Set for Sea Trials
China’s first domestically-built aircraft carrier is now preparing for sea trials. The carrier is a potent symbol of the modernized Chinese military and of Beijing’s ambition to be a self-reliant top-tier global power.
The carrier, launched in the northern Chinese port of Dalian on April 26, 2017, is known as the Type 001A. The latest photos from the shipyard where the carrier was launched show that the scaffolds on the ship have now been removed and that a phased array radar has been installed, China’s Global Times newspaper reported.
The news comes as China conducted a massive naval exercise in the South China Sea. Beijing said the drill was the start of more frequent exercises as China challenges U.S. regional influence. China’s third carrier, known as the Type 002, is already under construction. It will be even larger than the 001A, with a displacement of around 88,000 tons.
Aircraft Carriers of China, India and Japan
The Type 001A aircraft carrier, launched on April 26, 2017 in Dalian, China, is an improved variant of the Soviet designed Kuznetsov class
After some four years of construction, China has unleashed its first domestically built aircraft carrier. The Type 001A, whose name is speculated to be Shangdong, launched on April 26 at 10:30 a.m. at the Dalian Shipyard in Liaoning Province. It will likely not enter service until 2019 or 2020.
While the 70,000-ton Type 001A is based heavily on the Soviet-designed Liaoning, it features improvements like a modernized island structure with newer AESA radars, and it will carry about 24-30 J-15 fighters (a handful more than the Liaoning) and up to 16 helicopters for search and rescue, airborne early warning, anti-submarine warfare, and transportation missions. Internal improvements could include increased maintenance and storage facilities for fuel and ammunition. Once in service, the Type 001A would both increase the number of carrier qualified pilots, and double its carrier aviation striking power.
Perhaps more than any other warship, China's aircraft carriers are representative of its modernization and upcoming superpower status. The Type 001A almost certainly won't be the last Chinese aircraft carrier; state media has cited naval officers stating that China will ultimately need five more. The Type 002 carrier, currently undergoing modular assembly, will have either electromagnetic or steam-powered catapults; those catapults will allow it to launch heavier fixed wing aircraft, such as J-15 fighters with heavier combat loads, and long range ASW and AEW aircraft to enhance its combat power. The Type 003 will follow in the late 2020s, which will be a nuclear powered 90,000-100,000 super carrier. The Type 003, of which up to four could be built, will be the most powerful non-American aircraft carriers in the world.
