China is likely to launch its new Type 001 A aircraft carrier by early 2017. It is being built at Dalian New Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co.’s shipyard in north-eastern Liaoning province. The work began early last year, and it is making rapid progress, says Stratfor quoting satellite imagery.
Going by this analysis, the new Chinese carrier is a modular construction. In this method, sections of the vessel are built separately and then fitted together; this way the time is saved and flexibility is secured in sequencing the work. Though the launch could be launched as soon as early 2017, its commissioning it into the Chinese fleet would take several years more, it is said.
China’s aircraft carrier program is the centrepiece of its strategy to project force as a global naval power. Not only do Chinese aircraft carriers lend Beijing military prestige, but they will also be instrumental in securing crucial overseas supply lines. For now, China’s aircraft carrier programme remains in its early stages, but Beijing plans to eventually commission at least three carriers, according to Stratfor.
China’s sole existing carrier, the Liaoning, is of 1998 vintage from Ukraine. It was bought as a stripped hulk, and was fully rebuilt in Chinese shipyards and commissioned in September 2012.
The Liaoning could someday serve a combat role, but it has functioned primarily as a training ship, developing carrier deck operations and training an initial cohort of pilots in at-sea take-off and landing.
Expert view is that the new Type 001A aircraft carrier will follow the Liaoning’s basic design, though slightly improved.
Like the Liaoning, the new carrier will have a displacement of approximately 50,000 to 60,000 tons, and it will feature a Short Take-off but Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) system.
STOBAR allows aircraft to take off under their own power, using a curved ramp for assistance; when landing, planes hook onto arrestor wires. Though effective, Stobar is not as capable as the catapult system, known as CATOBAR, used on U.S. Nimitz-class fleet carriers.
The new carrier will be a stepping-stone that will enable China to build up its aircraft carrier programme while it develops carriers with CATOBAR systems and, perhaps, nuclear propulsion. In time, China could attain super carriers of the same size and displacement as Nimitz-class carriers. But, Stratfor opines that it is a very distant goal.