BEIJING (AP) – Beijing on Friday launched a new-generation aircraft carrier, the first such ship to be both designed and built in China, as a milestone as it aims to expand the range and strength of its navy.
The type 003 carrier named Fujian left its dry dock at a shipyard outside Shanghai in the morning and moored at a nearby pier, state media said.
State broadcaster CCTV showed assembled naval personnel standing beneath the massive ship as jets of water sprayed across the deck, multicolored streamers flew and colorful smoke released.
Equipped with the latest aircraft launch weapons and technology, the Type 003 ship’s capabilities are believed to rival those of western airlines as Beijing aims to turn its navy, already the world’s largest, into a multi-carrier carrier. power.
Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on Thursday and analyzed by The Associated Press showed the carrier in what appeared to be a completely flooded dry dock at Jiangnan Shipyard, near Shanghai, ready for launch. It was draped with red bunting, presumably in preparation for the launch ceremony.
“This is an important milestone for China’s military-industrial complex,” said Ridzwan Rahmat, a Singapore-based analyst with defense intelligence firm Janes.
“This shows that Chinese engineers are now able to produce the full range of surface combatants associated with modern naval warfare, including corvettes, frigates, destroyers, amphibious assault ships and now an aircraft carrier,” he said. “This ability to build a highly complex warship from scratch will inevitably result in several spin-offs and benefits for the Chinese shipbuilding industry.”
China’s first aircraft carrier was a Soviet ship that was repurposed, and the second was built in China, but based on a Soviet design. Both were built to use a so-called “ski-jump” aircraft launch method, with a ramp at the end of the short runway to help aircraft take off.
The Type 003 uses a catapult launch, which experts had said appears to be an electromagnetic-type system originally developed by the US Navy. China’s official Xinhua News Agency confirmed Fujian was using the electromagnetic system in a report on Friday’s launch.
Such a system puts less strain on the aircraft than older steam-type catapult launch systems, and using a catapult means the ship can launch a wider variety of aircraft, which is necessary for China to be able to project naval vessels. power at a longer range, Rahmat said.
“These catapults allow aircraft to carry a more extensive load of weapons in addition to external fuel tanks,” Rahmat said.
“Once fully operational, the PLAN’s third carrier would also be able to deploy a more complete range of aircraft related to the carrier strike group’s operations, including courier transport and early warning services. and airborne control airframes such as the KJ-600.”
China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, has been modernizing for more than a decade to become more of a “bluewater” power — one capable of operating globally rather than being confined closer to mainland China. to stay.
At the same time, the US has increasingly focused on the region, including the South China Sea. The vast maritime region is tense as six governments claim all or part of the strategically vital waterway, through which an estimated $5 trillion in global trade travels annually and which contains rich but rapidly declining fish stocks and significant undersea oil and gas reserves.
China has been by far the most aggressive in asserting its claim to virtually all of the island’s waterway, features and resources.
The US Navy has sailed warships past artificial islands built by China in the sea, equipped with airstrips and other military facilities. China insists its territory extends to those islands, while the US Navy says it is conducting the missions there to ensure the free movement of international trade.
In its report to the United States Congress last year on China’s military capabilities, the Department of Defense said the aircraft carrier development program is critical to the further development of the Chinese navy into a global fighting force, “expanding its operational reach beyond the East.” Asia is expanding into a sustainable capability to operate at ever greater distances.”
China’s “aircraft carriers and planned follow-on carriers, once operational, will extend air defense coverage beyond the range of coastal and airborne missile systems and enable task force operations at increasingly greater distances,” the defense ministry said.
In recent years, China has expanded its presence to the Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific and beyond, establishing its first overseas base in the African Horn, Djibouti, where the US, Japan and others also have a military base in the last decade. maintain presence. It also recently signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands, which many fear could gain an outpost in the South Pacific, and is working with Cambodia to expand a port facility that could give it a presence in the Gulf of Thailand.
Xinhua reported that the Fujian, wearing hull number 18, had a fully loaded displacement of 80,000 tons. However, in a March report prepared by the US Congressional Research Service, analysts said satellite images suggest the Type 003’s displacement was about 100,000 tons, comparable to that of US Navy ships.
The PLAN currently has some 355 ships, including submarines, and the US estimates that its force will grow to 420 ships by 2025 and 460 ships by 2030. Despite having the largest navy in the world, the PLAN is far from the capabilities of the US Navy and lags far behind aircraft carriers.
The US Navy is the world leader in aircraft carriers, with 11 nuclear-powered ships. It also has nine amphibious assault ships that can carry helicopters and vertical takeoff jets.
American allies such as Britain and France also have their own aircraft carriers, and Japan has four “helicopter destroyers”, which are technically not aircraft carriers, but transport aircraft. Two will be converted to support fighter jets with short takeoffs and vertical landings.
China’s new airline is named after Fujian province on the country’s southeast coast, following a tradition after the first two airlines were named after Liaoning and Shandong provinces.
The shipyard launch ceremony was chaired by Xu Qiliang, a member of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission led by President and party leader Xi Jinping.
After Xu cut the ribbon for the launch, a bottle of champagne broke over the bow of the Fujian, Xinhua reported. The dry dock doors then opened and the ship entered the water and docked at the pier.
China’s development of the Type 003 carrier is part of a wider modernization of the Chinese military. As with its space program, China has been extremely cautious in developing aircraft carriers, striving only to adopt technologies that have been tested and perfected.
At this point, China is believed to have failed to develop the aircraft to fully exploit the new airline’s potential, Rahmat said.
It is unknown how close China is to developing its KJ-600 AWACS aircraft, which it began testing in 2020, to get it ready for carrier operations, and there is “little evidence” that it has begun operating to transport aboard the courier aircraft, he said.
Now that it’s launched, the carrier needs to be equipped, which could take two to six months. After that, there will be port acceptance trials and sea trials, which will likely take another six months before engineers begin launching test payloads using the catapult system.
“The first aircraft will not be launched from this airline until late 2023 to 2024, and full operational capability is likely to be declared closer to 2025,” he said.
†
Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. Rising reported from Bangkok.
