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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
China’s newest aircraft carrier heads to sea for first time | |
By Brad Lendon, CNN | |
Updated: | |
2:13 AM EDT, Wed May 1, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
China’s newest, largest and most-advanced aircraft carrier, the | |
Fujian, took a big step to joining the world’s largest naval fleet on | |
Wednesday as it set out from Shanghai for its first sea trials. | |
The naval assessment is expected to take place in the East China Sea, | |
about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the Jiangnan Shipyard where the | |
carrier has been under construction for more than six years, according | |
to Shanghai’s Maritime Safety Administration. | |
“The sea trials will primarily test the reliability and stability of | |
the aircraft carrier’s propulsion and electrical systems,” read an | |
announcement from the state-run Xinhua news agency on Wednesday. | |
The warship was and has “completed its mooring trials, outfitting | |
work and equipment adjustments” working up to the latest sea trials, | |
Xinhua said. | |
With a displacement of 80,000 metric tons, the Fujian dwarfs the | |
People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) two active carriers, the | |
66,000-ton Shandong and the 60,000-ton Liaoning. Only the United States | |
Navy operates bigger aircraft carriers than Fujian. | |
“The Fujian’s sea trials represent an important milestone for the | |
PLAN, marking its entry into the small club of top-class carrier | |
aviation-capable navies,” said John Bradford, a Council on Foreign | |
Relations International Affairs fellow. | |
The Fujian’s key feature is an electromagnetic catapult system that | |
will enable it to launch larger and heavier aircraft than the Shandong | |
and Liaoning, which use a ski-jump style launch method. | |
Analysts say the Fujian’s ability to launch larger warplanes carrying | |
higher munitions loads to farther distances will give the carrier a | |
greater combat range than its predecessors in the Chinese fleet, | |
providing the PLAN with so-called “blue-water” capabilities. | |
“These sea trials mark the first major step in China’s developing | |
the capacity to project sea-based air power into deep ocean areas,” | |
said Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain and former director of | |
operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center. | |
Comparison to US carriers | |
The electromagnetic catapult system puts the Fujian on par with the US | |
Navy’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, the only active carrier | |
in the world with an electromagnetic catapult system. The US Navy’s | |
10 older carriers, the Nimitz class, rely on steam-powered catapults to | |
launch aircraft. | |
All the US carriers, however, will retain two key advantages over the | |
Fujian: power and size. | |
The US carriers are nuclear powered, giving them the ability to remain | |
at sea for as long as crew provisions last, while the Fujian is powered | |
by conventional fuel, meaning it must either make a port call or be met | |
by a tanker at sea to refuel. | |
As for the US Navy’s size advantage over the Fujian, the Ford | |
displaces 100,000 tons and the 10 Nimitz-class ships 87,000 metric | |
tons. The larger US ships can take on more aircraft, around 75 | |
compared to an expected complement of 60 on the Fujian, according to | |
estimates by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). | |
Analysts have also noted that the US carriers have more catapults, a | |
larger airway and more elevators to allow for quicker deployment of | |
aircraft from the hangar deck below. | |
The US carriers “remain in an echelon of their own,” Bradford said. | |
Schuster said the current round of sea trials for Fujian are expected | |
to last three to six days and would not include flight operations. | |
“Radars and communications equipment will get some testing, but the | |
first sea trials always focus on hull integrity, propulsion and | |
engineering since problems there prevent everything else from working | |
well,” Schuster said. | |
In total, analysts expect the Fujian’s sea trials to take at least a | |
year, with its commissioning likely to come next year or in 2026. A | |
story on the website of the Chinese Defense Ministry in January noted | |
the Liaoning underwent 10 sea trials and the Shandong nine before | |
entering service. | |
When it joins the PLAN fleet, the Fujian will become the icon of what | |
is now the world’s largest naval force,with more than 340 warships | |
and counting as Chinese shipyards turn out new warships at a frenetic | |
pace. | |
“It will be the most visible symbol of China’s growing naval | |
power,” said Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the | |
CSIS. | |
Meanwhile, the announcement of a fourth carrier for the Chinese fleet | |
could come soon, PLAN political commissar Yuan Huazhi said in March, | |
according to a report in the state-run Global Times. | |
When that announcement is made, the answer as to whether China will | |
have a nuclear-powered carrier will be answered, the report said. | |
The US Navy already has three new Ford-class carriers under | |
construction, the future John F Kennedy, Enterprise and Doris Miller. | |
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