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Posted on 09/09/2014 10:03:51 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
More types of aircraft are still needed for Beijing to establish its first carrier air wing on China's first aircraft carrier the Liaoning, according to Wendell Minnick, in an article written on Sept. 7 in Washington-based Defense News.
24 J-15 Flying Shark fighters, six Z-18F anti-submarine warfare helicopters, four Z-18J airborne early warning helicopters and two Z-9C rescue helicopters will together form the first carrier air wing of the People's Liberation Army Navy according to an article in Chinese-language newspaper Shanghai Morning Post published Aug. 28, citing an interview with Cao Dongwei, a senior colonel and researcher at the PLA Naval Research Institute.
Roger Cliff from the Asia Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council said however, that every single item mentioned above, including the aircraft and carrier itself, was designed based on foreign systems. The Liaoning is a Russian-built ship fitted out with Chinese systems, the helicopters are based on Eurocopter designs and the J-15 fighters are also copied from the Russian-built Sukhoi Su-33 fighters.
"China's first carrier air wing reflects a balance between combat and support aircraft seen in the Liaoning's Russian counterpart," said Richard Fisher, an expert in Chinese military development from US think tank the International Assessment and Strategy Center. The Liaoning can perform the mission of the Soviet navy during the Cold War to provide a defensive extension for its nuclear ballistic missile submarine, Fisher said. It needs extensive land-based support to oppose a US carrier battle group however, he added.
Fisher said that the carrier air wing lacks long-range radar and anti-submarine fixed-wing aircraft as well. He believes these deficiencies will likely be corrected with future aircraft carriers however, which are expected to be larger and use flat conventional takeoff decks and catapult launches for heavier fighters, plus fixed-wing radar and anti-submarine patrol aircraft. The Liaoning's carrier air wing can assist China's imposition of gradual military control over the South China Sea, where the country is currently engaged in territorial conflicts with several of its neighbors.
Pei-Ping.
Ping.
That's a bit like saying the DC-9 is a Boeing design.
Bump
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