China's 2nd aircraft carrier to focus more on military operations

Press Trust of India ^ | 01/04/2016

[sukhoi-30mki]

hina's second aircraft carrier, which is now under construction, will focus more on military operations training and technological experiments to improve its defence systems as the 2.3 million strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) undergoes massive revamp.

"This aircraft carrier will have different missions than those for the Liaoning (the country's first aircraft carrier)," said Senior Captain Zhang Junshe with the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute.

"We use the (the first carrier) Liaoning to test the reliability and compatibility of systems on carriers, and to train personnel. The second carrier will mainly do what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed to do: running combat patrols and delivering humanitarian aid. Liaoning, which was refurbished after its hull was bought from Ukraine is in operation since 2013," Zhang was quoted as saying by the official PLA Daily.

Zhang said China urgently needs a second carrier, as the country is seeking to improve its defence systems and safeguard national interests.

"The PLA needs at least three aircraft carriers. When it does, one can be on duty, one can train personnel, and the third can receive maintenance," he said.

China's second aircraft carrier is under construction in the coastal city of Dalian, Liaoning province, Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told media last week.

The new carrier has been designed in China and will have a displacement of 50,000 metric tons, a conventional power system, and will carry domestically developed J-15 fighter jets and other ship-borne aircraft, Yang said.

The ship will use a ski jump mode for launching fixed-wing aircraft, the same as the Liaoning, he added.

Zhang said the new carrier's three major systems-power and propulsion, electronic systems and weapons-will all be developed by China and will have better capabilities than those on the Liaoning.

He said China will consider developing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier after it gains enough experience in operating such large vessels.

As it is set to expand the fleet of aircraft carriers, Chinese defence experts said the PLA need to need to make significant changes following last week's upgradation of the status of the Missile force to the equal status of army, navy and airforce.

The PLA has re-designated its missile force renaming it as Rocket Force (PRF) and formed a support wing the PLA Strategic Support Force (SSF) to provide electronic and cyber surveillance.

The experts said the PLA will need to set up inter-services platforms and more universal hardware to improve its combat readiness.

Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said, "President Xi has repeatedly stressed the importance of information and joint operation capabilities, which I believe are pillars to winning modern warfare. So, the PLA should give priority to developing an inter-services command and logistics system."

He said the PLA Army, Navy, Air Force and PRF currently have their own platforms to handle information, manoeuvre units and arrange logistics.

Wang said these separate platforms should be integrated to allow a smoother command chain.

He also suggested that a universal early-warning and control system and long-range transporter aircraft are needed for all services, rather than just the air force.

Wang said large planes like the Y-20, which made its maiden flight in January 2013, and which developers expect to deliver to the PLA soon, will make troop deployment easier, enabling the military to act more promptly and to better respond to emergencies.

He said the army, the PLA's largest branch, should develop a next-generation main battle tank, which he proposed should be highly automated and have better information capability than the current Type-99A tank, state run China Daily reported.

Cao Weidong, a researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said that for the army, air force, navy and missile forces to act in concert with each other, more military satellites will be needed as they will play an increasingly important role in obtaining information and transmitting directives among different fighting units.

"The air force and navy will need more equipment that can perform or support long-range operations.For instance, the navy will need amphibious assault ships, large supply vessels and advanced guided missile destroyers, while the air force will pursue long-range refueling aircraft," he said.

Wu Peixin, a military observer in Beijing, said the PLA should develop new individual smart weapons and portable logistics devices, which will strengthen each soldier's combat capability.

Chen Xuesong, a fellow researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said he believes the new carrier, which is being constructed in sections to be assembled later, will be a tough challenge for Chinese engineers.

[Jeff Head]

Make no mistake, they are making the Liaoning fully capable for combat operations as well.

But since it is their first, they naturally have to do a lot of training...and they speak of this liberally as if though it is the only reason for its existence.

But it will be completely capable as they work that air wing up.

The second carrier is going to be similar in shape and function to the Liaoning. In other words, a ski-jump STBAR carrier. Here is the latest picture of its construction, where the hanger deck and that level all along the hull is nearing completion.

They have already reportedly cut first steel on the 3rd. It is going to be a catapult launch CATOBAAR carrier, conventionally powered, and perhaps the size of our Kitty Hawk.

I expect the Chinese are going to build, deploy, and then maintain five or six carrier. Once they build those conventionally powered CATBAR carrier, I expect they will be a second of those. Their next step after that will be nuclear.

They have a long term, twenty year plan and they are executing against it. We should not underestimate them.

In the end...they want to have three carriers deployed at any one time. To do that, they will need a total of five or six.

Three deployed, on preparing for maintenance, one in maintenance, and one working up after maintenance.

We shall see.

[American in Israel]

Carriers are not defensive weapons

[wbarmy]

More power to them. As their economy crashes this will be a huge drain on their military, but for prides sake, they will keep building them.

But they are useless. Not only will more advanced weaponry make them sitting ducks for ground based weaponry off of Taiwan, they stink in what they are supposed to do.

Google J-15 ops on carrier and you will see that deploying the J-15 from their carrier hangers is a slow and tedious process, and the J-15 is too large to go back and forth between deck and hanger.

Our planes can fit two and three planes at a time on the hanger elevator.

http://china.org.cn/photos/2013-10/21/content_30359498_4.htm
http://sinodefence.com/2014/02/15/pla-flanker-fighter-family/

[UCANSEE2]

Carriers are not defensive weapons

Then neither is a gun.

[paddles]

Another Navy Cross just waiting to happen....

[Yo-Yo]

That picture looks an awful lot like a scale model.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Also what is concealed on the lower right of the photo?

[Yo-Yo]

There are pixelized portions in several spots. I don’t think it is a model, it just looks an awful lot like one.

[tanknetter]

The J-15, and the Su-27 family it’s derived from, is a BIG aircraft. Pretty capable in the air, but cumbersome in constrained ground handling environments. Like aboard a ship. Russia is going to swap out it’s Su-33 Sea Flankers for the smaller MiG-29K at least in part due to shipboard handling lessons.

The J-15 thought is probably just the ChiComs “learning” carrier fighter. Their eventual carrier aircraft will be the J-31, which is a YF-22 like stealth fighter in the MiG-29’s smaller size range (uses the same engines as the MiG)

[wbarmy]

I can understand that change, but part of the picture is their hangers. The hangers I have seen pictures of can only hold one plane at a time, no matter what the plane.

I think they are so anxious to get into the “game” that no one really looked at the mechanics of air ops and what would really be needed in a combat situation.

Carriers are good for projecting air power away from your own borders. I do not believe they have really thought out what they want to do with the carriers. Or they have thought it out and are mistaken. But using one carrier like that for real operations? Baloney.

[central_va]

China is in the learning process of Naval Air. They think long term and are looking for credibility. This will give them that cred especially in the turd world. These are not meant to go against the USA Navy - now. But as we decline economically watch or CV force dwindle down to 2 or 3 while theirs goes up to 20. The economy decline engineered on the USA was planed and executed by the ChoComs flawlessly

The ChiCOms know the best way to defeat the US navy is to have the US not build ships at all....Why sink them when they can be eliminated by economic malaise...

[Jeff Head]

It's not a model;...parts of it have just been censored by China press.

Here are other pictures of the progress of that vessel over the last year:

Hope thnat helps

[tanknetter]

China is a major regional power, not a global one. They aren’t planning on using their carriers to project power, at least like we do. What they’ll do is use their carriers to support power being projected by other means.

It means their airwings will be structured towards providing various types of air cover rather than conducting cyclic strike ops, like we do. Sure, their aircraft will have an inherent light strike capability, and they can “project power” onto lesser neighbors (so long as we don’t get involved), but the goal is more to prevent the US from projecting our power.

You really don’t need high sortie rates or big airwings to do that.

[wbarmy]

And that is an interesting point. With the islands and the different land based strips and areas they can sortie from, why carriers?

There isn’t anything in that region they cannot hit from land based aircraft. And carriers are awful sweet targets for anti-ship missiles fired from Taiwan. And Taiwan has an awful lot of anti-ship missiles.

[tanknetter]

They probably wouldn’t use a carrier directly against Taiwan. No need to, as you said.

What they’d use it for is to draw off our carrier(s). The first order of business for our carriers is going to be to locate and destroy theirs. They manage to sortie their carrier to sea and make it hard for us to find, it completely changes how we’ll respond.

Heck, just think if they were to use it in a feint against Guam? Or Australia? Or India, Indonesia, or the Philippines? Use it as bait for our carriers, to either pull them off task or even into an SSGN or bomber launched anti ship missile trap?

You can bet that the ChiComs have looked closely at how the Brits freaked out over the ancient Argentine carrier during the Falklands, and extrapolated it into ways of using it to gain various (and largely psychological) advantages over us.

Just as one example, btw.

[wbarmy]

If so, then they really do not understand our system or tactics.

There is not a ship they have we are not tracking with a sub. Only one carrier, one quick sub strike and it is out.

Any feint they would do would be quick and done, without budging our carriers one inch.

[tanknetter]

They do understand our tactics. They also understand our limitations.

They’re building to the point of having the ability to put more ships to sea than we have platforms that can track and trail them. We’ve been building up our forces in the Pacific for a while now, but it still isn’t enough. And it certainly won’t be enough years down the road.