Posted on 10/11/2016 9:58:53 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The Type 001A aircraft carrier is the first one made in China for the Chinese Navy.
New images indicate that China is racing towards completion of its first home-grown aircraft carrier.
A month after NDTV reported that the hull of the ship, designated the Type 001-A, appeared complete, a fresh set of images indicates that the "island" of the carrier, in many ways the nerve-centre of the warship, has now been installed ahead of sea-trials commencing.
The "island" consists of the warship's bridge, aviation facilities and battle-control spaces. Radars and sensors are mounted on the island in addition to air intakes and funnels from its engines.
Completed structure of Type 001-A, China's first home-grown aircraft carrier (right).
The Type 001-A, which is being constructed at a dry dock in the port city of Dalian to the East of Beijing, will likely weigh in at 60,000 tonnes and host close to 50 aircraft including 36 J-15 fighters, a Chinese replica of the Russian Su-27.
The process of completing trials will, however, take a few years and the new Chinese carrier is unlikely to join the navy before 2020.
Completed structure of Type 001-A, China's first home-grown aircraft carrier.
The 001-A is the second Chinese aircraft carrier and its design is thought to be based on the Russian-designed Liaoning, from the Ukraine several years after the collapse of the USSR.
Significantly, new images have emerged on Chinese social media of a new variant of the J-15 fighter, designated the J-15A. The nose-wheel of the fighter features a catapult launch mechanism which clearly indicates that subsequent Chinese aircraft carriers and their strike fighters will likely be more capable.
Chinese J-15A prototype featuring nose-wheel catapult launch assembly.
A catapult launch system, which is hooked up to the nose-wheel of planes launched from ships, uses a compressed steam-driven piston drive or an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) to propel a fully-loaded fighter jet off the small deck of an aircraft carrier. At the moment, the Liaoning and the Type 001-A use a "ski-jump" ramp where fighter jets use only the power of their own engines to accelerate down the runway of the ship before being propelled off its deck. Without the additional acceleration provided by a catapult system, China's existing J-15 fighters have to be lighter to take off and consequently carry fewer weapons and possibly fuel, making them significantly less capable during operational deployments.
The pace of completion of China's first home-grown aircraft carrier is a matter of concern for the Indian Navy. India's indigenous aircraft carrier, named Vikrant (after the first carrier to enter its fleet), is nowhere close to completion despite having been launched in Kochi a full three years before China's 001-A.
Vikrant, India's first indigenous aircraft carrier. (File)
The Vikrant will, at the very least, take nine years from start to finish point of joining the navy. The Chinese warship, on the other hand, will have made that same journey in three years.
Though the hull, superstructure and engines of the Vikrant have been integrated, its primary sensor, the Israeli MF-STAR (Multi-Function Surveillance, Track and Guidance) radar and Barak 8 Long Range surface to air missiles have not yet been acquired for this project.
The differential in build times (3 years vs 9) is due in part to the massive inflow of capital into state coffers from Chinese export sales. A portion of the profit from every China-made item sold at Lowes, Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight, etc. is going towards modernizing the PRC’s armed forces (including building this carrier).
Prior to WWII, Japan was sent scrap metal which it turned into ships, tanks, guns, and planes. The Chinese are much more efficient. They’ve figured out a way to have the West just send them money directly.
It shouldn’t just concern India, but ALL of us!
“Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier.”
Are those holes down the side where the oars stick out?
My guess is that both of these ships will be housing for the homeless long before they are warships. Although the metal will be radioactive.
I don’t know if you read about the demonstrations in Beijing by former army soldiers over the last few days. This is in response to China’s plan to cut the strength of the PLA by 300,000 troops in order to pay for Naval and Air modernization programs. So even with all the profits they are making trading with the US... it isn’t enough.
ping
Just imagine all the upgrade plans theyll be able to purchase for it from a new and even more corrupted (if it were possible) Clinton Administration.
It’s a Navy Cross just waiting to happen.
Mixed bag actually.
If you want to be a credible global power, you need to be able to project your forces in strength to any point in the world. Hence the need to modernize and expand the air force and the navy. Paying for a bunch of PLA divisions that are essentially stuck in China (because you cannot readily move them) and are no longer needed for homeland defense (because the Russians are not coming and the Americans never were - at least on the ground) is a poor use of defense dol...er, yuan.
If you maintain that unneeded ground force structure, you are obliged to have a plan and to allocate funds to modernize it at some point. If you don’t modernize it, it impacts troop morale, quality of their leadership and training suffers, you still have to maintain their old, obsolete equipment and facilities, and, to your point, you still have to pay them. A RIF solves all those problems.
You are right though, the government funding barrel isn’t bottomless even in China and what there is has not been all that well managed. Hence all those modern Chinese cities in places where no Chinese wants to live in (or can find a job in after construction is finished).
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chinese+ghost+cities
(although the dazzle camo I photoshopped in does make it look more war-like...) LOL, looks like a big, surfaced submarine!
What a thought - God help us.
Oh please, God forbid!
you did the dazzle??? OUTSTANDING!!! i love the old dazzle paint schemes
not sure
USS Alabama 
DDG 81 
Wow! That made the Winston Churchill hard to see even in the photograph!
"...a fresh set of images indicates that the "island" of the carrier, in many ways the nerve-centre of the warship, has now been installed ahead of sea-trials commencing..."
LOL, I sure hope so!
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