Beijing may build carrier

The Standard (China) ^ | June 17, 2005

[RWR8189]

China is considering building an aircraft carrier, said a vice minister in charge of national defense, while emphasizing the country's only military interest is defense.

"China's focus is on a peaceful rise,'' said Zhang Guangqin, vice minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. "Our national defense policy is only to protect China's maritime territories. However, relevant government agencies are looking into this matter of building an aircraft carrier.''

Getting advanced technology to upgrade its defense industry is a national priority for China, which announced Tuesday it will ask the European Union to reconsider its decision to delay ending a 16-year arms embargo against the country.

Zhang said China has not begun building an aircraft carrier, referring to earlier reports to the contrary.

``All news that China is already building one is false,'' he said. BLOOMBERG

[Ronin]

It would be fun to watch them try it.

[Gamecock]

Defense? Who's going to attack them?

[smonk]

note to designer: the screen door in the hull should always be closed.

[river rat]

Someone should tell the Chinese that the French recently designed and built their own "modern carrier" --- perhaps some of those engineers would be willing to help their Chinese allies..

Oh yes, and carry an extra propeller while blue water sailing...

Semper Fi

[Dr. Marten]

You mean kinda like they built one of the top fighter jets?

Don't underestimate them.

[Poundstone]

This will be a MAJOR step forward for the Chinese Navy. I don't underestimate them, but I assume there will be mistakes and growing pains. It will be very interesting to see what aircraft types they base on the carrier.

This is a major alert for the US Navy.

[Wiz]

ping

[Polybius]

This is a major alert for the US Navy

Remember, a few years ago, when come Congresscritters said that fast attack submarines were a relic of the Cold War?

"There are two kinds of ships: submarines and targets."

[Natural Law]

Building one and operating one are two completely different things. The flight deck is a very dangerous operation. Once they have a carrier operational it will take them another 20 years to actually use it effectively. They will learn first hand that Darwin was right.

[Gamecock]

They will learn first hand that Darwin was right.

Lesson 1: Intakes are not a good place to hang around. I have pictures to prove it.

[DB]

That and a deck extender...

[spetznaz]

Remember, a few years ago, when come Congresscritters said that fast attack submarines were a relic of the Cold War?

Who the heck said such a silly thing?

[spetznaz]

Hey, come on now. You cannot say you have pics of naughty-intake mishaps and not post them! That is against cosmic law.

[maestro]

?......Beijing may build 10,000 carrier force?

?They can afford it......?

?......new carriers to be known as.....'Walmart-class'....and.......

?sarcasm?

[TomB]

Building one and operating one are two completely different things. The flight deck is a very dangerous operation. Once they have a carrier operational it will take them another 20 years to actually use it effectively. They will learn first hand that Darwin was right.

Not to mention what makes our carriers so effective isn't just the carrier, it is the entire carrier task force. Each ship doing it's job supporting the group. Just building the carrier, no matter how advanced, doesn't make it effective. It's a big target and has to be protected.

[KeyWest]

Let them go ahead with it. It will do one thing that is really necessary and that is to start building more ships for our Navy to get it back to at least the replacement stage. Right now we are building less than we need to replace those going out of commission because of age (25-30 years for most combatants). The Chinese carrier will be a nice impetus to Congress to get off their behinds and get the Navy up to strength. The US needs power projection because we are a maritime nation dependent on the sea. China is not and never has been a major player on the ocean. They are building for show, to prove they are a world power.

[agere_contra]

They're just messing with our heads. I bet they're going to build a close-topped ship yard and build a oil-tanker very, very slowly, forcing the US to react in an expensive fashion.

[Jeff Head]

``All news that China is already building one is false,''

THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA

Although that picture is of the Varyag, a full deck carrier the PRC purchased from the Russians, it is now sitting in a Chinese shipyard with a lot of activity going on on and around it. The Chinese originally indicated they purchased it to be a floating casino...but the buildup of the Chinese navy and their self-stated intentions to either acquire or build a carrier tells us otherwise.

Since the Chinese are building Aegis like escort ships and have purchased and continue to license build and purchase the SU-27 and SU-33 aircraft thjat can fly off of this class of vessel, common sense dictates that such a design (which the Russians have operated successfully in the form of the Kuznetsov, sister ship to the Varyag), will be put to different use.

The Russian Kuznetsov, sister ship to the Varyag

Oh, by the way, an aircraft carrier is not a defense weapon. It is meant to prohject power.

[Jeff Head]

See post 19. The Chinese have been conducting test landings and takeoffs from carrier configurations on their airfields for some years.