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China on Wednesday launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier by smashing a bottle of champagne on its prow, the first time the Western tradition has been used with a PLA warship. But some guests attending the launch party for the still unnamed carrier at the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning province, wondered why champagne was used and not mao-tai, the Chinese liquor, naval expert Li Jie said. “China adopted the Western tradition of smashing a bottle on the ship, signalling the Chinese aircraft carrier is drawing close to international standards,” Li said. State media did not identify who wielded the...

During the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition held recently near Washington D.C., General Atomics was showcasing its Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) for aircraft carriers. Navy Recognition learned during the show that General Atomics received export approval for EMALS and AAG to the Indian Navy. The Brazilian Navy, French Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force have also shown interest in those technologies according the the company. Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) was fitted first onboard head of class USS Gerald R. Ford. Picture: General Atomics The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is designed to replace...

SINGAPORE—China's launch of its first homegrown aircraft carrier on Wednesday could be the beginning of a financial train wreck, according to carrier design and construction specialists. Unless seriously revised, China's plans for its future carrier force could become a major financial difficulty for the country. The resources poured into aircraft carriers are a massive budgetary burden, even in the United States, according to Andrew Marshall, former director of the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment. China's first "indigenous" aircraft carrier, assigned the hull number of CV-17, is expected to be named the Shandong and will be slightly larger at 70,000 tons...

The launching ceremony of China's second aircraft carrier was held at the Dalian Shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) on the morning of April 26, 2017. Gen. Fan Changlong, member of the political bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. China Launched its First Home-Made Aircraft Carrier for PLANFive years after commissioning the Liaoning (its first aircraft carrier) China launched this morning its second carrier – the Type 001A. Unlike the Liaoning, Type 001A was fully built in China....

North Korea said on Sunday it is ready to sink the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military might, as two Japanese navy ships joined a U.S. carrier group for exercises in the western Pacific. The United States has not specified where the carrier strike group is as it approaches the area. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday it would arrive “within days” but gave no other details. There is speculation the United States may launch a preemptive on North Korea. In other words, North Korea will not be allowed to touch the nuclear trigger. The...

"The harpies of the shore . . ." The decommissioned aircraft carrier, USS Independence has passed Costa Rica on the first leg of its trip from Bremerton and onward to Brownsville, Texas. The first leg of the long 16,000 mile journey that will take the 60,000-ton super carrier around the tip of South America (not the Panama Canal), transiting the Strait of Magellan and eventually into EMR Group’s International Shipbreaking yard in Brownsville, Texas. USS Independence left on her final journey on March 11 from the Kitsap Naval Base in Bremerton, Washington to Brownsville, Texas and is expected to take...

<p>Chinese media has revealed that the new Chinese aircraft carrier will be able to dock 36 Jian-15 fighters [J-15].</p> <p>According to Chinese news portal Sina, “At the moment, the aircraft carrier being prepared for launch is optimized in terms of load which compared to the Liaoning aircraft carrier can reach from 28 to 36 units of J-15 fighters.” Currently, the Chinese Navy arsenal consists of the Liaoning aircraft carrier, created on the basis of the Soviet cruiser Varyag. Liaoning can base 24 J-15 fighters.</p>

Japan now has Asia’s only navy with two aircraft carrier-sized warships — the Kaga (pictured) The state-controlled Chinese media has sharply criticised the commissioning of Japan’s powerful new warship, which has the same name --- Kaga --- as one of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s aircraft carriers in World War II. The original Kaga, which Beijing’s English language daily, Global Times, terms a “notorious warship”, was sunk by the US Navy in the Battle of Midway in 1942. With Japanese Ship (JS) Kaga’s rebirth on Wednesday as a “helicopter destroyer”, Japan now has Asia’s only navy with two aircraft carrier-sized warships...

Threatening to destabilize the tentative improvement in Sino-US relations achieved in recent days following Trump's recent concession over the "One China" policy, was the US deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) to the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Saturday as part of maritime "routine operations", according to an announcement posted on the Vinson's Facebook page. Sailing with the 97,000-ton Vinson is the guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer, the Navy said in a statement. The Vinson carries a flight group of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 jet fighters. The deployment comes just one...

My Review and Build of Trumpeter's 1/350 scale KIT #5605, USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76 from USS Nimitz CVN-68 US Navy Aircraft Carriers after World War II The United States learned during World War II that the aircraft carrier was the new principle combatant on the high seas, and that such a vessel, equipped with the poper, larger aircwing, made up of verious types of aircraft, and surrounded by the roper escorts, was the foremost power projection weapon...ouside of nuclear weapons...that the nation ahd. After World War II, the United States had amassed nearly 100 carrier of all sizes, ranging from...

Angola’s bizarre, rumored aircraft carrier ambition David Axe in War is Boring Angola is in the process of acquiring the recently-decommissioned Spanish aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias, according to one news report. The entire Angolan navy has just 1,000 sailors. The 643-foot-long Principe de Asturias needs 830 sailors to fully function. No, this does not make a lot of sense. After all, Angola has no overseas military alliances and no major naval rivals. But if true, it is consistent with the country’s ongoing re-armament, which also includes a squadron of Russian-made heavy jet fighters formerly used by India. Necessary or...

NEW DELHI—When top American naval engineers recently inspected India’s first locally made aircraft carrier they expected to find a near battle-ready ship set to help counter China’s growing sway in the Indian Ocean. Instead, they discovered the carrier wouldn’t be operational for up to a decade and other shortcomings: no small missile system to defend itself, a limited ability to launch sorties and no defined strategy for how to use the ship in combat. The findings alarmed U.S. officials ​hoping to enlist India as a bulwark against China, people close to the meeting said. “China’s navy will be the biggest...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Russia’s navy has become the newest to launch combat strikes from an aircraft carrier, according to press reports, joining the tiny club of navies that have launched carrier aircraft into combat. The Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which is deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, launched strikes in Syria against rebel targets on Nov. 15, according to the Associated Press and Sputnik International. The carrier’s air wing includes MiG-29 and Su-33 jet fighters. The ship lost one MiG-29 on Nov. 13 in a mishap; the pilot ejected safely and was rescued. Russia joins the United States and France as...

Just as The War Zone predicted, reports are surfacing that Russia’s large naval flotilla, led by the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, has already had a confrontation with a NATO submarine. Russia’s Ministry of Defense says that two destroyers chased away a Dutch attack submarine that was operating in the armada’s midst. The Russian task force had arrived off Syrian shores just two days ago. The Kremlin claims the submarine, which is thought to have been a Dutch Walrus class diesel electric boat, maneuvered dangerously close to the Russian naval group’s operating area off the coast of Syria. The Russian Ministry of...

Meet the floating piece of France, projecting the country's military power around the world. The French carrier the Charles De Gaulle is currently in the eastern Mediterranean supporting operations against the so-called Islamic State. Her 24 Rafale fighter jets are flying sorties day and night over Iraq and Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. For the past 15 years, De Gaulle has been involved in nearly every major international conflict, from Afghanistan and Libya, to the current war on Islamic State. With a crew of 2,000, this is the only nuclear powered carrier outside the US Navy. The De...

Slowly but surely, China’s first indigenous carrier is coming into being. Laid down in 2015 with an expected launch date in 2017 or 2018, China’s second aircraft carrier may enter full service sometime around 2020. The lack of transparency around the project has spurred a tremendous degree of speculation, down to some very basic questions. As was the case with Liaoning, China’s first carrier, analysts have a name problem — no one is quite sure what to call the new ship. For years as Liaoning underwent construction and refit, China-watchers guessed as to the correct name, generally settling on the accurate but...

During the Cold War, Russia’s navy prioritized moving huge numbers of cruise missiles around the globe, threatening the power-projection capabilities of American Carrier Battle Groups. In the 1950s and 1960s, aircraft carriers were seen by Soviet military elites as imperialist tools of aggression, and any initiative by the USSR to build one of their own was shot down by the powers that be. Eventually this began to change, but only gradually. The Kiev class that was launched in the 1970s was a puzzling cross-breed compromise between a heavy missile cruiser and a helicopter and VTOL (Yak-38) tactical jet carrier. Eventually...

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...

A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B takes off from USS ‘Wasp’ in 2011. Marine Corps photo Cavour, Italy’s only aircraft carrier, is designed to accommodate up to 12 F-35B stealth jump jets. In theory. In reality, actually operating the stealth fighters requires Cavour to undergo some significant modifications. Although conceptually similar to the smaller Harrier jump jet that already flies from Cavour, the Lockheed Martin F-35B produces much more heat than the older Boeing fighter does. During takeoff and landing, the F-35B’s thrust peaks at 186 kilonewtons. By contrast, the most powerful engine ever installed in a Harrier, the Pegasus 11-61/Mk.107,...

KARWAR, KARNATAKA: Two people including a sailor of Indian Navy died in an accident on board INS Vikramaditya, the Russian-made aircraft carrier, today evening. Two others were injured. A spokesperson of Indian Navy said that the "incident of gas leakage on board INS Vikramaditya took place at about 5:00 PM." Four people repairing the sewage treatment "inhaled" toxic fumes and were evacuated to hospital, the spokesperson said. The aircraft carrier is undergoing routine repair and refit at the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka. The two who died were identified as Rakesh Kumar Shipwright Artificer Class 4, and Shri Mohandas Kolambkar,...