Free Republic

A British news report on Friday claimed the Royal Navy was considering basing future warships in India. Forces Network reported that the head of the Royal Navy, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones, talked about the issue as he hosted his Indian counterpart, Admiral Sunil Lanba, on board the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in Portsmouth on Thursday. The UK is developing a new class of frigates called the Type 31, five of which have been ordered at a cost of euro 1.25 billion. The new warships will begin to enter service by 2023. Referring to the Type 31...

YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA PREF. - Journalists on Wednesday were given a guided tour of the Izumo — Japan’s largest flat-topped helicopter carrier — for the first time since the Defense Ministry revealed a controversial plan late last year to convert it so that it could handle fixed-wing aircraft — which critics and some opposition lawmakers say could make it capable of offensive operations. The pacifist postwar Constitution bans the possession of “attack aircraft carriers,” and calls for an exclusively defense-oriented posture. However, under a five-year defense build-up plan adopted in December, the 248-meter, 195,000-ton vessel will be undergoing a major remodeling...

Perhaps out of humiliation over the ongoing spectacular tragicomedy that is Brexit, and in desperate need of a distraction from her domestic political troubles, Theresa May has taken a page out of the the US neocon playbook, and has decided to send Britain’s new aircraft carrier to China’s backyard in what The Times has dubbed “a show of strength” – just in case Beijing is unclear how to respond to this hilarious development – because apparently the UK believes it is a US stunt-double when it comes to sending Beijing messages about its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea....

China’s first domestically designed and produced aircraft carrier, the Type 001A, has finished its fourth rotation of sea trials and could now be ready for its first combat deployment within months. The South China Morning Post reported the ship could be ready for fleet review by April following 13 days of trials in the Yellow Sea before returning to its home port in Dalian. The ship, which has not yet been named, is actually China’s second carrier. The first, Liaoning, was actually a Soviet hull but had not been completed by the end of the Cold War. China purchased the...

Mere days after Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to “resolutely” defend China’s security interest – a veiled reference to maintaining its domination of the South China Sea – News.au has published details from a speech delivered two weeks ago by one of China’s leading military commanders where he outlined a strategy to rebuff the US Navy should it take an even more interventionist posture within the nine-dash line. Rear Admiral Lou Yuan told an audience in Shenzhen that the simmering dispute over the East and South China Seas could be decisively ended by sinking two US aircraft carriers.(Admiral Lou Yuan,...

The ongoing and escalating trade tariffs between the United States and China are beginning to affect Beijing in ways that many might not have considered. For instance, according to a report from the South China Morning Post, the tariffs are dramatically affecting the budget for the construction of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) second aircraft carrier, the Type 002. As trade tensions rise, work on the new carrier has slowed, adding to the cost of the project. Also, delays in fighter jet development for the new carrier has substantially increased costs for the project, effectively blowing up the ship’s...

China on Monday officially confirmed that it is building its third aircraft carrier which is stated to be "bigger and mightier" than the other two warships, a move by Beijing to bolster its blue-water navy capability to operate far from its shores. A late entrant into aircraft carrier-led naval battleship formations, China launched its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, in 2012, which was a refit of the former Soviet vessel bought from Ukraine. Though Liaoning was operationalised and led trial expeditions into the Taiwan Straits, it was widely regarded as an experimental vessel used for mastering technologies, especially to operate the...

MiG-29K/KUBs are seen during sea trials aboard Kuznetsov in 2013. (photo: Russian Aircraft MiG) The Russian navy has embarked on a three-year project to modernize its sole aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, or Project 1143.5, with a focus on achieving full operability with the Russian Aircraft MiG-29K/KUB fighter. Although navalized MiGs flew from the carrier during trials in 1989-1991 and during its seventh and most recent deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in late 2016/early 2017, they are yet to be completely integrated with the carrier’s systems. According to the Nevskoye Design Bureau, the ship’s developer, some of the outdated onboard equipment...

Britain’s F-35B stealth fighters are set to achieve initial operating capability at the end of this year. But that is only from land bases, with nine aircraft. It will be another two years before No. 617 Squadron can fly operationally from the first of the country’s two new QEII-class aircraft carriers. HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to set sail from Portsmouth naval base in the fall for the eastern seaboard of the U.S. There, two American F-35Bs flown by British test pilots will embark for the first time. They will do at-sea takeoffs from the carrier’s ski-jump for the first...

South Korea has launched its second amphibious assault ship. On May 14, South Korean officials launched the second Dokdo-class helicopter carrier. The ceremony took place in Busan at the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction, the company that built the vessel. Among those in attendance were Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Um Hyun-seong, according to local news outlets. Construction of the second Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship, named Marado, began in 2016. The ship will be the second largest ship in the Republic of Korea’s Navy, after the first Dokdo-class ship. Displacing 14,500 tons, the...

An advanced transport helicopter took off from China’s first home-grown aircraft carrier on Saturday, mainland media reported, another sign that it is being prepared for sea trials. The Changhe Z-18 helicopter took off from the warship in Dalian, Liaoning province then returned and landed five minutes later, state-run Global Times reported. Photographs of the chopper in action have been circulated on Chinese social media. The report came after the Liaoning Maritime Safety Administration announced that the Bohai Strait and an area north of the Yellow Sea would be cordoned off from Friday until May 11 because of military activities. The...

November will mark the sixth anniversary of China's first fixed-wing flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier Liaoning. Conducted with Shenyang J-15s – a clone of the Sukhoi Su-33 – the development was greeted with much pride in China. The start of flight operations followed the launch of the Liaoning in 2011, after its transformation from an old Soviet Kuznetsov-class hulk, the Varyag. Although the effort involved both an aircraft type and a vessel from the Cold War era, it marked a renaissance in regional aircraft carrier development. Beijing has gone on to develop a sister ship to the Liaoning. This...

Back in November 2010, then-Lt Cdr James Blackmore became the last pilot of a BAE Systems Harrier to launch from the flightdeck of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, bringing to an end three decades of shipborne short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) operations from the service's three Invincible-class carriers. In a circuitous arc, now Cdr Blackmore will in five months oversee the re-birth of fixed-wing aviation in the RN, as HMS Queen Elizabeth – the first of its two new 65,000t aircraft carriers – begins first of class flying trials (FOCFT) with STOVL aircraft of an altogether...

The wreckage of a United States aircraft carrier, named USS Lexington that was sunk by the Japanese during World War II, was found on the floor of the Coral Sea more than 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia. The carrier was discovered by a team of explorers led by billionaire Paul Allen, the U.S. Navy confirmed Monday. The ship, which was part of the Battle of the Coral Sea from May 4-8, 1942, was found in a remarkably well-preserved condition. Microsoft co-founder Allen released a statement Monday along with photos and a video of the carrier. ​

The USS Carl Vinson, a massive nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, reportedly sailed deep in the South China Sea amid U.S.-China tensions over Beijing’s territorial disputes with several American allies in the region. “It shows resolve, and gives decision space to our leaders,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Doug Verissimo, the ship’s commanding officer, referring to the presence of the warship on the South China Sea, the Australian Broadcasting Network (ABC) reported. The captain noted: When they put a carrier strike group somewhere it helps to show that the United States is interested. We don’t have a lot of these, so when you...

Japanese Ministry of Defense executives have outright admitted that despite the Japanese government's past denials that the Izumo class "helicopter destroyers" were not designed to accommodate fixed-wing short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) tactical jets, they actually were designed with exactly that in mind. The Asahi Shimbun quoted Maritime Self Defense Force sources stating the following: “It is only reasonable to design (the Izumo) with the prospect of possible changes of the circumstances in the decades ahead... We viewed that whether the Izumo should be actually refitted could be decided by the government.” When the Izumo first entered service, the...

China is developing a surveillance plane designed to be launched from the country’s newest aircraft carrier and fitted with a radar system to spot enemy stealth jets, military observers say. State media confirmed for the first time on Monday that China was building its first carrier-borne early-warning plane called the KJ-600. The announcement comes as the United States has deployed F-35 stealth jets to bases in Japan and other parts of the Asia-Pacific over the last year, challenging China’s air defences in the region. Chinese military observers said the KJ-600 would be fitted with an advanced active electronically scanned array,...

China started building its third aircraft carrier, with a hi-tech launch system, at a Shanghai shipyard last year, according to sources close to the People’s Liberation Army. One of the sources said Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard Group was given the go-ahead to begin work on the vessel after military leaders met in Beijing following the annual sessions of China’s legislature and top political advisory body in March. “But the shipyard is still working on the carrier’s hull, which is expected to take about two years,” the source said. “Building the new carrier will be more complicated and challenging than the other...

Andrew Matthews—PA Wire/PA Images There are an endless number of opinions regarding the relevancy, operational feasibility, and overall opportunity cost of the UK's two new Queen Elizabeth class supercarriers, and the ship's capabilities are always part of this debate as well. But one thing seems glaringly clear—these massive vessels are woefully lacking when it comes to their ability to defend themselves from an anti-ship missile barrage. These mighty ships displace 70,000 tons, will deploy with over 1,500 souls onboard, and will carry dozens of aircraft that collectively cost billions of dollars, yet they are only equipped with three Mk15 Phalanx...

A technological breakthrough in naval propulsion will enable China’s second home-grown aircraft carrier to use the world’s most advanced jet launch system without having to resort to nuclear power, overcoming a huge hurdle in the vessel’s development, military sources said. The development of the integrated propulsion system (IPS) would allow the vessel to be more efficient, allowing more power for an electromagnetic catapult, rather than a less technologically advanced steam-driven catapult launch system, the sources said. China’s first two carriers, the Liaoning and its sister ship, the Type 001A, are conventionally powered vessels equipped with Soviet-designed ski-jump launch systems. But...