Di Vincenzo Santo*
(Da The Diplomat – 18 gennaio 2018)
Beijing. China’s first domestically designed and built aircraft carrier, the Type 001A Shandong (CV-17), might take to the sea for the first time already next month, according to Chinese military experts. […] The 65,ooo-ton Type 001A carrier was launched in April 2017 at the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning Province by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. The future Shandong is an improved variant of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLANs) only operational aircraft carrier, the 60,000-ton Type 001 Liaoning — a retrofitted Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov-class multi-role aircraft carrier. The Liaoning and its escort vessels passed through the Taiwan Strait on January 18, entering Taiwan’s air defense zone in a symbolic show of force. According to some reports, the new carrier could be inducted into the PLANs service ahead of schedule by the end of this year. […] “one of the reasons for the likely earlier induction of the ship is better than expected test results of key systems of the carrier including the carrier’s propulsion system.
”The Shandong will operate a so-called ski-jump assisted Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) launch system also in use aboard the Liaoning. […] Given the STOBAR system, aircraft launched from the carrier will also have a more limited operational range due to the fact that they need to expend a considerable amount of fuel during take-off in comparison to aircraft launched with a catapult system as is the case in the U.S. Navy. In addition, aircraft launched with a STOBAR system usually also carry lighter armament, reducing the ship’s overall combat power. The new carrier will be able to embark up to 24 Shenyang J-15 multirole fighter jets, a variant of the fourth-generation Sukhoi Su-33 twin-engines air superiority fighter, in addition to up to ten rotary wing aircraft including Changshe Z-18, Ka-31, or Harbin Z-9 helicopters. […] China purportedly kicked off construction of its third aircraft carrier at a Shanghai shipyard in 2017. This new warship, dubbed Type 002, is expected to be equipped with a conventionally-powered catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) aircraft launch system similar to the U.S. Navy’s electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) installed on the future USS Gerald R. Ford.

China’s first domestically designed and built aircraft carrier, the Type 001A Shandong (CV-17), might take to the sea for the first time already next month, according to Chinese military experts.
*Generale CA ris
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