Nick Childs
The commissioning on 5 November of China’s new aircraft carrier, the Fujian (Type-003), is a milestone for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and its maturing carrier force. But while the ship brings with it new capabilities, more work lies ahead for the PLAN in learning how to operate it. Lessons learned will undoubtedly feed into the further development of China’s carrier capability.
Catapulting capability
This third Chinese aircraft carrier represents a considerable step up in potential performance from the previous two vessels, owing to its greater size and electromagnetic catapults and arrester gear, as opposed to a ‘ski-jump’ and arrester wires. This will allow it to operate a wider range of aircraft and more of them, as well as enabling those aircraft to operate at longer range and with greater payload.
Shenyang J-15 Flanker K and J-35 combat aircraft, and the Xi’an KJ-600 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft have been observed taking off from and landing on the carrier. But these basic trials are still a far cry from these aircraft operating as an effective and integrated air group. The greater potential for carrier operations provided by the combination of catapults and arrester gear also adds to operational complexity. Hence, the new ship’s extensive pre-commissioning trials programme.
No comments:
Post a Comment