China has begun work on building its third and largest aircraft carrier, that analysts believe could eventually challenge U.S. strategic superiority in East Asia.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, released images from April that reveal construction on China’s third aircraft carrier in the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai over the past six months, Reuters reported.
The satellite photographs show China’s Type 002 aircraft carrier is slightly smaller than 100,000-tonne U.S. carriers but larger than France’s 42,500-tonne Charles de Gaulle, analysts say. It remains unclear whether the vessel would have nuclear capability.
The new Type 002, China’s third carrier, "will enable additional fighter aircraft, fixed-wing early warning aircraft, and more rapid flight operations."
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While China has not confirmed it is building a third carrier, the Pentagon said last week that work had begun on a vessel that would “probably be larger than the first two and fitted with a catapult launch system to accelerate aircraft during takeoff.”
The CSIS images support the Pentagon’s claims.
Both Asian and Western militaries, and regional security analysts, are seeking information on the carrier, which is expected to be China’s first large, modern platform capable of leading a full range of strike group operations.
Meanwhile, some analysts view its construction as a way for China to slowly undermine U.S. strategic superiority in the region, according to a series of Reuters Special Reports.
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Fabrication halls the size of several soccer pitches have been built nearby, and work appears to be continuing on a floodable basin, possibly to float the finished hull into the nearby Yangtze River estuary.
“While details regarding the Type 002 are limited, what is observable at Jiangnan is consistent with what is expected for the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s third aircraft carrier,” said the CSIS’ ChinaPower analysis.
China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, was a Soviet-era Ukrainian ship bought secondhand in 1998 and re-fitted in China. A still-unnamed second carrier based on that design, launched in 2017, was built locally.
The Liaoning had been seen as more of a training platform for teaching personnel the tricky art of carrier operations. But last month, Chinese state media said the ship “is starting to play a combat role following recent modifications and intensive training exercises.”
The second carrier has been undergoing sea trials from its base in northern Dalian and is not expected to enter service until 2020.
China’s state media have quoted experts as saying China needs at least six carriers. The United States operates 11 carriers.
Meanwhile, pictures that began circulating mid-April 2019 show shipyard workers in the port city of Dalian in northern China putting finishing touches on the Chinese navy's new Type 001A aircraft carrier. It confirms what many observers long have suspected – that Beijing wants the new carrier, China's second, to be ready to sail in time for celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, scheduled for October 2019.
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Scaffolding has disappeared. Workers have applied high-friction deck coating. Four years after work began on the Type 001A and a year after the vessel completed her initial sea trials, the flattop appears nearly ready to leave port and potentially commission into service.
