The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is accelerating the growth of its carrier aviation force.
The highlights have already appeared. CNS Fujian (CV 018), the PLAN’s Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Landing (CATOBAR) aircraft carrier’s sea trials just concluded its second round “touch and go’s,” a critical introductory pilot-carrier crew test before conducting flight recovery and launch operations. At the current rate of progress, Fujian should achieve full operational status by this August. The PLAN’s will launch its as-yet unnamed Type 004 CATOBAR carrier shortly thereafter It promises to be larger and more capable than Fujian and within 90 days of its launch, China will start construction of its fifth carrier, probably a Type 005.
China’s recently completed prototype maritime nuclear reactor suggest it, or the Type 006 will be nuclear-powered, but its propulsion system won’t be apparent until late 2026/early 2027. If the PLAN maintains its present construction-to-commissioning pace, the Type 004 should be operationally ready by 2027 and the Type 005’s sea trials will begin that same year or early in 2028. The latter could be operational by 2030. Whatever the Type 005’s propulsion system, its entry into service will give the PLAN three CATOBAR carriers in the Wester Pacific before this decade’s end.
CATOBAR carriers offer significant advantages over carriers lacking an aircraft launch system. They can launch heavier aircraft, including tankers, airborne early warning control system (AEW-CS) and fully loaded combat aircraft. That enables them to deliver more combat power for the same number of planes and at a greater distance. Moreover, embarked fixed-wing AEW-CS aircraft extend the carrier’s low-altitude surveillance area out by over 90-100nm and have a greater Air Battlespace Management and Control capable than the helicopter-based AEW-CS platforms carrier by non-CATOBAR carriers.
However, there is more to PLAN carrier aviation than its fleet aircraft carriers. They are but PLAN’s most capable and visible hull-length flight deck ships (flattops). In addition to the Fujian conducting its initial flight deck testing last November, the PLAN launched its second CATOBAR capable ship, the Type 076 Helicopter Landing Dock (LHD), the Sichuan. Construction of its sister ship will start before this summer and while its air wing remains a matter of speculation, it has the same Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) as the Fujian and coming fleet carriers. That makes it a more powerful carrier than the Type 075 Helicopter Landing Assault (LHA), four of which will be fully operational by early this year. […]
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