Chinese aircraft carriers: the long (useless?) Run-up

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
11/03/21

In recent years, Beijing has given a strong boost to shipbuilding, in order to obtain a fleet capable of countering the US Navy, at least in the South China Sea.

However, if from a numerical point of view the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has surpassed its American counterpart, in the aircraft carrier sector, the US Navy will maintain considerable supremacy for many years.

The first Chinese experiences with aircraft carriers began with the former Soviet Varyag unit (belonging to the Kuznetsov class) which, after various vicissitudes, arrived at the Chinese DSIC (Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company) shipyards in Dalian, in 2002.

The modernization work began in 2005 and ended on July 27, 2011, when the Beijing Ministry of Defense announced that the refit had been completed. The official delivery of the ship to the PLAN took place on 11 September 2012, under the name of Liaoning (CV-16), while it entered service on 25 November 2016.

305 meters long, 75 wide, has a displacement of about 65.000 tons, the unit is equipped with ski jump which allows a short take-off for fixed wing aircraft, landing on the angled flight deck equipped with arrest cables.

The propulsion system has remained the original one, consisting of 8 boilers that generate the steam used by 4 turbo-reducer groups that drive as many axes (the power developed is 200.000 HP)

The aircraft carrier Liaoning (opening photo) represents only the first step, in a broader plan by Beijing to equip the PLAN, in the coming years, with a substantial number of aircraft carriers.

The knowledge acquired with the modernization works of the Liaoning, in fact, they have allowed the Chinese shipbuilding industry to realize ex new an aircraft carrier, whose construction began in 2015. After the end of the works (2017) the ship (following photo) was named Shandong (CV-17) and entered service in December 2019.

10 meters longer than the previous one, with a full load displacement of 70.000 tons, the propulsion system is similar to that of the Liaoning.

Aircraft carriers represent the main tool to ensure supremacy in the context of air-naval warfare and to project maritime power from the sea onto the territory. In this regard, the STOBAR formula (Shorts Take-off But Arrested Recovery) Of the Liaoning and Shandong makes it very problematic to take off fighters (J-15) with full load of armaments for attack missions, limiting their use to air defense only.

It is therefore impossible to hypothesize any comparison with the offensive / defensive capabilities of the US Navy's nuclear-powered CVNs (currently out of 11 groups), also equipped with an EMALS (ElectroMagnetic Aircraft Launch System) type electromagnetic catapult, as in the case of the aircraft carrier. Ford.

This system should not be adopted by future Chinese aircraft carriers (three under construction), as they too will be equipped with a conventional propulsion system, while the EMALS type catapults require a very high consumption of energy that can only be satisfied by a reactor. nuclear. The next Chinese aircraft carriers (probably they will have a displacement of 85.000 tons) will however be equipped with a launch system using conventional steam catapults and landline by arresting cable (CATOBAR), this will allow the J-15 fighters on board (photo) an increase significant both in terms of war load and autonomy.

Photo: Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China