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| China's current Aircraft Carrier: Liaoning |
The stark gap in numbers, technical capabilities and experience mean that China's aircraft carrier will be a "burden" as opposed to a "weapon" in a hypothetical head-to-head naval battle with the United States, says the Kanwa Defense Review, a Chinese-language military magazine based in Canada.
The magazine's March issue said it will not matter that China will have three aircraft carriers within the next 10 years after adding two more carriers to its one and only carrier so far, the Liaoning.
By then, the US will still maintain a significant advantage with its fleet of 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, though the bigger problem for China is that the US will always have operational and technical superiority in any carrier confrontation.
According to the report, the situation would be similar to that of the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982. In the 74-day conflict in which the UK retook the islands following the Argentine invasion, Argentina's ARA Veinticinco de Mayo aircraft carrier more or less became a burden because of a sizable gap in carrier combat capabilities and experience.
Read the full story at Want China Times