News Story: Chinese Aircraft Carrier Program Progressing Substantially Into the New Year

China's first Aircraft Carrier: Liaoning (File Photo)

By: Mike Yeo

MELBOURNE, Australia — China continues to make strides in its aircraft carrier program, with a number of milestones achieved in 2016 and looks set to make more in 2017. 

The country’s sole carrier, the refurbished Soviet-era Kuznetsov-class ship, now renamed the Liaoning, was declared “combat ready” in November by Senior Capt. Li Dongyou, the political commissar onboard the ship as it departed for a training cruise that included a stopover at the purpose-built pier at the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) base near Sanya on Hainan island on the edge of the South China Sea. 

The ship sailed with a battle group comprising of several PLAN destroyers, frigates and corvettes, while the Liaoning itself carried more than a dozen Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark carrier-borne fighters and several Harbin Z-9 and Changhe Z-18 helicopters onboard, including at least two Z-18J airborne early warning (AEW) helicopters. 

Meanwhile, the same shipyard at Dalian that refurbished the Liaoning is building China’s second carrier. Known for now as the 001A — the Liaoning was designated the Type 001 — the new carrier is broadly similar to the Liaoning and retains the ski jump for launching aircraft, but contains a revised flight deck arrangement and other differences. 

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News Report: South China Sea Ramp-Up - New Chinese Aircraft Carrier’s Shocking Combat Features

China's Liaoning Aircraft Carrier

As tensions mount in the South China Sea, the country’s state television has heralded the Liaoning aircraft carrier’s expanded lethality.

Last week, Chinese TV boasted about the "growing combat capabilities" of its Liaoning (CV-16) aircraft carrier, noting that the battle platform can carry up to 20 fighter jets, bolstering Beijing’s balance of naval and aviation power in the Pacific rim amid growing tensions.

Last Monday’s footage revealed the Liaoning carrying eight Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) J-15 fighters, along with a Z-18 and a Z-9 helicopter, the largest number of aircraft yet seen on the carrier, suggestive of plans by China to build up its aerial presence in the Pacific Ocean.

News Story: Z-18F anti-submarine helicopter ready for service aboard Liaoning

China is ready to put the Z-18F anti-submarine medium helicopter aboard the Liaoning, the PLA NAvy's first aircraft carrier, according to the state-run Global Times on July 13.

Designed based on the French Aerospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon, the Z-18, which was created by Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAIC), is a medium transport helicopter. It is a single-rotor helicopter powered by three improved WZ-6 turboshaft engines and has a maximum takeoff weight of 13.8 tons. CAIC produced two types of Z-18 helicopters for the PLA's naval forces. One is the Z-18J which is used to carry out early warning operations while the other, the Z-18F, is to be used for anti-submarine warfare. Global Times said the "F" is short for "Fanqian" which means anti-sumbarine in Chinese.

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News Story: Chinese Carrier's Purported Air Wing Deemed Plausible but Limited

By WENDELL MINNICK

TAIPEI — New details have emerged on the aircraft lineup for the new carrier Liaoning, which analysts say is a “plausible” mix of foreign-designed fighter jets and various helicopters, yet limited due to its lack of other necessary aircraft.

According to the Aug. 28 edition of the Chinese-language Shanghai Morning Post, the carrier will house 36 aircraft, including:

■ 24 Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark fighters.

■ 6 Changhe Z-18F anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters.

■ 4 Changhe Z-18J airborne early warning helicopters.

■ 2 Harbin Z-9C rescue helicopters.

The article was based on quotes from Cao Dongwei, senior colonel and researcher at the People’s Liberation Army Naval Research Institute. The Liaoning is a refurbished Soviet-era Varyag aircraft carrier procured in 1998 by China and commissioned in 2012.

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News Story: Lineup of 36 aircraft on China's Liaoning carrier revealed

Z-18F anti-submarine warfare helicopter

China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, can carry four Z-18J airborne early warning (AEW) helicopters, six Z-18F anti-submarine helicopters, two Z-9C rescue helicopters, and 24 J-15 shipborne fighter jets, the Chinese-language Shanghai Morning Post reported on Aug. 28.

Cao Dongwei, senior colonel and researcher at the People's Liberation Army Naval Research Institute, said the aircraft carrier could gain the upper hand in any potential battle for air or sea supremacy. The lineup may differ for various missions, however. The full lineup of 36 aircraft shows that the "PLA Navy's era of aircraft" has arrived, the report said.

On the tail of the Z-18F helicopter is the image of a sea eagle sprawling its talons, which suggests that the aircraft's mission is to seek out and attack enemy submarines, according to the paper. Cao said it is common practice to mark aircraft with physically tough and fierce animals to "show the spirit of bravery of the pilot and the craft itself."

Read the full story at Want China Times