W.E.B. Du Bois
11-25-2010, 09:06 AM
I was perusing some military forums, as I am wont to do every few days, and I caught several surprises on China's carrier construction: smoke coming out of a smokestack (indicating that an engine might be in place) and the deployment of some sort of NATO-style rolling airframe missile. Both of these are very surprising because China has had trouble building engines for its warships and the missile system is a very recent technological development in NATO navies. The close-in missile system on the Chinese carrier does not roll in flight as the NATO missiles do, but it still seems very close to the Western version.
29303132
To give a bit of backstory here, the US has been actively trying to stifle Chinese military modernization and expansion. The Chinese succeeded in buying an old aircraft carrier hull from the Ukraine about a decade ago, under the pretense that it would be used as a floating casino. China received the carrier hull with no engine, weapons, radar, etc a few years ago and has been working on it ever since in its most advanced shipyard center in Dalian, China.
China has had problems securing manufacturing rights to the plane that will fly off the deck of this carrier (the Su-33). They have therefore copied the Russian version.
http://cnair.top81.cn/fighter/J-15e.jpg
http://cnair.top81.cn/fighter/J-15d.jpg
So to sum up: maybe China has an engine for this carrier (big surprise). China does not have planes to put on the carrier yet. The carrier may not be in the water for another two years. Also, the displacement of this carrier is about 60,000 tons, considerably smaller than the 100,000 ton displacement of a US Nimitz class carrier, but similar in displacement to the carriers being constructed in Britain and France (but nowhere near as stealthy [yes, even carriers can have stealth features]).
29303132
To give a bit of backstory here, the US has been actively trying to stifle Chinese military modernization and expansion. The Chinese succeeded in buying an old aircraft carrier hull from the Ukraine about a decade ago, under the pretense that it would be used as a floating casino. China received the carrier hull with no engine, weapons, radar, etc a few years ago and has been working on it ever since in its most advanced shipyard center in Dalian, China.
China has had problems securing manufacturing rights to the plane that will fly off the deck of this carrier (the Su-33). They have therefore copied the Russian version.
http://cnair.top81.cn/fighter/J-15e.jpg
http://cnair.top81.cn/fighter/J-15d.jpg
So to sum up: maybe China has an engine for this carrier (big surprise). China does not have planes to put on the carrier yet. The carrier may not be in the water for another two years. Also, the displacement of this carrier is about 60,000 tons, considerably smaller than the 100,000 ton displacement of a US Nimitz class carrier, but similar in displacement to the carriers being constructed in Britain and France (but nowhere near as stealthy [yes, even carriers can have stealth features]).