The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) reportedly operated its three aircraft carriers for exercises or tests over the past week for the first time. The show of “strength” by the PLAN comes ahead of the 12th anniversary of the commissioning of its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning.

China has commissioned two aircraft carriers – Liaoning and Shandong – the former is a Soviet-era aircraft carrier which China commissioned in 2012 and the latter is its first domestically built carrier. The third aircraft carrier, Fujian, is China’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever built with a potent aircraft launching system. Fujian underwent sea trials and is yet to be commissioned.

The Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, reported, that China’s aircraft carrier program has entered a fast lane. The Liaoning aircraft carrier conducted routine exercises in water including the West Pacific, to enhance combat capabilities, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said.

Each carrier follows a deployment cycle, only a small part of which is spent on the station. When not on station, the ship is in one of three other phases: in transit to or from the operating area, in its home port for maintenance, crew rest, and shore training or at sea for short periods of crew training or operations when not deployed

Both conventionally powered and nuclear-powered carriers undergo several deployment cycles within one operating cycle, which is the time between complex overhauls (periods of major maintenance).

Type 001

The Liaoning aircraft carrier (Type 001) was spotted north of Taiwan and near Japan. The Japanese Ministry of Defence said they detected the Chinese navy’s movement in its economic waters – a maritime area that extends 200 nautical miles beyond its territorial sea. An aircraft carrier is accompanied by warships and the group is called Carrier Battle Group (CBG). Japan said the group sailed from the East China Sea, passing between the Yonaguni and Iriomote islands – both under Japan – toward the Philippine Sea.

Image credit: Google Earth

The Global Times said the group hosted takeoffs and landings of fighter jets and helicopters in the waters southeast of Miyako Islands. The islands are part of the First Island Chain a geopolitically important boundary for the US, with vast amounts of natural resources and economic significance. It is also called the first line of defence for the US west of the Pacific.

Image credit: www.960cyber.afrc.af.mil

This is the first time Chinese warships have entered Japan’s contiguous waters, which it said was “completely unacceptable”. Territorial waters are different from a country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.  

Type 002

Shangdong aircraft carrier (Type 002) recently hosted a certification test for night-time operation for a group of new fighter jet pilots during a combat exercise in the South China Sea, the state-run CCTV reported. 

The exercise aimed to improve its “round-the-clock” all-domain combat capabilities, as more fighter jets are capable of being operated on aircraft carriers, CCTV reported.

Type 003

Meanwhile, the third aircraft carrier was to sea for the fourth time on September 3 to conduct sea trials, Newsweek reported. Fujian took to the seas for its maiden trials in May this year.

Fujian was in the Bohai Sea. The satellite imagery spotted the warship conducting a replenishment test on Tuesday. The aircraft carrier departed from Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard for sea trials, with expected arrival in Shanghai on Saturday as it was in the Yellow Sea, making its way down south, Newsweek reported. 

Fujian aircraft carrier

The Fujian carrier (Type 003) weighs 79,000 tons, carrying the most potent fighter jet launch system – the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). Currently, the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, uses the EMALS launch system. The EMALS catapult offers more smooth, accurate launching of an aircraft carrier, allowing heavier fighter jets to take off.  

The US Department of Defence, in its latest report on Chinese naval modernization, said China is reportedly building a fourth aircraft carrier similar to Fujian and is expected to be nuclear-powered. The Fujian aircraft carrier will be the first conventional-energy-powered platform with the EMALS system.

China wants its navy to be able to deter “US intervention in a conflict in China’s near-seas region over Taiwan or some other issue, or failing that, delay the arrival or reduce the effectiveness of intervening US forces,” a Congressional Research Service report said.