As pointed out in my previous post an increasingly hostile environment against China regarding its maritime territorial interests including Taiwan have been clear for years, I will add since at least 2010 to 2012, that is plenty of time to reconsider relevant military needs and plans accordingly.
Also as already pointed out in my previous post the 001A is unique in that it is the only carrier design reliable/proven enough and available soon enough to the PRC, it would also be a new build from the ground up according to Chinese specifications. If they didn't see a time sensitive need for carriers reliable enough for combat then they may as well have just waited for the 002.
Okay, I was mostly confused as to what about 001A you thought was "unique". If you are only talking about the fact that 001A just happens to be a carrier whose development means the Navy has decided to procure/build/induct between the 2010-2012 period, then I agree with you.
However, I would disagree with the idea that they bought 001A just because they had a "time sensitive need for carriers reliable enough for combat" -- I'm sure that 001A was procured partly because they felt like they needed another carrier before 002 arrived, but I also believe that the purchase of 001A is also because it would help to significantly supplement the single Liaoning carrier in the Navy for enhancing long term development of carrier proficiency. It obviously goes without saying that having a whole additional carrier means they have two carriers to conduct training with and to develop a greater pool of experienced sailors, pilots, deck crew, not to mention officers, which will make further expansion of the carrier force (via 002 class and beyond) much much easier.
In other words, I see the desire for 001A as merely the Navy having a "time sensitive need for carriers which are reliable" in a general sense, rather than necessarily wanting them to be for combat -- because the alternative is that the Navy is somehow willing to tolerate a carrier which is "not reliable" and that would be a foolish thing to procure even in peace time.
The way I see it, 002 was always going to have been "delayed" due to slow development of certain subsystems (like catapults) and the Navy was never going to rush in an 002 with subsystems they didn't consider to be sufficiently mature. that means 002 would always have only started production in year "201X" and only enter service in year "202X" and there would have been no way to "speed it up" as such because that would mean fielding an insufficiently mature carrier.
So the question for the Navy would have been about whether they were willing to only have a single carrier (Liaoning) until the year 202X when 002 would arrive, or whether they wanted to fit in another carrier (001A) before 002 arrives.
And obviously what ended up happening is the Navy decided they wanted an additional carrier before 002 arrived, and so we ended up with 001A.
Putting it another way, I see the choice of them to buy 001A not as something which was a "detriment" to 002 but rather as an "extra" or a "freebie" in addition to 002.
There are also rumors that the 002 is delayed enough that there may be a gap between when the 001A is launched and when the 002 will begin building in the same dry dock, given they could build something else there or just leave it empty. But with the factors already mentioned this makes an additional 001A and a further delayed 002 a reasonable tradeoff.
Umm. What?
You realize 002 has been confirmed to be built at JNCX right? In Shanghai? And that 001A is being built at Dalian? They will be built at completely different shipyards in completely different cities? You make it sound like you believe 002 will be built at DL??
I have no ideas what rumours you are talking about either -- the rumours over the last year all overwhelmingly suggest 002 has likely begun construction at JNCX.
I really have no idea where you are coming up with the idea of an additional 001A at all, it isn't even something being entertained by any rumours AFAIK. It is virtually confirmed that 002 will be the next carrier type to follow 001A.
