We have aspeculated regarding this on these boards for years.Any one have any idea on how many type 002 China wants?
The rumour I heard was they were planning for two before starting on the type 003 another article I read said that they were planning on building two carriers at the same time. The article didn't mention which type of carrier though.
We do not know for sure...but my own predictions have been:
Type 001 CV-16 STOBAR (Completed)
Type 001A CV-17 STOBAR Launched and ready for trials;
Type 002 #1 CATOBAR building
Type 002 #2 CATOBAR perhaps building but certainly will
Type 003 #1 CATOBAR to build
Type 003 #2 CATOBAR to build.
The two Type 001s (001 and 001A) are both STOBAR carriers built on the Russian Kuznetsov design.
The two Type 002 will definitely be full CATOBAR carriers, potentially conventional propulsion and potentially EMALs cats. Displacement about 80,000 tons.
The two Type 003 carriers will also be CATOBAR and be potentially nuclear powered with EMALS. Displacement potentially 90,000 tons
I still believe this to be accurate.
After this it will just depend on how many carriers the PLAN wants. I expect a total of six operational carriers, with the follow on carriers replacing the fiorst two STOBAR carriers as needed and being newer versions of Type 003.