Some recent news on the Type 002 from Big Cat, both good and bad.
The bad news is that work has yet to officially start on the Type 002. Despite what was said on whatever talk show about steel-cutting in 2015, that was likely false information.
The good news is that there is an ongoing competition between the steam and EM catapults. In other words, the EM catapult is a
serious contender, and the potential capability of the EM cat is clearly important enough to the PLAN that construction is delayed by at least a year to begin in 2017!
Moreover, a general consensus has been reached that the 002 will probably have 3 catapults. However, there is a possibility that the delay in construction might not be related to the catapult debate. There is still too much we don't know about at the moment.
Finally, fzgfzy also mentioned that if he were to leak the anticipated launch date of the Type 001A, it would be a shocker (at least, that's how I interpreted his statement). Whether it would be shockingly soon or shockingly late, we don't know. I'd rather it be the former.