It definitely could be 001A, and if it is lying in the DL drydock previously occupied by Liaoning then even this early on I would be quite confident in it.
It's definitely wide enough.
PLAN Aircraft Carrier programme...(Closed)
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It definitely could be 001A, and if it is lying in the DL drydock previously occupied by Liaoning then even this early on I would be quite confident in it.
It's definitely wide enough.
Sounds like a realistic plan. Or is the Charles De Gaulle type carrier a potential option? Just wondering if the J-15s are too big for 40,000 tonnes class ships. The Dassault Rafale are much smaller aircrafts (like J-31?). The Charles De Gaulle option is probably cheaper than super-carriers.
The PLAN started with Liaoning, and their indigenous carriers will likely be no smaller. If so, then they would be making a conscious decision to forgo smaller carriers for larger ones, with the higher associated production and operating costs.
I don't think many PLA watchers have seriously considered the idea of PLAN regressing to a smaller class of carrier since it was clear that they intended to refurbish the Varyag hulk to service a decade ago.
They can probably fit a J-15 on a smaller carrier, but there will be difficulties compared to a larger carrier.
If this recent image is, in fact, of a 001a class carrier - then the most optimistic timetable might be launch at the end of 2016, commissioning sometime in 2018 and initial operational capability with full active duty airwing sometime in 2020. More realistic timetable might add a year or two to that.
UK has improvised the building of its new flattops making parts all around its coast and carrying those parts to the assembling yard.
US has a single yard that produces a CVN every four or five years. I think that production could be faster but that would cost more money and would result in having too many expensively run aircraft carriers.
China is preparing for an indefinite run of aircraft carriers and is building probably two production facilities, Dalian and JN, which are to be compared with the US production methods and not with the British one. As the Chinese ships will be about the size of Liaoning and will not as yet be nuclear powered production time should be four years or less. Add one or two years because this is the first one.
N.B. CdG took twelve years from keel laying to commissioning rather than the planned seven. That too is irrelevant to the Chinese project.
Now...that is more interesting.
Is this the same dry dock where the Liaoning was refitted?
That could be basic blocks for a carrier...of course at this stage, without a much closer look, it could also be for some other large vessel.
If they are at that stage in April 2015, and IF it is an aircraft carrier, there is NO WAY they are going to launch it by the end of 2016.
At that stage, more likely end of 2017 launch. But that will be a HUGE day for the PLAN and PRC.
Then trials for around eighteen months before commissioning. This places commissioning in mid 2019. Another BIG day for the PLAN and PRC.
Then working it up will take at the very least another twelve to eighteen months.
So...initial operational capability...IF that is a carrier...by end of 2020. and more likely 2021.
Full operational capability...add another twelve to eighteen months. So fully operational with its full air wing and all...you are now into 2022 sometime.
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For budget question only no problem for building.
That's why I said comparison between the Chinese program and the building of CdG was irrelevant.
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