PLAN Carrier Construction

SinoSoldier said:

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Well, according to a supposedly credible big shrimp, the first "improved Liaoning" has begun construction @ DL. As stated by the same source, three additional 052D will be built at DL, bringing the total to eleven, and the 055 will also start building at DL.

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asif iqbal said:

Well nothing has started at Dalian and no Type 055 and no large replenishment tanker and it's end of 2013

So I don't know how credible this is unless we start seeing some serious pics

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China will construct two conventionally powered aircraft carriers in Dalian and Shanghai between 2014 and 2015, a source from China's Central Military Commission has told Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese.

Under the Commission's Project 048, China aims to establish three carrier battle groups by 2020 so that all three major fleets of the PLA Navy will be able to carry out missions with the full support of an aircraft carrier. The two new Type 001A indigenous carriers will be updated versions of China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was originally a Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier purchased from Ukraine in 1998. They will also likely be designed with a ski-jump ramp, according to Duowei.

Sources said that the General Equipment Department of the PLA has already signed a contract with the Beijing-based China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation to build the two carriers. The price of the two vessels is estimated to be worth US$9 billion.

China has yet to decide whether its J-31 stealth fighter will replace the J-15 to become the country's next generation carrier-based fighter, according to sources. The J-31 fighter entered service before the J-15, and is able to land or take off from the flight deck of the Liaoning. Sources said that a decision will only be made after the construction of the nation's second and third aircraft carriers is completed. This will give the PLA more time to think about the type of carrier-based fighter it will need in the future, the sources added.

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SinoSoldier said:

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China will construct two conventionally powered aircraft carriers in Dalian and Shanghai between 2014 and 2015, a source from China's Central Military Commission has told Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese.

Under the Commission's Project 048, China aims to establish three carrier battle groups by 2020 so that all three major fleets of the PLA Navy will be able to carry out missions with the full support of an aircraft carrier. The two new Type 001A indigenous carriers will be updated versions of China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was originally a Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier purchased from Ukraine in 1998. They will also likely be designed with a ski-jump ramp, according to Duowei.

Sources said that the General Equipment Department of the PLA has already signed a contract with the Beijing-based China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation to build the two carriers. The price of the two vessels is estimated to be worth US$9 billion.

China has yet to decide whether its J-31 stealth fighter will replace the J-15 to become the country's next generation carrier-based fighter, according to sources. The J-31 fighter entered service before the J-15, and is able to land or take off from the flight deck of the Liaoning. Sources said that a decision will only be made after the construction of the nation's second and third aircraft carriers is completed. This will give the PLA more time to think about the type of carrier-based fighter it will need in the future, the sources added.

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Jeff Head said:

Well, this is quite interesting.

I am not sure about the source (which I underlined). Is anyone else familiar with them?

On one hand it makes a lot of sense about the carrier configuration itself and where they will be built. BAsically an iproved Liaoning design, but still STOBAR.

But the part about the J-31 is perplexing and lends a real sense of "un-believability" to it.

The article says the J-31 was in service before the J-15...but the J-31 only has a single pototype and has not even gone into production, and it clearly not "in service." It is clearly not a case of translation problems either between "first flight," and "in service," becasue the J-31's first flight was in October 2012 and the J-15's first flight was over three years earlier in August 2009.

So..again, its confusing. We have heard mulitple strories about the the PLAN starting construction on its own carriers and then not seen any evidence of it happening. We shall see if this one is any different.

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Equation said:

Sounds like a prediction to me. Although I do think the PLAN building of two Liaoning type carrier are realistic. But the news on that J-31 (assuming its the same one we all think it is) to be replacing the J-15 does NOT make sense to me.

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