CHINA’s first homegrown aircraft carrier is nearing completion. The scaffolding has come off, fresh paint is being applied — and new details are emerging of its design.

The ship — dubbed Project 001A, or CV17, is likely to be launched within weeks.

Adding to the atmosphere of expectation is a Beijing state-media video ‘infographic’ outlining the modular design and advanced construction of the as yet unnamed aircraft carrier being built in the Chinese port city of Dalian.

It reveals that, despite the similarities in appearance, this new ship is a significant improvement over the Soviet design it was reverse-engineered from.

However, believed to be given the name Shandong upon its completion, the new aircraft carrier does not represent the future of Chinese naval air power.

That ship — designated 002 — is already under construction in Shanghai.

It’s much bigger. It’s probably nuclear powered. And it’s said to be much, much more like US aircraft carriers in both form and function.

And there are even more to come.

“In order to protect China’s territories and overseas interests, China needs two carrier strike groups in the West Pacific Ocean and two in the Indian Ocean. So we need at least five to six aircraft carriers,” a Chinese defence analyst recently told the People’s Daily.

LAUNCH PAD

The promotional video confirms the new aircraft carrier has been ‘reverse engineered’ from the 60,000 ton Soviet-era aircraft carrier Varyag, originally bought by Chinese investors from Ukraine in 1998 under the guise of being converted into a $200 million floating casino.

Her sister ship, the Russian Kuznetsov, made headlines last year while laying a thick trail of smoke on its way to take up station off the coast of Syria and contribute to strike operations against forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad.

Varyag re-emerged from the Dalian shipyards in 2012 as the ‘training’ vessel PLAN Liaoning — nominally to give China’s military experience in the complicated arena of naval aviation. In November last year Liaoning was declared ‘fully operational’, and has since deployed to contested waters around Taiwan and the South China Sea.

While Liaoning (CV16) and ‘Project 001A’ (CV17) represent a significant step forward in China’s ability to project its military might around the globe, the ships themselves do not represent the state-of-the-art.

Instead of using catapults to launch aircraft into the sky, they rely on the slingshot effect of a simple ramp, known as a ‘ski-jump’. Great Britain, India and Russia use similar ramps because of their technical simplicity and significantly lower cost.

However, these ramps do not allow aircraft to carry full loads of bombs or fuel in the same way United States and French aircraft carriers do.

This reduces both the combat effectiveness and range of ski-jump carrier-borne aircraft.

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Unlike Britain’s new HMS Queen Elizabeth II and HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carriers, the Chinese ships provide ‘arrested recovery’ technology for landing aircraft. Essentially these are tensioned wires strapped across the deck which can ‘catch’ fast-moving and heavy aircraft equipped with a tail hook, quickly bringing them to a halt.

This means Liaoning and Project 001A can operate large J-15 Flying Shark strike fighters, themselves reverse-engineered copies of Russian Su-33 ‘Flanker’ aircraft. The new Royal Navy ships are limited to helicopters and the F-35B vertical-landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter.

SOMETHING NEW

China’s carrier-construction project has been a carefully guarded secret, with Beijing only admitting in late 2015 that construction work had begun after Janes Defence Weekly published satellite photographs revealing the ship taking shape.

But new details have gradually come to light.

Project 001A does appear to have many revised features over its Soviet predecessor.

“Its design, combat capability and technologies will be much more advanced,” Chinese military analyst Song Zhongping told the Global Times outlet of the People’s Daily.

“One key difference is the design will be more ‘humanised,’ which means all personnel on the carrier will enjoy a more comfortable and modern environment.”

But improvements also appear to extend to technical matters.

Its flight deck arrangement has been changed, as have the sponsons — projections from the sides of the ship holding weapons, sensors and other equipment. This, combined with an enlarged hangar, is said to allow 001A to carry between six and eight more fighter jets than the 24 Liaoning can stow.

The control-tower superstructure also appears to have been modified to accommodate new radars and masts. It was lifted into place on the new hull late last year.

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“The Type 001A has learned from US carriers to focus on how to make aircraft on board more functional.” Beijing-based military analyst Li Jie recently told the South China Morning Post.

While the ship may appear visually complete, it is yet to be fitted out. This means it is largely empty, with equipment such as radios and radars — even kitchen appliances and crew bunks — still needing to be installed.

“It will take about one to two years to carry out functional debugging of its devices, weapons and equipment,” Li Jie told the People’s Daily. “The new aircraft carrier can begin sea trials by early 2019.”

MORE TO COME

In 2013 the deputy chief-of-staff of the People’s Liberation Army confirmed China was developing new aircraft carriers that would be much larger and more capable than the old Soviet design.

Little is known about ‘Project 002’. The South China Morning Post says work began on the ship in 2015, in the Shanghai Jiangnan Changxingdao shipyard.

It will be much larger. It may even be nuclear powered.

One detail, however, has been revealed.

Beijing state media reports military officials as saying 002, China’s third carrier, will feature catapults.

“In other words, 002 is entirely different from the Liaoning (001) and 001A, and it will look like a US aircraft carrier rather than a Russian one,” Li said.

Defence analysts have pointed to a series of recent satellite photographs revealing simulated carrier flight decks at several PLA facilities. These decks are intended to allow pilots to practice landings and takeoffs in the same way they would from a ship, as well as for crews to learn how to reposition aircraft in a confined space.

Changes noted in the shapes of these simulated decks may indicate an evolution of thinking as to how facilities and spaces should be arranged in future ships. This includes the recent addition of two parallel catapults.

Whether or not these are traditional steam-powered or advanced electromagnetic systems remains a matter for debate.

Either one would represent a significant boost to the size and weight of aircraft capable of being operated from China’s aircraft carriers.

Beijing may have gained access to steam catapult technology when it took possession of Australia’s last aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne. It was sold to be scrapped in 1985, but its World War II era technology would have still been of great interest to the PLA.

Only the currently-under-construction USS Ford carries shipboard electromagnetic catapults at this stage. And they’re demonstrating an unwelcome tendency to toss aircraft into the sea.