(Franco Iacch)
10/31/16

http://www.difesaonline.it/mondo-militare/cina-ufficiale-completato-lo-scafo-della-seconda-portaerei-primo-pattugliamento-entro

The hull of the second Chinese carrier has been fully assembled. Work on installing the on-board equipment have already begun. And 'what communicates the Chinese Ministry of Defense. No further information was circulated. The second Chinese carrier 001A type, considering the progress, could be launched later this year and make his first patrol in 2018, contradicting the Pentagon estimate, previously fixed at 2020-22.

We know that the Chinese continue to be tested on the mock-up of the aircraft carrier which is located in Wuhan, Hubei Province, the catapults. On the platform, already used in the past to test experimental technologies, it was removed the ski-jump. The Type 001A, second aircraft carrier in Beijing, is based on the design of Liaoning, albeit with some improvements and will feature a stobar system or Short Takeoff But Arrested Recovery. Although effective, the stobar launch is not comparable to catobar or Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery, catapult assisted takeoff but arrested recovery this on US Nimitz. The main difference is that a catobar vector is capable of launching aircraft with more fuel and payload. To reach a level of global operations comparable to that of the US Navy, China will need to decades of experience.

The first tests on the catapults were detected in 2015 at the Huangdicun Airbase. In the structure, the Chinese have tested the Shenyang J-15 platforms on both the steam catapults that of the electromagnetic. It is not yet clear, thanks to the modular technology, what the Chinese are testing on the mock-up of Wuhan. The second Chinese carrier 001A type place typical military operations of a carrier in its class.

The Liaoning, the country's first aircraft carrier, was designed to test the reliability and compatibility of indigenous systems and staff training. The second carrier will be in effect a battle platform that will contribute to the defense of national interests. It will have a displacement of 50,000 tons (ten thousand in less of Liaoning) and a conventional power supply system. mainly it will be equipped with hunting Shenyang J-15 (based largely on the Sukhoi Su-33) and the same stobar deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov class. The main systems (propulsion, electronics and weapons) will be built in China.

The Chinese are also building a third aircraft carrier in Shanghai, probably nuclear-powered. The third vector has not yet been made official from Beijing, although satellite photos confirmed the start of work. The nuclear propulsion of fact cancels the need for a supply and extends the range of action of the vector, limited only by the on-board stocks for embarked personnel. The last satellite passages confirm the work started in Jiangnan Changxingdao yards.

the Liaoning

The only Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, entered service in 2012. And 'the second carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov class that dates back to the Soviet era. China bought the aircraft carrier of 60,000 tons from Ukraine in 1998. It 'been completely revised and modernized, although it is not yet considered fully operational (by 2020). The autonomy of Liaoning is estimated in 45 days at sea, equal to seven thousand kilometers at the maximum allowed speed, about 32 knots.

(Photo: Xinhua News Agency)

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