Defense News
03/19/2012
China’s Navy Set To Launch
First Carrier This Year
TAIPEI — China is set to launch
its first aircraft carrier this year, according to the state-controlled
newspaper People’s Daily.
Xu Hongmeng, deputy commander
of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), told the Daily the Navy plans to
launch the former Soviet-built Varyag aircraft carrier this year. Since the
ex-Varyag’s first sea trial Aug. 10, the PLAN has conducted four sea trials in
the Pacific.
China’s aircraft carrier
program has been a long tale of incessant duplicity. This includes how China
acquired Varyag, how it intends to use it and how it is stealing data for the
aircraft it plans to fly from it.
The Chinese have been busy retrofitting
the carrier with new engines and equipment since procuring it from Ukraine in
1998.
The $20 million acquisition was
made by the Hong Kong-based Chong Lot Travel Agency on the false claim it would
be converted into a casino in Macao. Instead, the carrier was towed to Dalian
Port, in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, where the PLAN began
retrofitting the unfinished Russian carrier.
Chinese officials insist the
ex-Varyag will not be deployed but will be used mainly as an experimental
training and research vessel for the future development of more advanced
carriers. Not all Western analysts agree, instead believing the vessel will
eventually be used for carrier-based combat.
Bud Cole, author of the book
“The Great Wall at Sea,” said “while continuing to advertise the ex-Varyag as a
test/training platform, they will make it operational as soon as they can.”
Cole speculated Chinese
officials are becoming “impatient” after working out all the problems on the
“former wreck for 10 years.”
The former Varyag has been
outfitted with weapons and phased array radars. It has also been equipped with
static aircraft to test flight deck equipment.
“I think they can easily get to
the point of operating aircraft from the ship by the end of 2012,” Cole said. “That
will be relatively straightforward for helos and aircraft ... [but I’m] not
sure if they’ve succeeded in finding a source for arresting gear.”
China is also developing a
carrier-based fighter for the ex-Varyag. The Shenyang Aircraft Corp. (SAC) is building
the J-15 Flying Shark, based on an illegal copy of the Russian Sukhoi Su-33
carrier-based fighter.
In 2009, Sukhoi officials
expressed alarm when reports filtered out of China that SAC was building an
Su-33 copy. It was later learned SAC had obtained a prototype from the
Ukrainian Research Test and Flying Training Center at Nitka in 2001 without
Sukhoi’s permission.
There are also unconfirmed
Chinese media reports that the Chinese aviation industry is working on a J-18
Red Eagle short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing fighter for possible duty on the
ex-Varyag or future carriers.
Russia canceled an assembly
program in China for 200 Su-27SK (J-11A) fighters in 2006 after only 95
fighters had been built. Sukhoi officials discovered that SAC violated the
intellectual property (IP) agreement by manufacturing a clone dubbed the J-11B
with Chinese engines and avionics. There are also suspicions the Chinese have
copied the Su-34 fighter-bomber.
On top of that, unconfirmed
Russian media reports emerged last week indicating China wants to procure 48
Sukhoi Su-35 super-maneuverable multirole fighters from Russia.
A defense industry source in Ukraine
said the Russian government is extremely hesitant to sell the aircraft to China
after IP violations with the Su-27/J- 11 and that the deal was reminiscent of a
2006 Chinese request to procure 48 Su-33s. China later reduced the Su-33 deal
to 12 aircraft, but Russian officials reportedly ended negotiations fearing
continued IP thefts, which were later confirmed when the Chinese-built J-15
(Su-33) made its first test flight in mid-2009.
However, despite IP issues,
“China remains a potentially lucrative market for Russian aerospace companies,
though less so than in the 1990s, given the changes and developments in
Beijing’s indigenous industrial base,” said Doug Barrie, senior fellow for
military aerospace for the International Institute of Strategic Studies,
London.
China’s approach to developing
the Su-27 and Su-30MK2, along with illegally copying the Su-33, has “understandably
caused irritation in Russia, but as the fighter market tightens, then a
potential order for 48 Su-35s is unlikely to be ignored,” he said. Moscow is
likely to try to better protect its intellectual property this time around if
the deal goes forward, Barrie said.
There is also interest by
Russian air-launched guided weapons manufacturers hoping for a piece of the
Su-35 deal.
“In terms of Chinese interest
in the Su-35, this could reflect a continuing interest in taking a dual-track
approach in acquiring combat aircraft” from Russia, Barrie said.
China’s request for the Su-35 suggests China has
hit a bump in its technological development of fighter aircraft and needs the
Su-35 to bridge the gap, said the Ukrainian defense industry source.
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