Indigenous carrier #3 - Type 002

[Ayoshi]

China building third aircraft carrier, says report | IHS Jane's 360 - 24 February 2017

As the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN's) second aircraft carrier, commonly referred to as the Type 001A, nears completion, Chinese state-owned media have reported that the country's third aircraft carrier is also under construction.

Li Jie, a naval military expert, was quoted by the Global Times newspaper on 21 February as saying that the carrier, commonly known as the Type 002, will be "entirely different" from China's previous carriers and that it will look like a "US aircraft carrier rather than a Russian one".

[adroth]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/china-is-about-to-launch-its-second-aircraft-carrier-001a/news-story/ce97a88eba53b00ea37892698b12504c

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.

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[adroth]

http://thediplomat.com/2017/04/chinas-first-domestically-built-aircraft-carrier-may-launch-any-day-now/

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Even though the 001A may launch in the coming days, it will likely undergo sea trials for more than a year, with its eventual commissioning into the PLAN taking place in 2018 or 2019. China, in the meantime, has started work on its third aircraft carrier, which is provisionally named in the Type 002. Little is known about this second indigenously built carrier, but reports have suggested that the Type 002 will incorporate a conventional steam launch catapult.

The Type 002 may not launch until after 2020.

[LionFlyer]

Steel has reportedly being cut for the Type 002 on 29 June.

[Ayoshi]

China’s land-based carrier mock-up undergoing further modifications | IHS Jane's 360 - 12 September 2017

A recently published image of modifications made to China’s land-based aircraft carrier development facility at Wuhan reflects the ongoing work supporting the development of the country’s third aircraft carrier, commonly known as the Type 002.

Published in Chinese online forums in early September, the image shows that the height of the island's forward upper superstructure on the carrier mock-up has been increased to facilitate faring in the array panels of the phased array radar.

In addition, the smaller square apertures above those for the main array panels suggest that the Type 002 may be equipped with a dual-band, phased-array radar: a configuration that appears to be similar to that on China’s Type 055 destroyers, the first of which was launched in June.

A recently published image of China&#8217;s land-based aircraft carrier development facility at Wuhan shows that the height of the island's forward upper superstructure has been increased to facilitate faring in the array panels of the phased array radar. (Via CJDBY website)

[adroth]

China claims to have developed conventionally powered electromagnetic catapult
Reuben F Johnson - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
02 November 2017

http://www.janes.com/article/75396/china-claims-to-have-developed-conventionally-powered-electromagnetic-catapult?utm_campaign=PC6110_E17%20DF%20NL%20Naval%2007_11_17&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

Key Points

China has developed its own version of the US EMALS system, according to Chinese media reports

US sources remain sceptical about whether the Chinese system could generate enough power to operate effectively on an aircraft carrier

People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Chinese defence industry officials are claiming that the second of China’s indigenously built aircraft carriers, the Type 002, will be equipped with an electromagnetic catapult, according to a report in the South China Morning Post .

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[dr demented]

https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/china-kicks-off-construction-of-new-supercarrier/?utm_content=buffere691a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

China Kicks Off Construction of New Supercarrier

China has reportedly started building its third aircraft carrier.
By Franz-Stefan Gady
January 05, 2018

China began construction of its third aircraft carrier at a Shanghai shipyard in 2017, according to sources close to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports this week.

Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard Group reportedly received the go-ahead for the construction of the new supercarrier in March 2017. “[T]he shipyard is still working on the carrier’s hull, which is expected to take about two years,” one of the sources said. “Building the new carrier will be more complicated and challenging than the other two ships.”

Initial work on China’s second domestically designed carrier (and third carrier overall), the 85,000-100,000 ton Type 002 (CV 18), purportedly began in February 2016, although there are contradictory reports about the precise date. (PLA spokespeople first announced in 2015 that construction of the new carrier had kicked off.)

The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) first domestically designed and developed aircraft carrier, the Type 001A (CV-17) Shandong, was launched in April 2017 at the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning Province by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. It is expected to enter service with the PLAN by the end of 2018.

The Shandong is an improved variant of the PLAN’s only operational aircraft carrier, the 60,000-ton Type 001 Liaoning — a retrofitted Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov-class multirole aircraft carrier.

“China has set up a strong and professional aircraft carrier team since early 2000, when it decided to retrofit the Varyag [the Ukrainian name of the vessel] to launch as the Liaoning, and it hired many Ukrainian experts … as technical advisers,” another source said this week.

The new Type 002 carrier will likely feature a conventionally-powered catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) aircraft launch system similar to the U.S. Navy’s electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS).

According to some reports, construction of the Type 002 carrier has been delayed because of tests of the CATOBAR system, as the decision whether to move ahead with the aircraft launch system will impact the carrier’s design. As I explained elsewhere:

A PLAN aircraft carrier equipped with EMALS would substantially boost the PLANs carrier force’s combat power. CATOBAR aircraft launch systems put less strain on the airframe of planes during takeoff reducing maintenance cost in the long run and also allows carrier-based aircraft to carry a heavier weapons payload (…) Furthermore, CATOBAR launch systems increase the sortie rates of carrier air wings by allowing a faster landing and takeoff rate.

“The new vessel will have a smaller tower island than the Liaoning and its sister ship because it needs to accommodate China’s carrier-based J-15 fighter jets [Shenyang J-15 multirole fighter jet, a variant of the fourth-generation Sukhoi Su-33 twin-engines air superiority fighter], which are quite large,” the source told SCMP.

“It has been suggested that they look to Britain’s warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which has two small tower islands on the deck. That would create more space for the runway and aircraft, but no final decision has been made yet,” the source added.

The new carrier will reportedly feature a new integrated propulsion system (IPS) to power high-energy consuming laser weapon systems, electromagnetic guns, and the CATOBAR aircraft launch system, next to others. An estimated launch date for the Type 002 carrier is 2020. The PLANs first supercarrier could enter service by 2023.

[Ayoshi]

Image emerges showing possible design of China’s third aircraft carrier | Janes - 21 June 2018

Released on 20 June, the image, which was shown during a meeting of senior China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) executives, depicts three carriers, two of which are configured for short take-off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) aircraft operations using a ski-jump; and a third one (in the centre of the image) configured for catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) operations.

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The third carrier is shown as featuring three catapults and an island configuration similar to that present at China’s land-based carrier mock-up near Wuhan, although it is difficult to determine from the image whether the vessel significantly larger than the other two.

The release of the image comes after Chinese media quoted in November 2017 PLAN and industry officials as saying that Beijing was testing a locally developed system – using Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) J-15 carrier-borne fighter aircraft – that is similar to the General Atomics Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) fitted to the US Navy’s (USN’s) latest Gerald R Ford-class carriers.

However, in a change from how the USN has approached the development of EMALS, sources within the PLAN also claimed at the time that Chinese industry also developed a “new integrated propulsion system” that would permit operation of the Chinese catapult without equipping the PLAN’s carriers with a nuclear powerplant.

Computer-generated imagery emerged on 20 June showing what could be the design for the PLAN’s third aircraft carrier (centre). Source: Via China Daily

[adroth]

China will build 4 nuclear aircraft carriers in drive to catch US Navy, experts say

Beijing expected to have at least six aircraft carrier battle groups by 2035 after it prioritised modernising its navy
Nuclear-powered carriers thought to be equipped with electromagnetic launch catapults similar to those of the US

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 06 February, 2019, 7:00am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 06 February, 2019, 11:27pm

SCMP

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Beijing is keen to expand its aircraft carrier battle groups to fulfil its global naval ambitions and defend its growing overseas interests. Construction of its next conventional diesel-powered aircraft carrier, the Type 002 – the first equipped with the electromagnetic launchers – began last year.

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With the PLA planning to have four nuclear-powered carrier battle groups on the front line by 2035, the Type 001A and its next-generation carrier Type 002 would become temporary battle ships, Song said.

“The Type 002 – a conventionally powered carrier with an EMALS-like system – may become the only one of that kind of aircraft carrier, because China will next build multiple nuclear-powered aircraft battle platforms,” Song said.

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[adroth]

Tracking the Type 002 – China’s third aircraft carrier

https://chinapower.csis.org/china-carrier-type-002/

The construction of a third aircraft carrier – the Type 002 – appears to be underway at China’s Jiangnan Shipyard. Commercial satellite imagery collected on April 17, 2019 shows significant new activity since ChinaPower first analyzed the shipyard in late 2018. At the new assembly facility to the southeast of the existing shipyard, there is evidence of a large vessel being assembled and a floodable basin being constructed.

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The bow section measures approximately 22.5 meters-long and it tapers from a width of approximately 34 meters down to approximately 30 meters. The haze in the image and the image’s resolution make it difficult to determine if the bow section is resting on a construction platform or if the reddish sections extending forward and aft of the partially assembled section are part of the bow itself. If measured to include these components, the hull section has an overall length of approximately 48 meters.

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[adroth]

Power Projection: China’s Fourth Aircraft Carrier
H I Sutton Contributor

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2019/12/03/super-power-projection-work-to-start-on-chinas-4th-aircraft-carrier/

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The new carrier will be the second of the Type-002 design which, as you might have guessed, follow on from two Type-001s. The first carrier, Type-001 Liaoning, was commissioned in 2012. She was actually an unfinished Russian ship which China purchased. China's second carrier, Shandong, was built locally and launched in 2017. She is expected to be commissioned soon. Shangdong is a slightly modified design, designated Type-001A. The third carrier, which is under construction in Shanghai, is a new Type-002 design. And the 4th carrier will also be a Type-002.

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