China's first home-made aircraft carrier become focus of attention during the two sessions

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Huang Panyue
Time
2018-03-21 09:20:20

BEIJING, Mar. 20 (ChinaMil) -- The latest progress of China’s first home-grown aircraft carrier have once again become the focus of attention during the NPC (National People's Congress) and the CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) Annual Sessions 2018.

Some media reported on Sunday that the sea trials of the home-grown aircraft carrier will start very soon. The latest news photos showed that the shipborne four plane phased array radar has been installed and all the scaffolds completely removed from the vessel, which is berthed at the Dalian Shipyard.

This indicates that the sea trials are ready to begin after related debugging with main equipment of the aircraft carrier installed.

According to media reports, compared with the aircraft carrier Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, the island of the home-made aircraft carrier is about 10 percent smaller, its rear deck will be wider, providing better landing conditions for the ship-borne aircraft. In addition, the area of the hangar bay is about 10 percent bigger than that of the Liaoning.

Liu Zheng, deputy to the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) and chief field manager of the first home-made aircraft carrier program, said in an interview on March 8 that all kinds of equipment mounted on the carrier are undergoing the joint debugging, and the trial run of the main engine has started.

Liu also said that the vessel has made some improvements based on experience gained with the aircraft carrier Liaoning. For example, the height of the island has been increased while the island area on the deck reduced.

It is reported that during the two sessions, deputies to the NPC provided suggestions for the naming of China’s first home-grown aircraft carrier. However, some analysts believe that the name of the aircraft carrier will be announced at the time of commission, and like the naming of the aircraft carrier Liaoning, the first home-grown aircraft carrier will be named after a certain province of China.

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