BEIJING: The Shandong, China’s first domestically developed aircraftcarrier – the country’s second overall – set out from shipyard on Tuesdayfor military exercises, which will reportedly be held in the Bohai Sea inthe next 22 days.
Experts expect the carrier to integrate with J-15 fighter jets that werenewly produced for it, as it continues to establish actual combatcapability, and it will hopefully become combat-ready by the end of 2020.
Two combat-ready aircraft carriers will have strategic significance forChina to resist military pressure from countries like the US in the TaiwanStraits and the South China Sea, and potentially from India on China’s keymaritime transport lanes, experts said.
After a display of fireworks and under the assistance of several tug boats,the Shandong embarked from the Dalian Shipyard in Northeast China’sLiaoning Province on Tuesday morning, Hong Kong-based news websitewenweipo.com reported on the same day.
The carrier had full-scale models of a J-15 fighter jet and a Z-18helicopter on its flight deck when it left Dalian, the report said.
The voyage coincided with a notice released by China’s Maritime SafetyAdministration on Monday, which set a navigation restriction in the BohaiSea from Tuesday to September 22 for an undisclosed military mission.
The restriction zone is in the waters off a Chinese People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) Navy Aviation Force base, so putting these factors together, theShandong’s voyage will likely feature integrated training with fighter jetsin the sea area, wenweipo.com predicted.
China has been producing new J-15 aircraft carrier-based fighter jets andtraining new pilots for the Shandong in recent years, and this voyage couldsee the carrier integrated with those capabilities as a crucial part of itscombat preparedness, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity toldthe Global Times on Tuesday.
According to photos released by the Shenyang Aircraft Co under the AviationIndustry Corp of China (AVIC), the manufacturer of the J-15, on its websitein February, the company was producing new J-15s at that time. A J-15 underassembly was seen getting new, green priming paint instead of the previousyellow one, which indicated that it features a new type of anti-corrosionmaterial for better performance at sea, reports said then.
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Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie told the Global Times on Tuesday thatafter the latest exercise, it will not take the Shandong long to becomecombat capable, thanks to experience garnered on the country’s firstcarrier, the Liaoning.
Hopefully, within this year, the Shandong will conduct another trainingsession, which will eventually give it the basis for initial combatcapability, Li predicted.
The Shandong was commissioned into the PLA Navy on December 17, 2019, inSanya, south China’s Hainan Province and it returned to the Dalian Shipyardlater that month. This is the second time since then that it has embarkedon a training voyage. The first time was in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Baybetween May 25 and June 17, lasting 23 days, wenweipo.com reported.
“Troops on the aircraft carrier need to achieve independent comprehensivecombat capability and integrate into the combat group system as soon aspossible,” Li Yongxuan, executive officer of the Shandong, told ChinaCentral Television during May’s training.
Recently, China has been facing military pressure from countries like theUS in the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea, and potentially fromIndia on China’s key maritime transport lanes, and Li Jie said that theShandong, together with the first carrier Liaoning, will become key forces.
Two aircraft carriers can squeeze the island of Taiwan from differentangles, and together with the DF-21D and DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missilesof the PLA Rocket Force, they can lock down the island and deny possible USintervention, Li Jie said, noting that they can also play a role inprotecting crucial maritime transport lanes like the Strait of Malacca.
Courtesy: (Sputnik)
