The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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China Builds A Pair
by James Dunnigan
January 17, 2009
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
January 2, 2009: In Shanghai, China, shipyard employees report
that the Chinese Navy has ordered two 60,000 ton aircraft carriers, and
preparations are under way to begin construction this year, with completion
scheduled for 2015. Fifty Russian Su-33 jet fighters would be imported to serve
on the new carriers. Chinese naval aviators would use the former Russian
carrier Varyag as a training ship, to learn how to operate the Su-33s off
carriers. Recently, Chinese officials visited Ukraine and inspected the naval
aviation training facilities that were built there before the Soviet Union
dissolved (and Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union). Ukraine wants to use
those facilities to establish an international center for training carrier
aviators.
Chinese admirals have said they need
carriers to assure Chinese access to raw materials, especially oil, that comes
by sea. China hopes to get key components for the carrier from Russian
manufacturers. If that is possible, completion of the carriers might be speeded
up by a year or two.
Three months ago, China announced that
its first class of carrier aviators had begun training at the Dalian Naval
Academy. The naval officers will undergo a four year course of instruction to
turn them into fighter pilots capable of operating off a carrier. China already
has an airfield, in the shape of a carrier deck, built at an inland
facility. The Russians have warned China
that it may take them a decade or more to develop the knowledge and skills
needed to efficiently run an aircraft carrier. The Chinese are game, and are
slogging forward.
A year ago, the Russian aircraft
carrier Varyag was renamed the Shi Lang (after the Chinese general who took
possession of Taiwan in 1681, the first time China ever paid any attention to
the island) and given the pennant number 83. The Chinese have been refurbishing
the Varyag, one of the Kuznetsov class that Russia began building in the 1980s,
for several years now. It is expected to be ready for sea trials any day now.
Originally the Kuznetsovs were
conceived of as 90,000 ton, nuclear powered ships, similar to American carriers
(complete with steam catapults). Instead, because of the cost, and the
complexity of modern (American style) carriers, the Russians were forced to
scale back their goals, and ended up with the 65,000 ton (full load ) ships
that lacked steam catapults, and used a ski jump type flight deck instead.
Nuclear power was dropped, but the Kuznetsov class was still a formidable
design. The thousand foot long carrier normally carries a dozen navalized
Su-27s (called Su-33s), 14 Ka-27PL anti-submarine helicopters, two electronic
warfare helicopters and two search and rescue helicopters. But the ship can
carry up to 36 Su-33s and sixteen helicopters. The ship carries 2,500 tons of
aviation fuel, allowing it to generate 500-1,000 aircraft and helicopter
sorties. Crew size is 2,500 (or 3,000 with a full aircraft load.) Only two
ships of this class exist; the original Kuznetsov, which is in Russian service,
and the Varyag.
The Chinese have been in touch with Russian
naval construction firms, and may have purchased plans and technology for
equipment installed in the Kuznetsov. Some Chinese leaders have quipped about
having a carrier by 2010 (this would have to be a refurbished Varyag). Even
that would be an ambitious schedule, and the Chinese have been burned before
when they tried to build new military technology in a hurry.
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