Hong Kong Mingpao daily reported that China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier, which is numbered 001A, will be formally launched on the birthday of Mao, Dec. 26th.
The news said Xi had visited the Chinese homemade aircraft carrier in Dalian in August. Senior generals in China also unveiled that China is building its own Type 001A aircraft carrier.
China’s home-built new aircraft carrier is not nuclear powered and only spent two years and four months to build. The report also quoted some recent photos of the carrier shot by netizens. The first nuclear submarine of China was also launched on Dec. 26th (1970), and the first nuclear submarine of the second generation was also launched on that day. So China’s first homemade aircraft carrier will follow this tradition.
Photos on internet show that the back deck has been laid, which means the power equipment has all been installed, and is currently being debugged.
The service time of 001A aircraft carrier of China should be October 1st, 2019, judging from the process of the construction. That day is the National Day.
China’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Type 001A aircraft carrier ski-jump take-off will still adopt ski-jump take-off, but two new catapult launch rails have also been installed. The latest information says steam-driven catapult is probably installed too.
001A aircraft carrier’s fighting capacity might rank only second to US navy’s aircraft carriers, and stronger than other countries’, including French Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, and will be six times of Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, which helps accumulate a lot for experiences for China’s navy.