China Launches First Domestically Constructed Aircraft Carrier

China’s first home-built aircraft carrier awaits launch at a Dalian shipyard.

Beijing, 30 Rajab 1438/27 April 2017 (MINA) – China launched a 50,000-ton aircraft carrier on Wednesday, its second carrier after the Soviet-built Liaoning, which China purchased from Ukraine.

The 50,000-ton carrier — as yet named and known only as the Type 001A — was towed from the dockyard at the northern Yellow Sea port of Dalian, 200 miles west of North Korea, morningstaronline.co.uk reported.

Central Military Commission vice-chairman Fan Changlong, who is also on the Communist Party central committee, presided over the launch.

The Type 001A is the first such warship to be made entirely in China.

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Its predecessor, the Soviet-built Liaoning, underwent an extensive refit at Dalian before being commissioned in 2012, the Defence Ministry said.

The new vessel will carry a complement of 24 Shenyang J-15 fighters — a copy of the Russian Sukhoi Su-33 that saw action in Syria recently — and 12 anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

The US operates 10 100,000- ton aircraft carriers and has 62 destroyers to China’s 32, along with 75 submarines to China’s 68. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)