China’s first domestically-built aircraft carrier begins sea trials

China’s new unnamed home-built aircraft carrier leaves Dalian for sea trials on May 13. / Xinhua via AP

 

The first domestically-built aircraft carrier in China’s naval fleet began sea trials on May 13, Chinese state media said.

The 65,000-tonne Type 001A aircraft carrier, which has yet to be named, left the shipyard in northeastern Dalian at 6.45 a.m., Xinhua reported.

US THAADs to South Korea. China launches carrier

Please see the source for the video.

 

The US early Wednesday, April 26, began moving the THAAD missile defense system to central South Korea opposite the border with the North – months ahead of schedule. A South Korean military official said two road-mobile launchers had arrived at the Osan Air Base. One THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) unit includes six launchers.

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Later Wednesday, all 100 US senators are scheduled to gather at the White House for a briefing by US security and military chiefs on the North Korean crisis, as the buildup to meet North Korean belligerence continues apace.

Taiwan scrambles fighter jets as China carrier enters strait

China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier with accompanying fleet conducts a drill in an area of the South China Sea. /Reuters

 

Taiwan’s military was on placed on high alert as a group of Chinese ships, led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier, transited the Taiwan Strait on Jan. 11.

According to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, Beijing’s Soviet-built aircraft carrier, returning from exercises in the South China Sea, had not entered Taiwan’s territorial waters but did enter its air defense identification zone in the southwest.

Taiwan sent its aircraft and ships to “surveil and control” the passage of the Chinese ships north through the body of water separating Taiwan and China, Taiwan defense ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi said.

China says its first aircraft carrier is now ‘combat ready’

The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning cruises for a test in the sea in May 2012. | AP

 

China’s first aircraft carrier is now ready for combat, state media said Tuesday, a key breakthrough as the Asian giant seeks to flex its naval muscle in waters far beyond its shores.

The Liaoning carrier, which had previously been portrayed in Chinese media as a surface platform for tests and training, has now “formally been described as having a real combat capacity,” the state-run Global Times said.

China now has more surface combat ships than Japan

By commissioning more advanced destroyers and frigates into active service, China now possesses more surface combat ships than Japan, reports the Hangzhou-based Qianjiang Evening News.

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Zhang Ming, a Chinese military expert, told Qianjiang Evening News that only 24 of Japan’s 44 surface combat ships are advanced enough to compete with those 45 Chinese warships mentioned above.

China Made Military History Three Times Last Week

Last week, a group of initially unidentified foreign troops disembarked in the Yemeni port city of Aden which is currently under siege by Iran-backed Rebels seeking to capture one of the last remaining major holdouts still controlled by fighters loyal to President Hadi. When the mystery soldiers arrived, the media made the somewhat logical assumption that a Saudi-led ground incursion had indeed begun. Surprisingly, the soldiers turned out to be Chinese and were in Yemen to ensure the safety of more than 200 civilians evacuating the city in an “unprecedented” move that at least according to one Chinese professor, makes China “look really good.”

China’s 2nd aircraft carrier nears construction phase: report

The construction of China’s second aircraft carrier appears to be imminent, reports the Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.

On Saturday, the official microblog of the Changzhou city government in east China’s Jiangsu province posted that a local company, Jiangsu Shangshang Cable Group, has won a tender to supply cabling for “China’s second aircraft carrier.”

PLA’s new Type 1130 CIWS can intercept Mach 4 missiles

Russian media has reported that China’s latest indigenous Type 1130 close-in weapon system can fire 10,000 rounds per minute and destroy 90% of hypersonic missiles traveling at a speed four times the speed of sound, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

The system, which is the third-generation of the close-in weapon system developed by China, was recently spotted being installed on a PLA Type 054A frigate.

U.S. Navy admiral says he’s open to idea of giving Chinese Navy tour of carrier

A top U.S. Navy official said he is “receptive” to idea of letting his Chinese crewmen tour a U.S. aircraft carrier based in Japan, but experts warn such access could be a risky intelligence giveaway.

Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, chief of naval operations, told The Wall Street Journal that his Chinese counterpart mentioned the idea of a U.S. carrier crew touring its lone Liaoning carrier and a Chinese crew touring the USS George Washington.

“I’m receptive to that idea,” Greenert, who saw the Liaoning and other Chinese ships on a recent trip, told the paper.

Nan Li, an associate professor in the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, however, said Beijing would likely benefit more from a tour than the U.S. Navy.

China building its own aircraft carrier: party official

Taipei, Jan. 18 (CNA) The first aircraft carrier built entirely by China is being constructed in the northeastern city of Dalian, a Communist Party official said Saturday, confirming for the first time that the Chinese are building the vessel from scratch.

Wang Min, party secretary in Liaoning Province, made the disclosure during a meeting of the provincial people’s congress, according to the online edition of the Chinese-language Takungpao daily in Hong Kong.

Chinese Naval Vessel Tries to Force U.S. Warship to Stop in International Waters

Do you really think the Chinese are scared of America?

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.

The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.

China’s Aircraft Carrier Hit A Huge Milestone

Amid the recent political shift within Chinese politics, the effort at modernizing and advancing its military has remained unchanged.Minnie Chan of the South China Morning Post reports that to demonstrate this unwavering effort, China today confirmed the first successful carrier landings of its J-15 fighter aboard its first aircraft carrier the Liaoning.

The landings are the culmination of a years long effort at refitting the Soviet-era carrier, originally christened the Varyag, and are perhaps the most difficult technical carrier maneuvers to accomplish.

Testing on land-based, carrier shaped decks, has been going on for months, so this recent achievement is causing a bit of celebration. While not the culmination of China’s entry into a functioning carrier military power, the successful landings put it on track to enter that club with gusto when it adds additional carriers to the group.