Jump to content

China sends its first aircraft carrier to sea

Add links
Checked
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Related articles
Location of China
Collaborate!
China
China
The unfinished Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag, which China purchased in 2001, was used as the base of the vessel.
Image: US Navy.

The state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua reported yesterday that China had sent its first aircraft carrier to sea for a trial. This marks an important step forward in China's efforts to become a leading naval power and challenge US superiority in Asia. China will be joining a small group of nations with operational aircraft carriers — the United States, Italy, the UK, France, Thailand, Brazil, India, Russia, and Spain are the other nations have aircraft carriers in operation.

The 1,000-foot carrier is based on the unfinished Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag, which China purchased in 2001, and is designed to carry approximately 2,000 people and 50 fighter jets. It cannot yet be defined as fully operational, since while it has a new engine, radar, guns and other equipment, it does not have enough combat power to pose a serious threat without the support of other ships. BBC reporter Michael Bristow estimates that it will be a few years before the vessel is fully operational. According to Chinese officials, the carrier will mainly be used for training crew and fighter pilots who need training to take off and land in the limited space of aircraft carriers.

China has said that it is not attempting to challenge the US navy, which has 11 aircraft carriers in operation — 10 of which are nuclear-powered Nimitz class aircraft carriers that can carry 6,250 people. However, the ship is still viewed by Chinese people as a powerful symbol of the growing strength of the Chinese navy which, according to some analysis, may catch up with the US in a few decades.


Sources

Share this:  E-mail this story Share on Facebook Share on reddit.com Share on LinkedIn.com Share on twitter.com


This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
Retrieved from "https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=China_sends_its_first_aircraft_carrier_to_sea&oldid=4815835"