According to reports, the Type 003 aircraft carrier which China started building in 2018 with a CATOBAR system and electromagnetic (EM) launch catapults will be most likely be ready by 2025.
The CATOBAR is a launch and recovery system for aircraft takeoff and landing on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier
Satellite images unveiled on May 30, 2021, show that the Chinese are using prefabricated components and the vessel’s hull have been assembled and the flight deck is almost finished.
The Type 003 will be a bigger ship than its predecessors, the Type 001 and Type 002, which each measure around 304 meters in length, and the Chinese have designed Type 003 similar to the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in service with the U.S. Navy.
China’s state-controlled news agencies have reported the Type 003 carriers may have a displacement of 80,000 tons to 85,000 tons and will fly the J-15 or Flying Shark from its deck. the J-15 is a copy of the Russian Su-33 Flanker aircraft design that can operate from carriers equipped with a ski ramp rather than catapults.
With such tonnage, this new ship operated by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) will be able to carry about 60 carrier-based aircraft, and that number could be increased to about 80 in a extreme state.
China recently showcased its fifth-generation stealth fighter J-20 in Eastern Ladakh but it also has plans to develop a carrier-capable variant of its FC-31 fifth-generation stealth fighter to succeed the J-15 on catapult-equipped Chinese carriers.
To protect such a large ship, China is also developing a carrier-based airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, called the KJ-600 similar to the U.S. Navy’s carrier-based E-2 Hawkeye AEW aircraft for electronic surveillance and warfare.
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