China's aircraft carrier has launched and landed her first jet
fighters, as shown in photos and videos released over the weekend
of 24 November by Beijing's state media.
The milestone comes 14 years after the communist state acquired
the derelict flattop Varyag from Ukraine, and
nearly 18 months after the refurbished,
rechristened Liaoning set sail from northern
China.
With the commencement of fixed-wing flight operations on 23
November, China joins an exclusive club of just five other nations
-- the US, Russia, France, India and Brazil -- that operate
full-size carriers with fixed-wing planes.
Liaoning's first take-offs and landings represent an
undeniable triumph for China's fast-growing navy. But Beijing still
has
a long way to go in learning how to use its new flattop
and her jets.
China's first carrier-borne fighter is the J-15 Flying Shark, a
reverse-engineered version of Russia's 1980s-vintage Su-33,
enhanced with new avionics.
Roughly the size and performance of the US Navy's now-retired
F-14, the J-15 is theoretically capable of air-to-air and
ground-strike missions, though it remains in development and only a
handful have been built. "If properly equipped, supported, and
employed -- and these are significant 'ifs' -- the J-15 could
affect the regional military balance substantially,"
analysts Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson
wrote.
As Liaoning lacks steam catapults, her planes
must launch on their own power. That means they can carry only
modest weapons and fuel loads on takeoff -- a potentially serious
limitation if the Chinese navy ever goes to war. For that
reason Information Dissemination analyst "Feng"
is almost dismissive. The J-15, he wrote,
"is not a game-changer in any way."
The best remedy to the current limitations is for China to
develop a carrier-launched aerial tanker that can top off the
J-15's tanks, or to build a brand-new carrier with catapults. There
is no evidence of the former, and in September Chinese Defence
Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun threw cold
water on rumours of a second carrier in production. "Such
reports are inaccurate," he said.
The J-15 is not the only carrier-based plane in development in
China. Helicopters are already flying from Liaoning's
deck, and the country's various state-owned aviation companies are
also working on a navalised jet trainer and, reportedly, a radar
plane similar to the US E-2.
Less clear is whether China intends to
send its new J-31 stealth fighter to sea. The radar-evading
prototype, which first appeared in September, bears some signs of
carrier-compatibility, including the twin nose wheels typical of
naval planes.
To test the J-15 and prepare the initial cadre of naval pilots,
Beijing built a mock carrier flight deck -- complete with an
elevated "ski ramp" --
at a flight test facility in central China. The J-15 began
flying from this simulated ship more than two years ago.
It can take years to raise up qualified naval aviators, and
despite the head start on land, it's likely that for the
foreseeable future Liaoning will be focused on
basic training tasks, preventing her from devoting much time on
frontline deployments. The US Navy solves this problem by
possessing no fewer than 10 or 11 full-size carriers at a time. So
while one carrier is helping train new pilots and others are in
maintenance, the balance of the fleet is available for combat
missions. China may never have enough flattops to allow this kind
of flexibility.
Beside the ship herself, planes form just one part of China's
first carrier battle group. To sail and fight far from
home, Liaoning will need destroyers and
submarines as escorts plus supply ships to keep her fuel and stores
topped off.
To that end Beijing has poured billions of pounds into a new
class of
fast, nuclear-powered submarine and
a new large destroyer type thought to be similar to the US
Aegis vessels.
To prepare its fleet of supply ships for high-intensity,
open-ocean operations, the Chinese navy has deployed destroyers and
support vessels thousands of miles away to the East African coast
as part of international counter-piracy patrols. "China is in the
process of developing a limited out-of-area operational
capability,"
analysts Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson noted.
If history is any judge, Liaoning's biggest
problems will be below the flight deck. Though
heavily refurbished, China's carrier is still 1980s-vintage Russian
technology deep down -- and that bodes poorly for her long-term
readiness.
Liaoning's Russian sister
ship Kuznetsof has had
so many problems with her engines and other systems that
she has made only a handful of deployments in her two decades of
frontline service. India bought a smaller, former Russian carrier
of roughly the same vintage as Liaoning and has
had to push
back the vessel's debut by five years owing to engine
malfunctions.
Carrier Pilot Rock Star
Dai Mingmeng, the first pilot to complete an arrested
landing on Liaoning, became an instant celebrity in China.
State media declared his accomplishment
"more difficult than an astronaut's."
The celebration of Dai's landing demonstrates one of the major
reasons why Beijing built a carrier in the first place. Outnumbered
and outgunned by the more numerous flattops of the US and allied
fleets, Liaoning is not really meant to fight for control of
the seas. Rather, she is in large part a symbol of national might
-- much like China's space programme is. "National pride has less
to do with a vessel's actual capabilities than with its intangible
meaning to the country as a representation of its status,"
analyst Felix Chang wrote.
Video: China Central Television
Source:
Wired.com