US watches nervously as PLA(Chinese military) considering plan to build three more aircraft carriers

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PLA considering plan to build three more aircraft carriers

A 1:200 scale model of the Liaoning aircraft carrier on display at Nanjing Defense Park. (File photo/CFP)

China is considering building three more aircraft carriers to follow the country’s first, the Liaoning, in response to the US “Asia Pivot” strategy, according to a report in the Communist Party-run Global Times cited by Reuters.

The report cited military officials who said that “a country needs at least three carriers to form a basic battle force.”

Russian sources cited in the article stated however that the three new aircraft carriers would likely be imports like the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet-era carrier bought from Ukraine.

Beijing sees the Asia Pivot strategy of the Obama administration as an attempt by Washington to contain China in collaboration with its allies in the region, including Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines, two of which — the Philippines and Japan — are currently engaged in territorial disputes with China over islands in the South and East China seas, respectively.

The Global Times said China is preparing to build the first of its planned two Type-001A aircraft carriers based on the Liaoning, although they also cited an article by Andrei Chang or Pinkov, the chief editor of Canada’s Kanwa Defense Review, that suggested that the vessel is already being built by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation in Dalian, while the second ship will likely be built at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai.

The displacement of the two carriers is likely to be between 30,000 and 40,000 tons, the report said

Although the carriers will be fully ocean-going vessels, they are more likely to be deployed in the South China Sea, due to the territorial disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam over the Spratlys and the Paracel islands in the region and to support its land reclamation efforts there.

The article also stated that there is debate as to using nuclear power for future carriers, adding that China will likely use its recently developed R0110 heavy gas turbine engine in the country’s first domestically built carrier and explore nuclear options for its second.

A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier would be a challenge for China technologically, despite the country’s large fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

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