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Russian paper evaluates PLA Navy's future carrier fleet

Staff Reporter

2015-08-07

09:23 (GMT+8)

The Liaoning departs on its first mission after entering service in 2012. (Photo/CNS).

The increased activity of the PLA Navy over the past year is a sign that China is starting to work towards the goal of force projection, Moscow-based newspaper the Military-Industrial Courier reported on Aug. 5.

Without an overseas military base network or a fleet of aircraft carriers like the United States, force projection is nigh-on impossible. China is unlikely to have this capability in the medium term. But Beijing is actively developing its carrier force and is researching how carriers can be used in battle.

Analyzing China's current ability to engage in standard carrier fleet missions is an interesting proposition. First, one needs to analyze China's first and only active aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, and other ships that could potentially form the carrier fleet, for which China will likely employ its most advanced ocean vessels.

After China obtained the hulk of the Soviet-era Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Varyag from Ukraine, the country refitted the vessel using home-grown technology including electronics, weapons systems, air defense supression systems and power system, finally commissioning it as the Liaoning in 2012.

The carrier's main surveillance system is an on-board active electronically scanned array radar similar in its specifications to the US Aegis Combat System, according to foreign experts cited by Sina's military news web portal. The carrier's anti-aircraft defenses comprise four Type 1130 close-in weapon systems and four FL-3000N anti-aircraft systems (with a total of four 18 cell launcher capable of firing 72 missiles). The latter's guidance system combines passive radio frequency and imaging infrared (ImIR) guidance and it is a fire and forget system, making it more similar to the US Rolling Airframe Missile, compared to its predecessors. One disadvantage of the system is that it is subject to the influence of weather conditions, however. In good conditions it is capable of destroying four to five enemy anti-ship missiles within its range. However, if the enemy uses electronic interference measures, the Liaoning's air defense capabilities will fall by 30%-70%, allowing it to destroy only one to three enemy missiles.

The Liaoning can hold around 60 aircraft, including up to 40 Shenyang J-15 "Flying Shark" carrier-based multirole fighters — based on a T-10K sold to China by Ukraine — and around 20 helicopters based on the Kamov Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopter. The maximum number of aircraft that can take off simuntaneously from the deck is likely to be 16, the same as the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov — the lead ship in the Liaoning's class and the flagship of the Russian Navy.

When deployed alone, the carrier can monitor the surface to a range of 500-600 km in the direction of a specific threat, while in other directions it will have a range of 200-300 km. Underwater it can monitor to a range of 60-80 km in the direction of a specific threat. It can monitor high altitudes in the direction of a specific threat to a range of 500-600 km, while in other directions it can monitor to a range of 300-400 km. At low altitudes, it can monitor to a range of 200-250 km in the direction of a specific threat, while in other directions it can monitor to a range of 80-100 km.

In a combat situation, it is estimated the carrier's aircraft could destroy three to five small navy fleets in one day, including ballistic missile fleets. Lacking an effective ground targetting system, the carrier-based aircraft on the Liaoning could effectively destroy three to four ground targets, or at most eight to ten. This suggests that a Chinese carrier fleet could fight effectively against an opponent with a weak navy.

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You Quan (尤權)
You Quan is the CPC secretary of Fujian province. A native of Hebei province, he was born in 1954 and graduated from Renmin University with a ...

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