12.07.2011, 06:22
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-07/12/content_12881089.htm">http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011 ... 881089.htm</a><!-- m -->
Zitat: Official confirms
China building aircraft carrier
Updated: 2011-07-12 07:39
By Hu Yinan, Li Xiaokun and Cui Haipei (China Daily)
BEIJING - A top military official on Monday confirmed for the first time in public that China is building an aircraft carrier.
"I have nothing more to say about Chinese aircraft carriers, since prominent media outlets have already reported on them so much," said Chen Bingde, chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff. "Our American friends all know that China bought an old aircraft carrier, the Varyag, from Ukraine. It's very valuable for us to research these things this way."
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Hong Yuan, chief of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, previously said there will be "a prolonged process" before the Varyag can be even remotely effective.
The 67,500-ton Varyag is considerably smaller than the Japan-based US carrier George Washington, which has a displacement of more than 100,000 tons. But when it goes into service, it will make China one of four countries besides the US, France and Russia to have an operational carrier with a displacement of 50,000 tons or more.
The Varyag was bought from Ukraine for $20 million in 1998. According to reports, it has been undergoing refitting work at a shipyard in the northeastern coastal city of Dalian since 2005.
"This has been a gigantic project and is virtually as complicated as building a brand-new aircraft carrier," an unidentified source with the military industry in Dalian was quoted as saying by the Kanwa Asian Defense magazine.
Just as the news came out that the Varyag will begin initial sea trials probably either late this month, in early August or later in the year, rumors arose saying that another aircraft carrier is being built in Shanghai.
In earlier June, the Hong Kong Commercial Daily quoted Chen as saying - during his flight to the US - that the construction of at least one aircraft carrier is "under way, and not finished yet".
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The steam-powered Varyag is expected to serve primarily as a training vessel for pilots and deck crews. Speculation over what is going to be stationed on it has become more rampant in recent times. According to online leaks, the vehicles it carries may include the J-15 fighter, the JT-9 naval trainer and the Z-8 helicopter.
It is uncertain when the Varyag will be made operational and where it will be based.