If these are what they purport to be (and they look credible to me), then our Chinese friends are not hanging about.....

http://alert5.com/wp-content/uploads...0ao0e8gmg1.jpg

http://alert5.com/wp-content/uploads...0e80aojrz1.jpg

As pointed out elsewhere, the notch in the deck on the right is for an aircraft catapult pit, indicating the Chinese are intending to go develop a full steam or EMALS launch system.

Work under way on China's second aircraft carrier at Dalian yard

Huge ship and two advanced destroyers being built at Dalian yard says Liaoning party chief, according to reports later deleted from internet

China is reportedly building a second aircraft carrier, estimated to be completed by 2018, on its way to expanding its fleet to four of the massive ships.

Media reports - later deleted from the internet - stated Liaoning party chief Wang Min told a panel of the provincial people's congress that the second carrier was being built in the city of Dalian. The reports also quoted Wang as saying the port city was building two advanced 052D destroyers. Wang told delegates from Dalian yesterday that the shipyard had started building China's second carrier after the first one, Liaoning, was delivered to the navy. The shipyard was responsible for refitting Liaoning, formerly a Ukrainian carrier. Wang said construction of the new carrier would take six years and China's navy would eventually have four.

While the report did not specify the exact completion date, the new carrier is expected to be completed in 2018, based on the delivery date of Liaoning to the navy in September 2012. It was the first confirmation by a senior official that China was building a second carrier, as well as the location and the timetable of its construction. The Defence Ministry has been tight-lipped about the progress of the plan.

The South China Morning Post reported in November that China would build four medium carriers by 2020. A country needs three to four carrier battlegroups for combat capability. The United States, by comparison, has 10 active carriers. The carriers are part of China's push to develop a so-called blue water navy at a time when tension is running high with neighbours including Japan and the Philippines. In December, the USS Cowpens had to change course to avoid a near collision with one of the ships in the Liaoning squadron conducting tests in the South China Sea.

Military experts yesterday were divided about why the report was removed from the internet. "I am sure Wang Min did say that in the panel meeting. But it seems that it is not proper for him to make the news public," a senior naval colonel said, requesting anonymity. One retired PLA general said: "There is only one reason for such an important piece of news to come out in this way: the central authorities want to keep it low profile." Macau-based military expert Wang Dong yesterday said it made sense that Dalian shipyard was responsible for the construction of the new carrier. "However, it is worth keeping an eye if Dalian also gets the orders to build type 052D destroyers as they are usually built by Shanghai shipyard. If Dalian is building both, it may exceed their capacity,' he said.

A spokesman of Defence Ministry yesterday declined to comment when reached by the Sunday Morning Post.

optimistic t o put it mildly

the delivery date of the second carrier of 2018 is "based on that of the Liaoning"

but she was already built - just refurbished

The "USN Gerald Ford" will be 10 years in building for example............. and they know what they're doing.......

Then again, we've been talking about high speed rail for over a decade - they've built an entire network in 6......

It is usually far more difficult to undertake complex work on a ship already built, than it is to build from scratch. Liaonang pretty much required gutting and then re-outfitting which is incredibly labour intensive.

As for Ford, don't confuse budget constrained timelines with ones where if you want something to happen, you throw resource at it until it does. I refer you to the build times for the likes of Forrestal and Enterprise.........

Carrier Future
 

Ah yes, Carriers, the Battleships of the 21st Century. If (heaven forbid) there is another Major Power punch-up the Carriers will, no doubt, go the same way the Battle-wagons went in WW2.
Modern weapons would seem to indicate that the day for any Capital Ship is surely over. They are just big high-value Targets fighting the Last War.
KB

No doubt why we're building 2 of them. Perhaps they should be renamed the Repulse and the Prince of Wales?

Actually we've already agreed to sell them to the Chinese (probably....)

Now, now 'KiloB', everyone knows HMS White Elephant and HMS Boondoggle are essential for the future RN and will provide a first rate deterrent to any uppity pygmy women with sharpened mangoes who may wish to cross cutlasses with jolly Jack Tar.

As an aside think of all the space they'll have if they ever start holding cocktail parties again.

Chinese aircraft carriers are the least the worries for local nations.

China to become world's largest missile producer: report?Politics?News?WantChinaTimes.com

Quantity has a quality all its own. If you saturate an area with conventional ballistic missiles, at some point all of the THAAD/Aegis/Patriot/Arrow batteries either run out of rounds or can't handle the flow of the missiles raining down.

"May you live in interesting times."

It appears that we do, particular those who live along the Pacific Rim.

Carrier is a long term project.

China's J-15 Flying Sharks Train Onboard Carrier Liaoning

China building 2nd aircraft carrier; hints at third one

Perhaps they'd build a couple for us. I bet they'd cost less than £2 billion a shot, with or without cat.

Per the video, they seem to have adopted the shirt colors and handling signals used in NATO. I guess that you should copy the best when you copy. :ok:

The carriers being built at Rosyth are straddled by an enormous crane that despite being emblazoned with Bae logos and white ensigns is on lease from China and will eventually be dismantled and returned A few years back I jokingly mentioned that the crane was probably blue-toothed to a 3D printer in Shanghai.
Maybe the truth's out there?:suspect:

Coming in ahead of even the optomistic schedule discussed previously And the future carriers look like being nuclear CATOBAR carriers. One wonders if they have copied Russian, French... Or USN designs. Interesting to consider if they will roll out with EMALS.

China's First Homemade Carrier Could Take to the Seas Later This Year

And we only run nukes now.


If the Chinese choose to go nuke and choose to go CATOBAR, I'd be surprised if they don't go EMALS (I have no doubt they've done their due diligence/industrial espionage, they are serious about this stuff) as it leapfrogs into a better capability. Why not copy the better idea if it's the better idea? Good thinking, IMO, on their part ... as long as they can afford it. through the mid term at least, they can, and I'll bet the over on the long term.

well they're emulating the west with their in-service estimates anyway (see thread title)

Must have hacked LM & BAe project planning software

China flight testing modified J-15 for CATOBAR operations | IHS Jane's 360

Latest updates from IHS Jane's 360 Friday 23rd September 2016
IHS Jane's 360 HOME DEFENCE SECURITY INDUSTRY China flight testing modified J-15 for CATOBAR operations
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China has been flight testing a new variant of its J-15 navalised fighter modified for catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) operations, according to images posted on Chinese online forums

Photos of China?s aircraft carrier urge better protection of confidential information - People's Daily Online

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http://www.popsci.com/china-builds-n...ircraft-carrie

"......With all major structures on the CV-17 complete, the remaining tasks before launch include wiring the ship, installing sensors, electronics and self defense weapons, and various key systems like aircraft elevators, ship propellers and rudders. Presently, the CV-17is targeted to hit the water in mid 2017 for fitting out, and then into service with the PLAN, thus expanding China's naval aviation capability and power projection. However, the CV-17 can expect to reach operational status faster that its predecessor benefits from the Liaoning's years of training Chinese carrier pilots. And with more capable carriers in the pipeline, like the catapult-equipped Type 002 and nuclear-powered Type 003, China's blue-water navy will only become more formidable.".....

http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.c...5C4sa&fc=38,38