China’s first aircraft carrier returned to its base after completing a four-day maiden voyage to test its system and capabilities. Li Jie, a researcher of the China Navy Military Academy, said that some unmanned aircraft might have landed on the carrier.
The carrier, refitted from an imported platform called Varyag from Ukraine, was towed back to the Dalian port in northeast China’s Liaoning Province by tugboats after four days of tests in the Yellow Sea, official Xinhua news agency said.
During the trials the carrier’s engines, electronic systems, navigations and weapons were checked. The report said all its weapons systems were concealed from public view. China reportedly plans to build two more such carriers.
The first sea trials were in line with the schedule of the carrier’s refitting project work would continue, it quoted officials as saying. The carrier is expected to officially start service with the Chinese Navy in August next year and an official naming ceremony for the vessel would be held next October.
Yin Zhuo, a Chinese military expert, claimed the carrier’s radar system was among the most advanced in the world. The Chinese-made system, known as the “Chinese Aegis” to compare with the Aegis Combat System initially used by the United States Navy, can cope with supersonic missiles as efficiently as the US system, he said. The radar system has been used on two of the Chinese Navy’s destroyers.
The carrier is capable of hosting 30 Chinese-made J-15 fighters and helicopters and will have a crew of around 2,000. The vessel was originally built by the former Soviet Union, which failed to complete construction before its collapse in 1991. Ukraine disarmed the carrier and removed the engines before selling it to China.
Source: DNA