Latest PLAN Aircraft Carrier Info & Photos

Originally Posted by tphuang

you do realize that we have seen Z-8 AEWs in PLAN aviation colours, right? I'm not sure exactly what roles Z-8s will play on Chinese carriers, but they should be a big part of the airwing. And I wold think a couple of them will be AEWs.

Being in aviation colors, although significant, does not 100% guarantee full service or production.

It will all depend on the capability of the Z-8 and their relative competitiveness against the Ka-31.

Originally Posted by plawolf

I am sure the Varyag would be able to carry a lot more than a dozen J15s. Given 24 is the size of a PLANAF MK2 regiment, I think that would be the minimum number of J15s that would be embarked on a normal basis.

I agree, and believe the PLAN will move toward an initial production run of that many. Here are a few more pics, which are a few of which I have posted on the new J-15 thread.

Originally Posted by Jeff Head

I agree, and believe the PLAN will move testes an initial production run of that many. Here are a few more pics, which are a few of which I have posted on the new J-15 thread.

I highly doubt the J-15 will have a long service. Even though comparable to the AESA-equipped Rafale-M and the Super Hornet, it will soon have to face the F-35.

That's why it has been heavily reported that China is developing a follow on fighter, called the J-18, which is stealthy and has many upgrades.

The J-18, if it exists will take a good while to enter service and until then J-15 will be more than enough to arm PLAN carriers. Besides it's not like the PLAN will fight USN carriers with their own. There's no need to necessarily match the F-35's stealth or capability.

USN Superhornets will stay in service for many years too... and if J-15 gets AESA and a comparable strike capability I would say would be an equivalent. No reason to phase out J-15 so fast, at least until their airframes lifetime is done.

Originally Posted by SinoSoldier

I highly doubt the J-15 will have a long service.

I expect the J-15 will be the principle aircraft on the ex-Varyag and the first two indigenous carriers. I believe it will be upgraded as time goes on and that it will be around for several years. Time will tell, but I expect the PLAN will build 75-100 of them.

Originally Posted by Jeff Head

I expect the J-15 will be the principle aircraft on the ex-Varyag and the first two indigenous carriers. I believe it will be upgraded as time goes on and that it will be around for several years. Time will tell, but I expect the PLAN will build 75-100 of them.

I think the J-15 is mainly a jumpstart, a sort of a test to see where the PLANAF capabilities are.

I expect the stealthy variants to equip at least the two nuclear powered aircraft carriers and maybe one Type 089 as well.

Can anybody identify this ship or seen this before? Found it over at fy. Some of the workers clothing and helmets matches those on the Varyag but can't tell nationality.

That's a big hull but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's one of the carriers under construction... It just seems too good to be true. Probably a tanker of some sort.

Would the clothing and helmets be those of ship yard workers, independent of the ship being built is to be for naval or merchant use.

Looks more like vessels that designed for carriage capacity than as military vessels.

With so many civilian vessels being built in China, I'd rather wait for the proof of this being anything else than a (albeit big) tanker or some sort, rather than trying to see how it could be a tanker.

Originally Posted by AssassinsMace

Can anybody identify this ship or seen this before? Found it over at fy. Some of the workers clothing and helmets matches those on the Varyag but can't tell nationality.

The sides of the ship is very vertical, consistent with the characteristics found on civilian vessels.

Originally Posted by AssassinsMace

Can anybody identify this ship or seen this before? Found it over at fy. Some of the workers clothing and helmets matches those on the Varyag but can't tell nationality.

If you look to the right of that picture, you can see another similar sized ship being built right next to it. I do not think there are any dry docks in China large enough to build two carriers at the same time in.

The hull is also unlike any carrier design I have ever seen, and seems both too narrow (judging from the workers, and compare that to the varyag) and too low in the water to be a carrier. Just look at how high the nose bulb is compared to the top of the ship, that's not nearly high enough to match other carrier designs.

My guess would be that this is just a supertanker.

Originally Posted by SinoSoldier

I highly doubt the J-15 will have a long service. Even though comparable to the AESA-equipped Rafale-M and the Super Hornet, it will soon have to face the F-35.

That's why it has been heavily reported that China is developing a follow on fighter, called the J-18, which is stealthy and has many upgrades.

The J11B has a rumored airframe service life of 10,000 hours, assuming 200 hours of flight time per pilot per year with two pilots sharing a single plane, that is up to 25 years worth of use.

The PLA ha always been frugal as others have already pointed out, so they are hardly going to waste these planes.

If something new came along (which personally I do not expect to happen until maybe a few years after the J20 has entered service, thus freeing up key personnel and resources to work on this secondary project), it might service alongside the J15, just like the F35 is expected to work side by side with the F18E/F.

If China does develop a new stealth fighter, it is almost certainly going to be a medium weight design (so as to not clash with the J20 and also to be cheaper), so the J15 is almost certain to have range and payload advantages over the new fighter.

As I have already pointed out before, that in itself is reason enough to keep the J15.

Stealth is only critical for first day of war missions, after enemy defenses have been opened up by stealth assets, the likes of the J15 can operate pretty safely and be able to bring more weapons to bare and stay out station longer or hit targets the stealth stuff cannot reach.

The reason the PLAN is investing in carriers and other power projection capabilities is to help secure and safeguard China's expanding interests in places like Africa and protect Chinese shipping lanes to and from Africa and the middle east in the Indian Ocean. It is most certainly not to try and take on the likes of the USN.

Even of China builds 6 supercarriers and have F35 class stealth fighters for them all, which is pretty much the highest plausible estimates for the PLAN's long term expansion plans, that is only about half the USN's carrier force of today. If China built that many carriers, there is no way America would not respond with more carriers of their own.

In short, even in the long-run, the PLAN is not likely to be able to come close to matching the USN unless something massive and unexpected happens, and the PLAN has never had ambitions to match the USN overall. Their plans have always been to be able to achieve local superiority up to the second or even third island chains and being able to defend China's shipping lanes against anyone except the USN further afield.

China is using economic inter-dependence as its main deterrent against USN hostile action against Chinese shipping lanes globally, and also to expand land based alternatives such as pipelines, roads and railways.

If the Americans were truly determined to shut down China's shipping lanes no matter the cost to themselves, there is really little China could do about it militarily now or in the foreseeable future.

Originally Posted by plawolf

The J11B has a rumored airframe service life of 10,000 hours, assuming 200 hours of flight time per pilot per year with two pilots sharing a single plane, that is up to 25 years worth of use.

The PLA ha always been frugal as others have already pointed out, so they are hardly going to waste these planes.

If something new came along (which personally I do not expect to happen until maybe a few years after the J20 has entered service, thus freeing up key personnel and resources to work on this secondary project), it might service alongside the J15, just like the F35 is expected to work side by side with the F18E/F.

If China does develop a new stealth fighter, it is almost certainly going to be a medium weight design (so as to not clash with the J20 and also to be cheaper), so the J15 is almost certain to have range and payload advantages over the new fighter.

As I have already pointed out before, that in itself is reason enough to keep the J15.

Stealth is only critical for first day of war missions, after enemy defenses have been opened up by stealth assets, the likes of the J15 can operate pretty safely and be able to bring more weapons to bare and stay out station longer or hit targets the stealth stuff cannot reach.

The reason the PLAN is investing in carriers and other power projection capabilities is to help secure and safeguard China's expanding interests in places like Africa and protect Chinese shipping lanes to and from Africa and the middle east in the Indian Ocean. It is most certainly not to try and take on the likes of the USN.

Even of China builds 6 supercarriers and have F35 class stealth fighters for them all, which is pretty much the highest plausible estimates for the PLAN's long term expansion plans, that is only about half the USN's carrier force of today. If China built that many carriers, there is no way America would not respond with more carriers of their own.

In short, even in the long-run, the PLAN is not likely to be able to come close to matching the USN unless something massive and unexpected happens, and the PLAN has never had ambitions to match the USN overall. Their plans have always been to be able to achieve local superiority up to the second or even third island chains and being able to defend China's shipping lanes against anyone except the USN further afield.

China is using economic inter-dependence as its main deterrent against USN hostile action against Chinese shipping lanes globally, and also to expand land based alternatives such as pipelines, roads and railways.

If the Americans were truly determined to shut down China's shipping lanes no matter the cost to themselves, there is really little China could do about it militarily now or in the foreseeable future.

Even if the service life of the airframes have long service lives, their avionics and weapons systems would not be able to catch up once the airframes are expended. The J-15 also came in late; by the time China has tested the follow on variant, the F-35 would have been the main striking force on US carriers. The notion that the J-15 would be a sufficient strike force on the Varyag for the future is simply absurd.

According to many military analysts and experts, China is developing multiple stealthy fighters (J-16, J-18, J-19, J-2X, JH-7B). Among those, it has been speculated that the J-18 and J-2X have potential carrier based roles. Being that these stealthy fighters are not full 5th generation fighters like the J-20, development time would be significantly shorter than that of the J-20.

China is not planning to challenge the US. The PLANAF's role is to defend China against foreign attack. If the US is involved in an attack, and the J-15 are deployed against carrier based F-35s, the result would be grim. The J-15s will have to go soon because they will not be sufficient for PLANAF's defense.

Even though China may not deploy as many carriers as the US does, equipping what it has with stealthy fighters would be a huge improvement over the J-15.

There is no way China will build 6 supercarriers with the current budget. China is believed to be building 2 conventional carriers (Type 089) and 2 nuclear powered aircraft carriers (Type 085), which, when combined with the Varyag, would be a total of 5 carriers.