It was with a smile that Yuan Huazhi, the political commissar of the Chinese navy, responded to a question from a journalist who asked him about the construction of the fourth Chinese aircraft carrier, long awaited but never officially announced.
There is no
“technical bottleneck in the construction of aircraft carriers”
, replied the admiral on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 5, in a video from the
Hong Kong Commercial Daily
published on the social network Weibo.
“I will tell you, I will tell you soon
,” said Yuan Huazhi about the possible nuclear propulsion which could equip the ship, generally called Type 004. It would in fact be the fourth aircraft carrier of the Chinese navy , which is gradually progressing in terms of naval aviation technologies.
From springboard to electromagnetic catapults
The first is the
Liaoning
, commissioned in 2012. It is actually a former Soviet
Admiral Kuznetsov
-class aircraft carrier , first called
Varyag
, but construction of which was interrupted with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Purchased by Beijing in 1998, it was completed and modified by China, becoming the first aircraft carrier of the People's Liberation Army naval forces.
Equipped with a simple springboard for taking off planes and automatic stopping strands for their landing (architecture called STOBAR in English), old steam boilers for its propulsion, the Type 001 is far from being able to compete with the "
supercarriers »
of the US Navy, but constituted a crucial first step for Beijing.
With 300 meters in length and 60,000 tonnes of displacement, it was for several years the most imposing ship in the Chinese navy.
The
Shandong
, China's first indigenous aircraft carrier.
STR / AFP
In 2019, the Chinese commissioned the
Shandong
, the first aircraft carrier built entirely in China.
In terms of architecture, the Type 002, slightly more imposing than the
Liaoning
since it weighs around 70,000 tonnes, remains very close to the Type 001. It remains in particular a
"STOBAR"
, structurally limited by the presence of a springboard, which notably prevents the deployment of aerial surveillance planes, too heavy to take off without the aid of catapults, but nevertheless essential since they constitute the eyes and ears of a carrier group.
On board a STOBAR, even lighter onboard fighters are also structurally limited in terms of carrying weapons and fuel, and therefore autonomy, again due to weight issues.
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The main revolution in Chinese naval aviation should take place next year with the expected entry into service of the
Fujian
, the third aircraft carrier and the first to be equipped with catapults for taking off planes.
Especially since these are electromagnetic, a technology recently introduced by the Americans on their new
Gerald Ford
class of aircraft carriers .
With their Type 003, the Chinese have therefore achieved a technological leap by doing without the intermediate step that would have represented the traditional steam catapults, which equip for example the French aircraft carrier
Charles-de-Gaulle
.
By its displacement (more than 80,000 tonnes), the
Fujian
, launched in 2022, is also close to the American
Nimitz
and
Ford
at 100,000 tonnes.
Officially mentioned by China on March 5, Type 004, according to unofficial plans already published on Chinese social networks, could better compete with the latest addition to the US Navy.
The images come from the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai, where the aircraft carrier is under construction, specifies the
South China Morning Post
, an English-language daily based in Hong Kong.
More imposing, the aircraft carrier would see its island moved towards the stern of the ship, like the American
Fords
or the future new generation French aircraft carrier.
It would also deploy a new stealth onboard fighter, the J35, which would replace the old J-15, derived from the Russian Su-27 fighter.
First models of this new fifth generation aircraft have already been seen on the flight deck of
Liaoning
or
Fujian
.
The Chinese are still developing an aerial surveillance plane, the KJ600, which would allow them to deploy the equivalent of the American E-2C Hawkeye.
Hypothetical illustration of the future Type 004. Chinese social networks
Political commissioner Yuan Huazhi, on the other hand, refused to compete with the American navy and its eleven
“supercarriers”
, reported the
South China Morning Post
, an English-speaking daily in Hong Kong.
“We are building aircraft carriers to protect our national sovereignty and our territorial integrity
,” the admiral simply explained, referring to a
“global response”
and not targeted against the US Navy.
However, it is difficult not to think of the naval race taking place between the two superpowers, against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions in the Taiwan Strait, off the coast of the Korean peninsula and in the South China Sea entirely claimed by Beijing.
China's entire naval strategy consists of increasing its coastal domination, first within the
"first circle of islands"
(Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia) before projecting itself into the Indian and Pacific Oceans first below the
“second circle of islands”
(notably the American one of Guam) then beyond towards the
“global ocean”
.
To this end, Xi Jinping has already warned that the goal is to build a
“world-class”
navy by 2049, the centenary of the People’s Republic of China.
Helicopter carriers and drone carriers
Technologically incomplete for distant missions, the first two Chinese aircraft carriers, the
Liaoning
and the
Shandong
, hardly venture beyond the first circle of islands.
This role would rather be assigned to the Type 003 and in the future to the Type 004, especially if the latter is equipped with nuclear propulsion, which would ensure theoretically unlimited autonomy.
However, the Chinese are not abandoning the development of their navy intended to control their nearby coastline.
Quite the contrary.
After having built three Type 075 amphibious helicopter carriers in record time, put into service in 2021 and 2022, Beijing will put into service this year a fourth example of this class of imposing ship - nearly 40,000 tonnes, or double the French helicopter carrier
Mistral
.
The Type 075s are the first helicopter carriers of the Chinese navy.
Chinese social networks
Above all, the OSINT community (open source research) has identified the construction of a new ship with larger dimensions, probable first unit of a future Type 076 which could be not only a helicopter carrier, but also a drone carrier with the addition of electromagnetic catapults.
Such ships, designed in particular for amphibious operations (land-sea), naturally represent a threat to the island of Taiwan, claimed by Beijing and which lives with the growing threat of a Chinese invasion.
Read also Fear of an invasion, China's military capabilities, role of the United States: understanding everything about the crisis in the Taiwan Strait
China could thus find itself this year with nine aircraft carriers in service or under construction, a record when we consider that this figure was two 10 years ago.
The United States is certainly far ahead (20 in service, including light amphibious aircraft carriers, and 2 under construction), but the third naval air power in the world, France, is far behind with one aircraft carrier and three carriers. -helicopters.