A new propaganda video suggests that the third aircraft carrier of the People\u2019s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) could be launched soon, Chinese media and analysts said.<\/p>\n
A six-minute video<\/a>, produced by the PLAN Political Publicity Bureau and the army broadcaster, was posted on Friday. It provides a glimpse into China\u2019s aircraft carrier program and how PLA carriers and personnel operate.<\/p>\n China already has two aircraft carriers in operation, named Liaoning and Shandong. The third is being built and the promotional video seems to give a hint that its launch is imminent.<\/p>\n At the end of the video, timed for China\u2019s Navy Day which falls on Saturday, an officer is shown taking a call from his mother who appears to urge him to have \u201cthe third child,\u201d to which the man replies: \u201cThat\u2019s being arranged.\u201d<\/p>\n The camera then moves to two photos of a carrier\u2019s flight deck \u2013 an apparent reference to the first two aircraft carriers \u2013 before shifting to a blank screen and closing credits.<\/p>\n This video excited some Chinese media. The state-run tabloid Global Times wrote: \u201cThis is a very clear implication that the country\u2019s third aircraft carrier is coming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Global Times quoted Song Zhongping, a Chinese military analyst and TV commentator, as saying that the third carrier, known as Type 003, could be launched \u201cin the second half of 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n It said the carrier could be named Jiangsu, after the province in eastern China.<\/p>\n The U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a November 2021 report<\/a> that the launch \u201ccould be as soon as February 2022\u201d but it has been delayed several times as China is struggling with the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n Recently severe lockdown measures have been imposed in Shanghai, home of the Jiangnan Shipyard where the Type 003 is being constructed \u2013 and where the COVID situation has disrupted shipping and may have caused delays in arrival of components for the ship.<\/p>\n Compared to the first two carriers, the Type 003 appears to be larger, and it has some new important components including catapult systems, used for launching aircraft from the ship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the first CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery) carrier that China has,\u201d said Sheu from INDSR.<\/p>\n \u201cCATOBAR carriers have much better capabilities, but they still need to have enough operating experience,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The CSIS report last November also said that after launch, it would still be years before the Type 003 is commissioned into the PLA Navy and achieves initial operating capability.<\/p>\n China already has the biggest naval fleet in the world, according to the\u00a0US Office of Naval Intelligence<\/a>. But the U.S. has far more aircraft carriers: 11 compared to China\u2019s two.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s Ministry of National Defense, which is watching China\u2019s military developments closely, said in a report published earlier this year that the Type 003 would enable the PLA Navy to project power past the \u201cfirst island chain.\u201d<\/p>\n The first island chain, conceptualized during the Cold War, commonly refers to the major archipelagos that lie off the East Asian mainland coast. The chain stretches from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the northeast to the Malay Peninsula in the southwest, and includes the territory of U.S. allies Taiwan and the Philippines.<\/p>\n Taiwanese observers also pay attention to the PLA\u2019s plan to procure new warplanes for the Type 003.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first two (aircraft carriers) have only J-15 fighters and maybe some helicopters but the third one may have some airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) KJ-600 aircraft,\u201d military analyst Sheu said.<\/p>\n The Xian KJ-600 is said to accurately detect and track other airplanes and so greatly increases the effectiveness of carrier-based combat aircraft.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Taiwanese media have been looking at the sinking of Russia\u2019s flagship \u201cMoskva,\u201d reportedly by Ukrainian Neptune missiles, last week. Russia said it was damaged in an unexplained fire.<\/p>\n The missile cruiser Moskva was built in the same Black Sea Shipyard Mykolaiv in Ukraine as China\u2019s first aircraft carrier back in the Soviet days. Beijing bought the ship, then called Varyag, and renamed it to Liaoning.<\/p>\n The Liaoning regularly patrols the Taiwan Strait and may be deployed in the event of armed conflict with the self-governing island. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that shall be united with the mainland.<\/p>\nCOVID-19 lockdown<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/a>\u201cFrom the video, it does seem that the third Chinese carrier would be launched in the near future,\u201d said Sheu Jyh-Shyang, a military analyst at the Taiwan\u2019s Institute for National Defence and Security Research (INDSR).<\/p>\nVulnerable <\/strong><\/h2>\n