It is expected that years will pass before it is put into service.
THE China officially launched its third today aircraft carrier at an official ceremony at a Shanghai shipyard, the New China agency reported.
This is the second aircraft carrier that was built entirely by China and is considered technologically more advanced than the previous two. He will enlist in the Chinese Navy after undergoing various tests at sea.
New China did not specify the exact date when the aircraft carrier will be put into service. Something that will not happen immediately, on the contrary may take years.
The aircraft carrier christened Fujian, name referring to the Chinese province of the same name, like the two previous ones, the Liaoning and Shandong.
Its deployment comes amid escalating Sino-US tensions, particularly in Taiwan, the island of 24 million people that Beijing sees as a breakaway Chinese province destined for reunification with the mainland, if necessary by force.
The Chinese Navy, which looks down on US-Taiwan relations In recent years, it has repeatedly sent its aircraft carriers to the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China.
A major development in this third Chinese aircraft carrier compared to the previous two, Soviet design: has a much larger deck and electromagnetic catapults to detonate aircraft, according to New China. This system allows much faster deployment of more fighters compared to the other two, which have only sloping ramps. Another advantage of catapults: aircraft will be able to carry more fuel and weapons.
According to Janes, a military publishing reference, the US has by far the largest number of aircraft carriers in service (11), ahead of China (2), the United Kingdom (2), Russia (1), France (1), Italy (1), India (1) and Thailand (1).
The first Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was put into service in 2012. It served more than anything else as a training platform. Bought second hand from Ukraine in 1998.
The knowledge gained was then used to build Shandong, the first aircraft carrier built in China and put into service at the end of 2019.
