New Chinese aircraft carriers

China will construct two conventionally–powered aircraft carriers in Dalian and Shanghai between 2014 and 2015, according to a source from China’s Central Military Commission.

Under the Commission’s ‘Project 048’, China aims to establish three carrier battle groups by 2020 so that all three major fleets of the PLA Navy will be able to carry out missions with the full support of an aircraft carrier. The two new Type 001A indigenous carriers will be updated versions of China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was originally the Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier purchased from Ukraine in 1998 and will be designed with a ski-jump ramp.

Sources said that the General Equipment Department of the PLA has already signed a contract with the Beijing-based China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation to build the two carriers. The price of the two vessels is estimated to be worth $9 billion. It is uncertain whether the Chinese J-31 stealth fighter will supplant the J-15 to become the country’s next generation carrier-based fighter. Sources said that a decision will only be made after the construction of the nation’s second and third aircraft carriers is completed, which will give the PLA more time to think about the type of carrier-based fighter it will need in the future.