A Chinese senior military researcher has revealed that the country's second aircraft carrier, now under construction, will focus on military operations rather than training and technological experiments, China Daily reported.
"This carrier will have different missions than those for the Liaoning (the country's first aircraft carrier)," Senior Captain Zhang Junshe of the People's Liberation Army Naval Military Studies Research Institute told the PLA Daily on Friday, Jan. 1.
"We use the Liaoning to test the reliability and compatibility of systems on carriers, and to train personnel. The second carrier will mainly do what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed to do: running combat patrols and delivering humanitarian aid," Zhang added.
The senior captain said that a second carrier is urgently needed by the country as it is seeking to improve its defense systems and better protect national interests.
"The PLA needs at least three aircraft carriers. When it does, one can be on duty, one can train personnel, and the third can receive maintenance," he said.
Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, Dec. 31, that China's second aircraft carrier is under construction in the coastal city of Dalian, Liaoning Province.
According to the report, the Liaoning, which was originally a Soviet-era vessel, had undergone an extensive refit at a shipyard in Dalian before going into service in Sept. 2012.
Yang said that the new carrier is designed in China. It will have a displacement of 50,000 metric tons, a conventional power system, and will carry J-15 fighter jets developed by China and other aircraft.
Similar to the Liaoning, the new ship will use a ski jump mode for launching fixed-wing aircraft, Yang said.
According to Zhang, China will develop all the new carrier's three major systems, including power and propulsion, electronic systems and weapons, and it will have better capabilities than those on the Liaoning.
Since China has gained enough experience operating large vessels, Zhang said the country will consider developing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier this time.
Chen Xuesong, a fellow researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, believes the new carrier will be a tough challenge for Chinese engineers.
"Although we have gained expertise and know-how from the Liaoning refit project, the new vessel will truly be the first time for us to design and build an aircraft carrier," Chen told China Daily. "Our engineers must make sure their structural design is good and guarantee the quality of the steel parts."
The report said that China is looking into several cutting-edge technologies that can be used on future vessels as it plans to build other ships after the second aircraft carrier.
Since 2013, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp., which refitted the Liaoning and is building the second carrier, has been researching nuclear-powered ships, the report said.
Du Wenlong, a senior researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Science, has previously said that the navy's next-generation aircraft carrier could be possibly equipped with nuclear propulsion.
Du said the country already has nuclear submarines with highly sophisticated technologies and manufacturing capabilities, so developing a nuclear carrier will not be difficult.