The J-15 (Chinese copy of Russian SU-33)
Posted on 01/29/2011 7:18:53 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
China shows off footage of its first aircraft carrier
January 29th, 2011
Beijing: China today provided glimpses of the country's first aircraft carrier, an upgraded version of a partially-built vessel purchased from Ukraine in 1998, which is undergoing sea trials.
People's Daily, the official organ of the ruling Communist Party of China, carried a brief video showing the ship undergoing sea trials.
The video displayed in its interactive section, Peoples Forum also showed an aircraft landing on it. China has taken a major step towards commissioning its first aircraft carrier by largely completing the restoration of a derelict ship purchased from Ukraine, a brief report in the people's forum of the daily website said.
China has also recently launched its J-20 stealth fighter, putting out reports on its official websites, and it was subsequently confirmed by President Hu Jintao to the visiting Defence Secretary Robert Gates this month.
The restoration includes all living and working compartments, engines, navigation systems and power-generating equipment.
Additional work is still needed on the elevator and flight deck, it said, but it was unclear when the restoration would be completed, it quoted a Hong Kong-based Kanwa Asian Defence magazine as saying.
The US Department of Defence has said it expects the ship to be re-launched at any time as a platform for training pilots — a major turning point in the military's wide-ranging modernisation drive.
China bought the mothballed carrier in 1998 and towed the engine and rudderless ship to the northeastern port of Dalian for a complete refitting.
Work on its internal systems took about four years, Kanwa said. The complete restoration was intended to make the ship fully functional and to train technicians who will build China's future homemade carriers, according to the report.
"This has been a gigantic project and is virtually as complicated as building a brand-new aircraft carrier," Kanwa quoted an unidentified source with the Dalian region's military industry as saying.
The Varyag is a ski jump-style carrier with a displacement of about 55,000 tons, much smaller than the Japan-based US carrier George Washington, which has a displacement of more than 100,000 tons.
China reportedly bought Russian SU-33 carrier-based fighters and has modified domestic J-11 jets for carrier landings and takeoffs.
The J-15 (Chinese copy of Russian SU-33)
Looks more like a plane to me
I doubt that thing is going to float long enough to make it out of the harbor.
China has become a beehive of activity in all the areas the USA has traditionally been a leader: Commerce, Science, and now Military.
They have a nationwide effort to cultivate interest and learning in the sciences for the next generation. It is diametrically opposed to our union-driven “more money for less learning” political claptrap foisted upon us by the liberals in Washington and in states across the Union.
Those who said China was 20 years behind us are flat-out wrong. They will pull even with us in the next few years and surpass us in this generation.
Look at the F-35 as an example of what our system has “produced.” We can’t get anything off the drawing board and when we DO (like the F-22) we don’t deploy it.
Thank God the airframes designed 30 years ago were so excellent: F16, F18, F15. With advanced avionics they can compete but don’t for a second think it means we hve China beaten.
Expect a Chinese nuclear submarine soon as well, one to match the Los Angeles Class.
We are collectively a foolish country sometimes — at our peril.
It's both!
Jeff Head ping!
Varyag Transformation by Jeff Head
http://www.freewebs.com/jeffhead/redseadragon/varyagtransform.htm
Lots of photos here.
Wow!
It looks like my predictions are confirmed.
Trust me, next up will be Chinese Carriers built from scratch. It takes about 7 years usually. Obviously, the Chinese picked up 3 years by retrofitting an existing one.
I don’t care for the ski-lift nose. We never needed that and I suspect it makes overshoots (happens all the time, there is a great YouTube series where the deck was pitching 30 feet+ and it took damn near all night to get all the birds into the nest).
Great photos: I guess there really aren’t many military secrets when satellites can read a license plate, much less follow the progress of a massive ship being rebuilt.
bookmark bump
Put your ear to the ground in El Paso and you can hear that Chinese nuke sub calling quarters in the Yellow Sea.
To suggest the Chinese are going to pull even in a few years ans surpass us in military technology/capability this generation exposes a clear lack of knowledge.
>>To suggest the Chinese are going to pull even in a few years ans surpass us in military technology/capability this generation exposes a clear lack of knowledge.<<
No offense, my FRiend, but to suggest they won’t exposes a clear lack of vision.
Underestimate China at our collective peril.
BS, you better start worrying about them calling the note due, instead of how they are spending our interest payments. It takes a real moron to consider a conventional war with a country like china.
It's easier for them if they “borrow” our technology - saves a lot of time...:^)
“BS, you better start worrying about them calling the note due,”
China has a relatively small portion of our national debt. Ya wouldn’t know that from the media which would like us to bow down to them like BO did.
They cannot call the notes due as they are bonds. All they can do is stop buying bonds (they already have) or sell them on the open market.
I guess you haven't looked on the labels and seen where 99% of this country's electronic and mechanical equipment is now manufactured.
Underestimate the Chinese at your own peril!
The Chinese will steal the technology they want and hire westerners to help them build it. Still they have some serious cultural issues which will make a difference.
You do know what the results would be of selling at a discount, forget that, I don’t think you would. You whole effort is to pee away more tax payers money building yesterdays defenses.
I would add, Underestimate the US Military at your own peril!
The Chicoms can’t do anything on their own but they can sure read our blueprints.
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