People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) deputy political commissar Rear Admiral Ding Haichun has confirmed that construction of China's first indigenous aircraft carrier is underway, according to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily newspaper, which interviewed several senior officers, including Rear Adm Ding, on the margins of the National People's Congress being held in Beijing.
Comments were also attributed to former PLAN Political Commissar Admiral Liu Xiaogang in which he said China's second carrier would be an improvement on the refurbished Soviet carrier Varyag , and that construction was now in the hands of industry. When asked how many carriers China would build, Adm Liu referred to speculation that the number would be six but added that it would depend upon the resources available.
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According to Admiral Viktor Chirkov, the commander in chief of the Russian Navy, Moscow is currently building an aircraft carrier of tomorrow. This future-oriented carrier will possess broad capabilities connected to the use of naval aviation in future contingencies. In addition, the vessel will allegedly boast superior combat effectiveness in the context of joint operations (Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, March 2). However, one should not take this assertion at face value; the Russian defense establishment has made similar such statements in the past, but to date, these assurances had materialized. Previous reports discussed a planned carrier with a displacement of 75,000–80,000 tons that could carry an aviation group of over 60 aircraft, including various fixed- and rotary-wing vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
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