Shanghai shipyard 'to build second Chinese designed aircraft carrier'
Work on China's secondlocally designed and built aircraft carrier will soon get under way at Jiangnan Shipyard, overseas reports says
China will soon start building its second locally designed aircraft carrier in Shanghai, according to a Canadian report.
Kanwa Asian Defence, an English-language monthly defence review produced in Toronto, said Shanghai's Jiangnan Shipyard was preparing to start work on the carrier.
The recently completed Liaoning, the refitted former Soviet carrier Varyag, is classed as a training platform, not a full combat vessel, by the navy, since it went into service in September 2012.
Counter to many expectations, the new carrier about to be built at the Jiangnan Shipyard will use conventional, not nuclear power.
The report was also carried in the Chinese-language sister publication, Kanwa Defence Review.
Military experts said China would not attempt a nuclear-powered carrier until a range of issues were resolved, such as the reliability of nuclear-powered engines, crew training and establishing a reliable home port for carrier maintenance.