What are the differences between China’s two aircraft carriers?
As the country’s newest warship readies for the next stage of sea trials here’s how it measures up against its predecessor
China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Type 001A, is expected to start blue-water trials soon, according to state media and mainland military websites.
The 001A, which started preliminary trials in Dalian in the northeast of China in November after its launch on April 26, has a similar design to the country’s first carrier the Liaoning.
That ship started life as the Varyag, an unfinished Admiral Kuznetsov class carrier that China bought in 1998 from Ukraine – which inherited the ship after the break-up of the Soviet Union – and retrofitted.
The new vessel has been designed as a more modern variant on the Admiral Kuznetsov class ships – which means the two Chinese carriers have a similar appearance.
However, naval experts said the Chinese engineers and designers who built the ship had studied the most advanced military technology used by the Americans, as well as the former Soviet Union, and tried to encorporate this into the new ship to meet the practical needs of the PLA Navy.
