China launched its second aircraft carrier-and the first one entirely home-built-taking another stride in its quest for a world-class navy that can protect Chinese economic and security interests far from its shores. The new carrier, festooned in red flags and ribbons and with a bottle of champagne smashed over its bow, slid from a dry dock into the water in a shipyard ceremony in the northeastern port city of Dalian on Wednesday, state media reported. About two years of sea trials are expected before the still-unnamed ship becomes fully operational, Chinese and Western military experts say.
China Launches Its First Locally Built Aircraft Carrier | DefenseNews
China has launched its second - but its first locally built - aircraft carrier, just days after being floated off its dry dock, even as the country continues development work on other aspects of its carrier program.
China Shipbuilding Signs Deal With Bank to Support Expansion | IHS Jane's
The China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) has signed an agreement with the China Construction Bank (CCB) to support the shipyard's efforts to restructure and expand. China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said on 27 April that the "co-operation framework agreement" would provide CSIC with a range of benefits. These include optimising CSIC's financing structure, reducing its financial costs, controlling its asset-liability ratio, accelerating mergers and acquisitions, supporting exports, controlling exchange rate fluctuations, and also helping the shipbuilder cope with financial risk. The value of the financial agreement was not revealed but similar arrangements between state-owned defence corporations and banks usually reach the equivalent of at least several hundred million US dollars.
China Shows Decommissioned Nuclear Submarine on Naval Anniversary |
UPI
China put its first nuclear-powered submarine on display, a decommissioned warship built in 1970, to mark the 68th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Navy. The Type 091 Han Class Changzheng-1 submarine was unveiled to the general public at the Qingdao Naval Museum in Shandong Province, Hong Kong's Phoenix Television reported.
Chinese Naval Shipbuilding: Measuring the Waves | The Diplomat
After a six-century hiatus, sea power development may once again find its center of gravity in the Asia-Pacific. While the Trump Administration plans a naval buildup, China is already well into a buildup of its own. A new book from Naval Institute Press explains why Beijing is making such waves, how big they are, and how great they might become. To learn more, The Diplomat's Editor-in-Chief Shannon Tiezzi interviewed Naval War College professor Andrew S. Erickson, the editor of Chinese Naval Shipbuilding.
|