Why Is China Spending Large Amounts of Money on Building Aircraft Carriers?
The Chinese made their carrier-based fighter choice back in 1991 it was largely in China’s interests that abreast-seating configuration of the Su-33UB, which is unusual for fighter jets, was eventually implemented.
Alexey Biryuk ...
... (to be upgraded and introduced into the fleet under the name
Vikramaditya
); a third ship (the
Ulyanovsk
) was dismantled for scrap at a shipyard in Ukraine; and a fourth one remained a part of the Russian Navy (the
Admiral Kuznetsov
). Officially, China purchased the aircraft carriers so they could turn them into themed attractions and/or hotels, and the first two (
Kiev
and
Minsk
) are indeed being used for this purpose (although they were studied by the military and shipbuilders beforehand).
Officially, China purchased ...
... Dai Mingmeng
took off from and landed on an aircraft carrier
on November 23, 2012, he became the first Chinese pilot to do so, and attracted the attention of both experts and the general public. Some observers called the event the turning point in China's aircraft carrier program. Others believe the November test's importance has been exaggerated, since it cannot meaningfully affect regional stability. But in reality, the takeoff and landing mark another of many stages China has completed on the ...
... and maintain so powerful a navy. Other maritime powers have been deprived of these factors. Some countries, such as the UK, lack the political will to actively expand their fleet. Others, like Russia, lack the required resources. And others, such as China, India and Turkey, lack the requisite modern technology.
Photo: southcom.mil
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
Economic development, the spread of relatively cheap and simple naval technologies, as well as acute competition in the global shipbuilding market ...
... Crimean Peninsula, now Ukraine, which seems to be in terminal decline. Due to the Ukrainian leaders’ vacillation on cooperation in the defense-sector, Russia, NITKA’s main user, has launched construction on its own complex, as have India and China, who also have Soviet-built aircraft carriers.
Inter-Slavic Dispute
NITKA was put into service in August 1982, when the facility’s ramp was first used to ski-jump a T-10K, the prototype for the SU27K carrier-based fighter, later mass produced as SU-33. Until the late 1980s,...