China is three to six months from launching its third and most modern aircraft carrier, new analysis shows, in what would be a milestone for President Xi Jinping’s effort to project power into the high seas.
The Jiangnan Shipyard near Shanghai has made "steady progress” this year on the vessel, known for now as Type 003, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in the report dated Tuesday. The center, a Washington-based think tank, added that satellite imagery shows "that the installation of the carrier’s main external components is nearing completion.”
The ship’s use of catapults "is a major leap forward for the People’s Liberation Army Navy,” the report said, because it will be able to "launch fixed-wing aircraft with heavier payloads and more fuel, as well as larger aircraft.” That would put China — whose two active carriers use simpler, "ski-jump” flight decks — into an exclusive club with the U.S. and France.