Chinese Shipyards to Launch Fourth Carrier By Year’s End - Seventh Expected by 2025

Chinese shipyards will reportedly launch their fourth carrier warship, the second of the Type 075 Class, by the end of 2020. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy currently fields two aircraft carriers of around 70,000 tons each, the Liaoning and Shandong, the former which was purchased partially constructed from Soviet shipyards and the latter which was laid down in China itself and commissioned into frontline service in 2019. 2019 also saw the commissioning of China’s first Type 075 Class ship, a lighter amphibious carrier displacing around 40,000 tons which are capable of serving as both amphibious assault ships for marine units, as anti submarine warfare carriers deploying up to 30 helicopters or as aircraft carriers deploying vertical landing capable fixed wing fighters.

Chinese shipyards are currently constructing two Type 075 Class carries and two Type 002 Class supercarriers. This will give the country a carrier fleet of seven ships by 2025 - although some of these ships may still be undergoing sea trials by that time and will not be fully combat ready. The Type 002 Class ships will be the first in the world other than the American Gerald Ford Class to integrate an electromagnetic catapult launch system, and are expected to deploy a wide range of other new systems including specialised electronic attack jets and fixed wing early warning aircraft which will provide an overwhelming advantage over the Liaoning and Shandong and all other non-American carrier classes. The lighter Type 075 Class, with less than half the displacement, has a very different role - but could prove more survivable in the face of enemy long range anti ship weapons. Its ability to switch from an assault ship to an aircraft carrier, and multiple configurations in between, is a capability the U.S. Navy has increasingly prized in recent years on its own analogue to the Type 075 Class - the Wasp and America Class assault ships which have a similar displacement and appearance and a very similar role.