JAKARTA - China's new Navy aircraft carrier CNS Fujian is expected to go to sea for the first time this year, the Ship's Executive Officer said in an interview with state media.
In an interview report published by the state-run China Daily, Senior Captain Qian Shumin did not give an exact date when the aircraft carrier would travel its first sea, only saying that "trials will contribute to the realization of the hundredth anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA)."
The hundred-year-old, which came in 2027, was referred by Chinese President Xi Jinping in October, as a deadline for the PLA to meet its modernization goals. It is known, the PLA was founded in 1927.
CNS Fujian, China's largest warship ever built and operated, is a key component in its PLA Navy destination. The ship was launched lively on June 17 and has been in the final stages of construction at the Shanghai shipyard.
Hawaii-based analyst and former US Navy captain Carl Schuster predicts Fujian's first test will take place in the spring.
"Based on the technology and systems installed in Fujian, the first sea trials will be carried out on or around March 2023 and consist of basic engineering tests and ship maneuver tests," Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Intelligence Joint Command Center, told CNN January 3.
He said early trials were likely to last three to seven days.
"It will be the first step in a series of trials over about 18 months, with it predicted it will start operating in October 2024," Schuster said.
"Every experiment will be followed by an examination of what is right and wrong, a solution to the problem, whether related to humans or equipment, each identified and applied," he explained.
Weighing a maximum of 80,000 tonnes according to a China Daily report, Fujian is 50 per cent larger than China's current two aircraft carriers, placing the Navy in the ranks of the country with supercarriers, such as US Nimitz-class ships weighing 100,000 tonnes.
The ship is said to be similar to US aircraft carrier technology. And, Fujian uses an electromagnetic catapult system, something that is only owned on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford (CVN-78) United States.
Meanwhile, two other Chinese aircraft carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, are based on outdated Soviet Union technology.
The two carriers used a ski-jump launch system, in which the aircraft took off from a small incline to launch the aircraft.
Schuster said integrating the fighter into its operations using the new technology would be the final important part of Fujian's trial, expected to take place around the summer of 2024.
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