China building 2nd aircraft carrier; hints at third one

China on Thursday said it is building a second aircraft carrier indigenously and hinted at plans to make a third one to enhance its blue water capabilities amid mounting tensions with the US in the disputed South China Sea.

China is designing and building its second aircraft carrier “completely on its own” in Dalian in northeastern Liaoning Province, Defence Ministry spokesperson Colonel Yang Yujun said.

This carrier, with a displacement of 50,000 tonnes, will be a base for J-15 fighters and other types of aircraft, Yang told a monthly press briefing.

Blue water capabilities refer to an ability to carry out operations much farther than their territorial boundaries, across the deep oceans. Fixed-wing aircraft on the carrier will use a ski-jump to take off the carrier will have a conventional power plant, he said, indicating that it will not be a nuclear powered ship. However, he has not given a timeline when the second aircraft carrier will be ready.