The People's Liberation Army Navy will soon have a new fleet of war vessels as China's first locally assembled aircraft carrier undergoes second sea trial on Aug. 26, two days after the country's first domestically made missile destroyer had its baptism on the sea for the first time.
The 10,000-ton missile destroyer has not been officially named but several reports referred to it as Type 001A while multiple sources said it would likely be called the CNS Shandong.
For its second sea trial, the Type 001A left the port of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, assisted by several tugboats. The vessel can displace 50,000 metric tons of water on the average. It was designed with jet propulsion systems that will house J-15 fighter jets for launching. It will also carry helicopters during deployments.
The second sea trial shall test the carrier's communication and navigation systems, as well as other electronic and mechanical connectivity according to Navy personnel who spoke with China Daily. The trial will also assess the vessel's propulsion systems.
Song Zhongping, a military analyst, told the Global Times that the second trial is meant to resolve the issues that were observed during the aircraft's first sea trial in May. The analyst added that the second trial will also assess whether the carrier can endure heavier payloads or manage damages that it may encounter while navigating the waters. Song estimated that it will be delivered to the Navy for official deployment in 2019, after several sea trials within 2018.
Zhang Ye, a researcher from the PLA Naval Research Institute, believed that the second trial will also test the vessel's weapon mechanisms. Subsequent sea trials will involve testing fighter jets and military helicopters aboard the carrier.
The construction for the aircraft carrier started in November 2013.
Meanwhile, China's Type 055-class guided-missile destroyer underwent its first sea trial on Aug. 24, leaving from the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. The destroyer can reportedly operate autonomously and its 112 vertical launching cells can fire long-range land-attack cruise missile. Sources believed that the electromagnetic railgun currently in development will be mounted on Type 055 in future deployments.
The Type 055, which was unveiled in June 2017, will boost the combat capability of Beijing's sea-based anti-missile system since it was designed to endure pressures from the high waters. China is reportedly planning to build at least 10 of the Type 055 missile destroyers.
Type 055 can generally launch all types of missiles, including anti-submarine, surface-to-air, anti-ship cruise rockets, and land-attack cruise rockets.
