China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier conducted 100 takeoffs and landings of fighters and helicopters in 6 days, demonstrating its comprehensive combat capability.
The Japanese military sent ships and aircraft to monitor this exercise, noting that the Liaoning aircraft carrier organized more than 100 takeoffs and landings with helicopters and fighters. This is the first time information about China’s aircraft carrier strike capability has been revealed.
Military experts said that the number of sorties conducted on board Lien Ninh last week showed that the ship had achieved comprehensive combat capability through high-intensity flight operations.
“The higher the frequency of sorties, the more effective the aircraft carrier will be. The more than 100 sorties in 6 days show that the Liaoning’s organizational capacity has been perfected and has reached a level of combat readiness. high combat,” said Ni Lexiong, a military expert in Shanghai.
China’s military said last week’s exercise by the Liaoning aircraft carrier battle group was “routine training”, in line with the navy’s annual training plan aimed at improving capabilities and not targeting any which side.
Liaoning, the first aircraft carrier of the Chinese navy, was originally a Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier of the Soviet Union purchased by China from Ukraine and refurbished and upgraded. The ship can hold about 24 J-15 fighters. Information on the number of fighters and helicopters on board during last week’s exercise has not been clarified.
During the same period of the Liaoning exercise, the US Navy deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the waters northeast of the Philippines. The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group also sailed from Yokosuka, Japan, to the waters last week.
The exercise by the Liaoning carrier strike group comes at a sensitive time, as tensions in the Taiwan Strait increase. The location of the drills “in the waters and airspace near the southwestern island group of Japan as well as the island of Taiwan” has worried Tokyo and deployed forces to monitor it closely, according to Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi.
US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in a recent congressional hearing assessed that Beijing’s priority is not to use force to solve the Taiwan issue. However, US intelligence said that China is still trying to build up its forces to ensure the ability to prevent US intervention if it chooses to reunify the island by force.