Earlier this week, China marked the tenth deployment anniversary of its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning (Type 001), by sailing offshore with dozens of fighter jets on deck. The 300-meter ship carried a full load of 24 Shenyang J-15 fighters, a fourth-generation carrier-based multi-role aircraft—the largest fleet of J-15s ever showcased to the public since its introduction in the early 2010s.

From Being a Training Ship to Aircraft Carrier

Aircraft carrier Liaoning (CV-16) is a refurbished and upgraded unfinished Soviet carrier Varyag bought by China from Ukraine in 1998. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Surface Force commissioned the aircraft in 2012 as a training ship. However, by late 2018, after the ship received upgrades and additional training, state-owned media reported that it would be reclassified as a combat role beginning the following year.

Its keel was laid in 1985 for the Soviet Navy and was completed in the late 1980s as the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Riga and eventually to Varyag in 1990. The aircraft carrier was transferred to Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It was moored until China procured the vessel in the late 1990s when it underwent extensive modification and modernization.

Compared to the US Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, Liaoning is way below in size and capabilities, for 1) its power plant is comparatively inefficient, and 2) its aircraft-launching system is underpowered. Moreover, while Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, including its latest subclasses: George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) and Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), were already outfitted with nuclear-powered propulsions, the Liaoning remains using steam-powered.