China just added a second aircraft carrier to its rapidly growing navy

REUTERS/Stringer

China's first domestically developed aircraft carrier, the Type 001A, is seen at a port in Dalian

• China has commissioned its first indigenously-produced aircraft carrier into service with the People's Liberation Army Navy.
• The Shandong, as the carrier is called, is the second Chinese aircraft carrier after the Liaoning, formerly a Soviet-era heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser that China purchased and refitted to serve as the flagship of the Chinese navy.
• A third aircraft carrier is believed to be under construction at China's Jiangnan shipyard.
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China's navy is growing at a rapid rate. On Tuesday, China commissioned its first homegrown aircraft carrier, the Shandong, into service as part of the People's Liberation Army Navy, Chinese state media reported.

The new carrier entered service at the naval port in Sanya on the South China Sea island of Hainan. The ship bears the hull number 17.

China joins only a handful of countries that maintain multiple aircraft carriers, but its combat power is still limited compared to the UK's F-35B stealth fighter carriers and especially the 11 more advanced carriers fielded by the US.

Reuters

Shandong

The Shandong is the Chinese PLAN's second carrier after the Liaoning, previously a rusty, unfinished Soviet heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser that was purchased in the mid-1990s, refitted, and commissioned in 2012 to serve as the flagship of the Chinese navy.

Stringer via Reuters

Liaoning

The Shandong is a indigenously-produced variation of its predecessor. It features improvements like an upgraded radar and the ability to carry 36 Shenyang J-15 fighters, 12 more than the Liaoning can carry.

The construction of a third aircraft carrier is believed to be underway at China's Jiangnan Shipyard, satellite photos revealed earlier this year.

Reuters

A satellite image shows what appears to be the construction of a third Chinese aircraft carrier at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai

China's first and second carriers are conventionally powered ships with ski jump-assisted short take-off-barrier-arrested-recovery (STOBAR) launch systems, which are less effective than the catapults that the US Navy uses on both the Nimitz- and Ford-class carriers.

The third aircraft carrier is expected to be a true, modern flattop with a larger flight deck and catapult launchers.

"This design will enable it to support additional fighter aircraft, fixed-wing early-warning aircraft, and more rapid flight operations," the Department of Defense wrote in its most recent report on China's military power.

The US Navy has 10 Nimitz-class carriers in service, and it is currently developing a new class of carrier. The USS Gerald R. Ford is undergoing post-delivery tests and trials, and the future USS John F. Kennedy, the second of the new Ford-class carriers, was recently christened at Newport News Shipyard in Virginia.

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