Asia is having something of a aircraft carrier renaissance not seen since Japan decided to pick a fight with the US. China, Japan, South Korea and
India are all working on ships that are either outright carriers or are capable of being used as jeep carriers. There has been a lot of news out
lately about the programs.
China has two carriers at this point with a third under construction. The first one, the Liaoning, is the ex Varyag bought from Ukraine back in the
90s and extensively refurbished. The Chinese just declared the Liaoning's IOC(1). This follows the Liaoning conducting night landings and its J-15s
conducting live fire exercises(2). The second carrier, sometimes called Shandong, just concluded its supposedly successful sea trials(3) and has a
number of improvements on the Liaoning(4). The third carrier is being built in Shanghai and is reportedly going to be more like the CATOBAR carriers
the US has, rather than the STOBAR carriers the previous two carriers are. Recent pictures(5) from the Dalian shipyard don't show another carrier
started there, so that may signal the "Shandong" may be the last of the CV01 line of carriers. OTOH, it might be a little soon if the "Shandong"
might still need more work. Reports vary as to the number of carriers the Chinese want. The numbers vary from as little as 4 to as much as 10, with
the latter more often iterated by the Chinese themselves.
India has a carrier that used to be a Russian warship(6) and has another aircraft carrier under construction. The INS Vikramaditya is the former
Russian/Soviet Gorshkov that was rebuilt into a STOBAR carrier and is currently operational with the Indian Navy. The Indian are also working on the
INS Vikrant(7) . This is their first indigenous aircraft carrier and it, too, will be a STOBAR carrier. Sadly, the Vikrant has been badly delayed and
the sea trials are supposedly to start next year with the induction into the IN in 2023. The question now is whether or not the next carrier will be
the same as the Vikrant or something significantly updated when they build the Vishal, their second indigenous carrier. Originally, a second Vikrant
class was planned, but with the newly proposed Vishal, that second ship may not happen. The as currently proposed Vishal(8) would incorporate a lot
of American technology like the EMALS catapults and be a CATOBAR carrier.
This week the South Koreans have launched their second LPH(9). The original Dokdo LPH was launched in 2005 and commissioned in 2007. The class was
originally going to be three amphibs, but one of the ships has been cancelled. The South Koreans have stated they want to carrier F-35Bs on the ship
and have spots for up to five on the deck at a time. While the capability would be very limited, the South Koreans have been talking up the
capability and have started making comments they want to have a pair of true carriers(10), rather than the mini jeep carriers. IMO, this is probably
in response to the Japanese, since the Japanese and South Koreans are not exactly friendly for historical and a couple territorial reasons.
The Japanese are also interested being part of the carrier game. They have been unsubtly sneaking up on the goal of having carriers again for a long
time. The Izumo class 'helicopter destroyer' are the latest edging to that goal. However, recently, the Japanese have pretty much decided they are
going to use the Izumo's as jeep carriers. The MOD authorized the original study(11) that looked at putting the F-35B, RQ-21 and MQ-8C on their
decks(12). The study did find the Izumo could support the F-35B et al(13) and there are rumors the Izumo class were designed with the F-35B in mind
from the get go(14): the hangar was built large enough, much larger than for the other potential aircraft it would carry. The Liberal Democratic
Party is urging the government to upgrade the Izumo's to take on the F-35B and for Japan to buy the F-35B. However, they do not want to call the
Izumo a carrier. They want to call it a mothership(15). This has not pleased the Chinese(16).
Australia will get a nod here, but the Canberra class are not expected to get fixed wing aircraft(17) and Australia is not really Asia. It just has
to deal with Asia. Sadly, the Canberra class have had some serious issues and the decision to NOT put the F-35B onboard might have been a good
one(18). Theoretically, they could though should they ever change their Aussie minds.
Oh and, yes, the Thai still have their Spanish built carrier. However, they are not likely to order another any time soon.
As you can see, the interest in aircraft carriers in Asia is far from flagging. Quite the contrary, it appears the carrier business is booming. I
have wanted to write this for a while after all the discussions earlier in the year about whether or not carriers were a rising thing in the East.
Links at the bottom.
1.
www.janes.com...
2.
www.reuters.com...
3.
news.usni.org...
4.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
5.
china-defense.blogspot.com...
6.
en.wikipedia.org...
7.
en.wikipedia.org...
8.
en.wikipedia.org...
9.
alert5.com...
10.
www.defensenews.com...
11.
www.asahi.com...
12.
www.sankei.com...
13.
www.asahi.com...
14.
www.asahi.com...
15.
www.asahi.com...
16.
www.news.com.au...
2a4e34b4ff6329661d8aa9f0ddb7f671
17.
www.military.com...
18.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk...