Chinese aircraft carrier capability unlikely before 2015, says US report

China continues to pursue ambitions to deploy fixed-wing air power at sea but is unlikely to have an operational aircraft carrier before 2015, according to projections in the US government's latest annual report to Congress on China's military capability.Released on 25 March, the report, 'Military Power of the People's Republic of China', suggests that there is now strong political backing for the build-up of a carrier force, with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) "considering building multiple carriers by 2020".It states: "Beginning in early 2006 with the release of China's Eleventh Five Year Plan, [Chinese]-owned media reported high-level government and military official statements on China's intent to build aircraft carriers," adding: "In December 2008, China's Ministry of National Defense spokesman Senior Colonel Huang Xueping said, 'China has vast oceans and it is the sovereign responsibility of China's armed forces to ensure the country's maritime security and uphold the sovereignty of its coastal waters as well as its maritime rights and interests.'"Col Huang added that China is "seriously considering" adding an aircraft carrier to its fleet, because "the aircraft carrier is a symbol of a country's overall national strength, as well as the competitiveness of the country's naval force".

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