The PLA Navy and its carrier conundrum (Opinion)
China launched its third aircraft carrier on 17 June. The Type 003 was indigenously designed and built in China. (Photo: Chinese MND)
China may have launched its third carrier but it has yet to learn much about operating and becoming proficient with them.
The three worlds of defence procurement, politics and entertainment unexpectedly converged to become part of a national discussion with June’s launch of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the CV-18 Fujian.
While it is officially the third carrier in the fleet, and thus not the first to be launched by Beijing, it is still in a class by itself, as it is the force’s only conventional, flattop design.
The next event in proximity to the CV-18’s ‘coming out’ is the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on 24 February, and has turned into a massive, murderous
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