China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" (ex-Varyag) commissioned
China's
first aircraft carrier was delivered and commissioned to the People's
Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Tuesday, according to report by National
Defense Ministry's official website.
The Chinese Navy Liaoning aircraft carrier (ex-Varyag)
Overseen
by top Chinese leaders, the carrier, with a name of "Liaoning"
and hull number 16, was officially handed over at a ceremony held in
a naval base of northeast China's Dalian Port.
The Chinese Navy
will probably starting training its naval pilots for aircraft carrier
operations.
It will
take a long time for Chinese fighter pilots to train to land on the
aircraft carrier, which is the most difficult step during training.
The Shenyang J-15 is a carrier-based fighter aircraft currently in
development by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and the 601 Institute
for the PLAN's (Chinese Navy) future aircraft carriers.
While the J-15 is based on Russian-designed Sukhoi Su-33, it is reported
to share a large portions of electronics and avionics with the J-11.
The Chinese Navy Liaoning aircraft carrier (ex-Varyag)