China Navy Liaoning aircraft carrier group conducts sea training exercises in Pacific Ocean.

According to a video published on the Twitter account of TheNihilist911 on December 19, 2021, the Chinese navy aircraft carrier group led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier is deployed to the Pacific Ocean to conduct high seas training exercises.
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Chinese navy aircraft carrier group led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier is deployed to the Pacific Ocean. (Picture source China MoD)

According to Japanese military sources, the Liaoning aircraft carrier group includes a Type 055 large destroyer, a Type 054A frigate, a Type 901 comprehensive supply ship as well as a Type 052D destroyer.

According to the Chinese Navy, the Liaoning aircraft carrier group will conduct vessel-based helicopter takeoff and landing exercises in the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and hold vessel-based fighter jet takeoff and landing exercises in the Pacific Ocean.

The Liaoning or Type 001 is the first aircraft carrier that was commissioned into the Chinese Navy. China’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning (Type 001) entered service in 2012.

The Liaoning is a refurbished ex-Ukrainian aircraft carrier that China purchased from Ukraine in 1998 as an unfinished ship. It is conventionally powered, has an estimated full load displacement of 60,000 to 66,000 tons, and reportedly can accommodate 36 aircraft including 24 Shenyang J-15 fighters, six Changhe Z-18F anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters, four Changhe Z-18J airborne early warning helicopters, and two Harbin Z-9C rescue helicopters. The Liaoning lacks aircraft catapults and instead launches fixed-wing airplanes off the ship’s bow using an inclined “ski ramp.”

The Liaoning aircraft carrier is armed with the Flying Leopard 3000 Naval (FL-3000N) missile system and Type 1030 close-in weapon system (CIWS). Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) is supported by ASW rocket launchers.

The Flying Leopard 3000 Naval (FL-3000N) was first revealed to the public at the 7th Zhuhai Airshow at the end of 2008. The FL-3000N system uses the HHQ-10 (Red Flag 10) naval surface-to-air missile developed from the TY-90 missile. The FL-3000N consists of an eight-cell missile launcher similar to the US Navy's Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) missile system. The purpose of this air defense missile is to take out incoming threats such as anti-ship missiles, rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. For that purpose, several missiles can be fired near simultaneously at the same target at ranges between 500 to 6,000 meters.

In November 2020, Navy Recognition has reported that the Chinese Navy has qualified the first batch of new J-15 fighter jet pilots who were directly recruited from high school and trained specifically to fly carrier-based aircraft.

The Shenyang J-15 is a 4th generation, twin-jet, all-weather, carrier-based fighter aircraft in development by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and the 601 Institute for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy's aircraft carriers.

The J-15 is armed with one 30 mm GSh-30-1 cannon with 150 rounds and carrier a wide range of bombs, rockets and missiles on twelve external hardpoints, including eight PL-12 or R-77 air-to-air missiles, and four PL-9 or R-73 air-to-air missiles, or PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile as well as YJ-62 or Kh-41 anti-ship missiles and YJ-91 supersonic anti-ship missile.