Varyag
Under Construction
Aircraft carrier in China's People's Liberation Army Navy |
History |
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Varyag was to be an Admiral Kuznetsov class multirole aircraft carrier. She was known as Riga when her keel was laid down at Nikolayev South (formerly Shipyard 444) in Nikolayev December 6, 1985, and she was launched December 4, 1988, but she was renamed Varyag (Varangian) in late 1990, after the famous Russian cruiser.
Construction stopped by 1992 with the ship structurally complete but without electronics. Ownership was transferred to Ukraine as the Soviet Union broke up and the ship was laid up unmaintained, then stripped.
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In early 1998, she lacked engines, a rudder, and much of her operating systems. She was put up for auction.
Currently the ship is being examined and repaired by China's People's Liberation
Army Navy (PLAN) after purchasing it at auction. It was widely reported that the ship would become a casino in the Chinese SAR
of Macau. This has been proven incorrect as the ship is in a drydock in Dalian and painted PLAN grey. News reports state that the ship is being refitted to be returned to operational status.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_aircraf
t_carrier_Varyag |
Article in www.cnhangmu.com/zhongguohangmu
Posted by Eric Mu, July 6 2009 |
| A model of a possible future aircraft carrier appeared alongside other new PLA weaponry in a military exhibition in Hong Kong on July 4th, stoking the enthusiasm of Chinese military fans. (The CN Carrier website describes its mission as "giving the construction of a Chinese aircraft carrier a shot of nationalistic steroids.")
According to a report appearing in today's Chongqing Times, the look of the model resembles the Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag, |
which was to be the second Admiral Kuznetsov class carrier before construction was halted and the ship was sold to China, stripped of much of its propulsion system.
Certain parts of the future aircraft carrier's specifications were revealed: the
displacement will to be 53 thousand tons
light, and 67 thousand fully loaded, with a projected speed of 30 knots. |
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Article in http://day.kiev.ua/277204/ Tuesday, 21 July 2009 |
"When the USSR collapsed, the ship became Ukraine’s property. In 1992 the 67-percent-finished Variag was mothballed. In April 1998 she was sold to the Chinese company Chong Lot Travel Agency Ltd at a ridiculous price of 20 million dollars (plus the inevitable and perhaps much larger “kickbacks” received by the then top Ukrainian officials) ostensibly to be converted into a floating entertainment center.
Incidentally, the same company acquired in the same year from the Koreans the former Russian Pacific Fleet’s aircraft carrier Minsk equipped with vertical take-off and landing aircraft, which Moscow had sold off as scrap metal. The Chinese military and engineers examined the aircraft carrier for two years and then made her an entertainment center that fetches a monthly profit of one million dollars.
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But the question is not about Minsk, quite an obsolete ship launched as long ago as 1975 and incapable of carrying supersonic fighters and fighter-bombers. It is about the Variag. It is now intensively being finished (the Chinese have signed a power plant supply contract with French companies), with sea trials scheduled for the next year – without live-fire exercises so far.
Besides, mainland China has already begun to produce the J-10 and J-11B aircraft capable of taking off from and landing on the aircraft carrier. Experts estimate that China will be able to fully commission this powerful ship in five to seven years, which will essentially boost the Chinese Navy’s operational capacity."
About China's People's Liberation Army Navy
Aircraft carriers |
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| Aircraft carried |
J-10
Photo from Chinese internet
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China has already begun to produce the J-10 and J-11B aircraft capable of taking off from and landing on the aircraft carrier
J-10
J-11B
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