One key area of improvement is the arsenal carried by the new vessels. Older surface combatants carry variants of the YJ-83 anti-submarine cruise missile (ASCM, 65 nm, 120 km). The newer ones such as the LUYANG II DDGs are fitted with the YJ-62 (150 nm, 222 km) ASCM while the latest vessels such as LUYANG III DDG and RENHAI missile cruiser (CG) are fitted with a variant of China’s newest ASCM, the YJ-18 (290 nm, 537 km).

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In particular, the RENHAI-class Type 055 CG just unveiled in June 2017 has caught the attention of military observers. The 128 missiles it carries in vertical cells make it the surface warship with the largest weapons-loadout in the Pacific region. More importantly, armed with the long-range supersonic YJ-18 and YJ-12 over the horizon (OTH) anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), the Chinese cruiser currently out-competes US Arleigh Burke class destroyers and the bigger Ticonderoga class cruisers, highlighting a major failure in US Navy planning that stretches back to the 1990s. Both ships rely on fewer and shorter-range Harpoon anti-ship missiles (ASMs) and on aircraft carriers that are themselves vulnerable to China’s ballistic missiles. The US Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), under development since 2009, would right the balance, but not for years to come, and meanwhile China will continue improving its capabilities. Reaction times to the latest supersonic and hypersonic anti-ship weapons can be as short as 15-30 seconds.[6] With the Type 055 cruiser, China has caught up with, or surpassed, the other Pacific powers in terms of sheer seagoing firepower.

 

In 2015, ONI stated that, until recently, “China’s force modernization has concentrated on improving the quality of its force, rather than its size. Quantities of major combatants have stayed relatively constant, but their combat capability has greatly increased as older combatants are replaced by larger, multi-mission ships.”[7] With the quality now catching up, however, some categories of ships are set to increase in number over the next few years.

 

Indeed, the launching of new vessels has picked up speed in recent years. In 2014 alone, more than 60 naval ships and craft were laid down, launched, or commissioned. In 2016, the PLA Navy commissioned 18 ships, including a Type 052D guided missile destroyer, three Type 054A guided missile frigates as well as six Type 056 corvettes. In January 2017 alone, the Navy commissioned three ships—one destroyer, one electronic reconnaissance ship and one corvette.[8]

 

Despite the increase in number, however, the Chinese fleet still lags behind the US and barely exceeds Japan based on overall number of seagoing vertical missile cells, a useful shorthand for naval power. China’s 39 modern destroyers and frigates — excluding the Type 055 — together can deploy around 1,500 cells. This is significantly less than the nearly 5,000 missile cells possessed by the US Pacific Fleet’s 36 Burkes and 12 Ticonderogas but marginally more than the 1,000 cells carried by Japan’s 19 modern destroyers.[9]

 

Another notable area of improvement on PLAN newer surface ships is their shipboard air defence. Instead of the legacy destroyers and frigates’ point air defence capability with a range of just several miles, the newer vessels are equipped with medium-to-long range area air defence missiles. This will become critical as the PLAN expands operations into distant seas beyond the range of shore-based air defence systems.

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Aircraft Carriers

 

Despite the current operational emphasis on small and advanced fast-attack vessels, however, China is still set to add more carriers to its fleet. Carriers are important because they help to enable task group operations in “far seas.” Moreover, carriers have a certain great-power aura because so few countries have them. As a start, PLAN will need at least three aircraft carriers so that one can be on active duty, one can train personnel, and the third can receive maintenance.[10] Chinese military strategists, however, point out that to protect China’s territories and overseas interests, China needs two carrier strike groups in the West Pacific Ocean and two in the Indian Ocean. Hence, China needs at least five to six aircraft carriers.[11]

 

Based on current rate of construction, China can produce 6 aircraft carriers by 2030. As of end of 2017, China has begun testing the second carrier (Type 001A, speculated to be eventually named Shandong) which is slated to begin sea trial in 2019 and to be commissioned in 2020. Even though this Type 001A second carrier is produced indigenously, it is still a slightly modified version of Liaoning. One key difference is that the design will be more ‘humanised,’ which means all personnel on the carrier will enjoy a more comfortable and modern environment. Second, the control-tower superstructure also appears to have been modified to accommodate new radars and masts. More significantly, its larger hangar and a different flight deck arrangement allow 001A to embark up to 35 J-15 carrier-based fighters, as opposed to 24 on the Liaoning.[12]

 

Despite the improvements, China’s second aircraft carrier remains far from the state-of-the-art. One deficiency is that it uses the same simple ramp, known as a ‘ski-jump’, adopted by Liaoning instead of the catapults to launch aircraft into the sky. Great Britain, India and Russia use similar ramps because of their technical simplicity and significantly lower cost. The disadvantage with the use of the ski-ramp is that PLAN’s only carrier fighter J-15 must carry less than full load of bombs or fuel to be able to take off. This limits the two carriers’ combat effectiveness. J-15 is the first carrier-based fighter China spent more than a decade developing based on a prototype of a fourth-generation Russian Sukhoi Su-33 that is now more than 30 years old. With a maximum take-off weight of 33 tonnes, J-15 is the heaviest active carrier-based fighter jet in the world. Even the US Navy’s new generation C13-2 steam catapult launch engines, installed on Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, would struggle to launch the aircraft efficiently. [13]

 

Moreover, the same weight limit problem is extended to other larger and heavier aircrafts like the airborne early warning aircraft or on-board delivery aircraft. The PLAN currently operates a version of the Changhe Z-18 transport helicopter fitted with a multimode active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar on board the Liaoning as its airborne early warning platform. Compared to a fixed-wing turboprop aircraft like the Hawkeye, a helicopter has significantly reduced endurance and operating altitude, which results in a significantly reduced time on station and radar range, respectively.

 

To solve the problem, PLAN has to come up with an electromagnetic aircraft launcher system (EMALS) which can only be installed on a nuclear-powered carrier because of its high power consumption. This indeed is likely to be one of the major improvements for the third aircraft carrier designated Type 002 rumoured to be currently under construction in Shanghai. Type 002 is much bigger, probably nuclear powered and will be much more like US aircraft carriers in both form and function. More importantly, it will feature an advanced EMALS which China has succeeded in developing after it acquired the ability to produce a key component used in high-efficiency electric energy conversion systems. The indigenously developed EMALS, touted to be more advanced and more reliable than the system used on the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, has been shown to be able to catapult the J-15 fighter more easily and efficiently.  More significantly, in addition to giving J-15 additional range and payload, the EMALS could also allow the carrier to carry fixed wing Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aircraft. This will in the end help to increase the combat power of the entire Chinese carrier group.[14]

 

In addition, PLAN has also developed a medium-voltage, direct-current transmission network to replace an earlier system based on alternating current. The new power-generating system not only permits the use of the new EMALS without resorting to nuclear power but could also allow future PLAN warships to be armed with modern high-energy arsenal like electromagnetic rail guns and directed-energy weapons. [15]

 

Meanwhile, there are also talks about adding fifth-generation fighters J-20 and J-31 to China's future straight-deck aircraft carriers equipped with the EMALS. J-31, a stealth fighter, is also known by its official name Shenyang FC-31. It made its debut in Zhuhai Airshow in 2014 offered to overseas buyers as an alternative to the American F-35.[16] Both J-20 and J-31 are originally designed for the PLAAF but can be modified (e.g. with folding wings and reinforced landing gear) and deployed as carrier fighters.[17]

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