Written by Brian Kalman exclusively
for SouthFront; Brian Kalman is a management professional in
the marine transportation industry. He was an officer in the US Navy for eleven
years. He currently resides and works in the Caribbean.
Introduction
The world has witnessed the rapid growth of a small, but
increasingly capable Peoples’ Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Aircraft Carrier
program. The Chinese government bought a semi-completed aircraft carrier from
Ukraine in 1998, the Kiev Class Varyag, and used
the platform to launch its first aircraft carrier in 2012. Named the LiaoningCV-16,
the vessel was developed into the nation’s first training platform to test the
abilities of China’s first generation of carrier borne naval aviators. With no
prior history of such operations, unlike the navies of the United States,
Britain or Japan, it was seen by many analysts as extremely ambitious. Many
western pundits criticized the PLAN’s aspirations as either impossible to
obtain or as a sign of a growing expansionism.
With many naval analysts and strategists pointing to the
current obsolescence of the aircraft carrier as a decisive asset in modern
naval warfare, the question arises, why is China investing so much effort and
treasure in developing a viable aircraft carrier force? Furthermore, how do
they plan to employ such a force? China has spent the past two and a half
decades developing a fledgling aircraft carrier force, complete with naval
crews, flight deck experts, and naval aviators in a move most closely comparable
to the Imperial Japanese Navy’s similar, determined course in the 1920s and
1930s. While developing an impressive ballistic missile force, including
hundreds of long range anti-ship ballistic missiles, arguably aimed
predominantly at defeating U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups, China has also
decided to develop an aircraft carrier force of its own. Why?
In order to answer this question, one has to take a
deeper look at China’s overall defensive strategy, especially in maritime
terms. As detailed in an earlier analysis titled “China’s Maritime Strategic Realignment”, China is
increasingly concentrating on securing its maritime lines of communication and
supply. The development of the One Belt One Road trade initiative demands that
China secure increasingly vital maritime trade lanes that will ensure future
prosperity and power, not only for the Middle Kingdom, but for innumerable
Chinese trade partners and allies. How can China best secure these long
maritime trade lanes and the numerous port facilities and transportation hubs
at various points along this new maritime Silk Road? ........Read rest of
article: HERE
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