Hu Wenming, Chairman of the China State Shipbuilding Corp said that the company has played a main role in equipping China’s first aircraft carrier in the past and is now ready to build more seagoing airbases. Wenming added that China is only one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council to not have an aircraft carrier wholly developed by itself.
The company designed and made aeronautical support systems for the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier. The Liaoning used elements of the Soviet Union’s Varyag warship for its refitting and was commissioned on September 25, 2012.
Hu said, “We must enhance our independent weapons and equipment research and production capacity to match the country’s clout and independently build our own aircraft carriers”. The chairman attended the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this month.
The 55-year-old chairman declined to comment how many carriers his company will build and when they would build them. However, Hu has suggested that the country develops carriers using what he called ‘the catapult stroke technology’ on the flight deck. The Liaoning is more than 300 meters long and more than 70 meters wide. The chairman also declined to reveal how many people were involved in the project to equip the carrier.
