- China's state media has been cheering the country's carrier-based fighters — the Shenyang J-15 Flying Sharks, but the fighter may be a hindrance to China's broader carrier ambitions.
- The aircraft is too big, too heavy, and too unreliable for carrier operations. These issues, together with deficiencies in China's carrier capabilities, could prove difficult to overcome.
- China also appears to be lacking a sufficient number of carrier-based fighters. There are rumors that the country intends to replace the fourth-generation fighters with a more suitable alternative.
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China is boosting its aircraft carrier power, but this fighter jet may be holding it back
China's state media has been cheering the country's carrier-based fighters — the Shenyang J-15 Flying Sharks, but the fighter may actually be a hindrance to China's big carrier ambitions.
China is touting its improved aircraft carrier capabilities, but one of the biggest obstacles to having the world's second-most powerful carrier fleet remains its troubled carrier-based fighter — the J-15 Flying Shark.
Striving to build a blue-water navy suitable for global operations, China expects to have four operational carrier battle groups within the next decade. China already has one active carrier, another undergoing sea trials, and another one in development. Experts speculate that while the first two appear to be limited in their combat capabilities, the third carrier could be a "huge step forward."
In several state media publications, China cheered its carrier-based fighter jet force for achieving "breakthroughs" since its establishment a little over five years ago. Chinese media said Navy pilots have qualified to take off and land the J-15 fighter on the Liaoning, China's first and only active aircraft carrier. "
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The J-15 is far from the most suitable aircraft for carrier operations. Not only is it too big and too heavy, with an unarmed take-off weight of 17.5 tons as compared to the US F/A-18 Super Hornet's 14.6 tons, but it can be rather unreliable. Problems with the aircraft, especially the flight control systems, are believed to be behind several fatal training accidents, the Asia Times reported.
The weight issues really come into play on a ship like the Liaoning, which uses a
The J-15, a reverse engineered version of a Soviet-era prototype, is rumored to be getting a new engine, which could boost its capabilities, but a new carrier-based fighter will eventually be necessary. China is reportedly considering replacing the fourth-generation fighter jets with a lighter and more capable aircraft. Nonetheless, Chinese military experts expect the J-15 to "
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