According to satellite imagery acquired and analyzed by an American think tank, China is constructing the first full-size aircraft carrier.
According to the April image provided by Reuters by the Center for International Strategic Studies (CSIS), the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai has been busy building a large ship for the past six months.
Despite recent hints from the official media, China has not officially confirmed that it is building a third aircraft carrier. The schedule and scale of its aircraft carrier plan are still state secrets.
The Pentagon said last week that the work has started, but it has only been relevant until now.
Military and regional security analysts in Asia and the West are searching for information on the aircraft carrier. It may be China's first large modern aircraft carrier capable of leading all actions to combat the group.
The CSIS image shows that the front end of the aircraft carrier's bow is 30 meters (98 feet) wide and the other part of the hull is 41 meters wide. The gantry crane is looming above it.
Analysts said that this may be the aircraft carrier that China calls the 002. The aircraft carrier is slightly smaller than the US 100,000-ton aircraft carrier, but larger than the French 4,500,000-ton "Carrefour" aircraft carrier.
There are several assembly plants with a large number of football fields nearby. The project seems to be continuing in the “dipable canal”, perhaps to allow the hull to float to the nearby Yangtze River estuary after the hull is completed.
“Although the details of the 002 aircraft carrier are limited, the situation observed at the Jiangnan Shipyard is in line with the third aircraft carrier that the People’s Liberation Army may build,” said the “China Power” analysis article published on the CSIS website on Tuesday.
CSIS analyst Matthew Funaiole told Reuters that there was no way to determine the image at the end of last year, but it is now clear that the work is going on.
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