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China's Testing Woes Remind That Developing Carrier Planes Is Hard
 This article reinforces one of the comments Joe Mendiola made yesterday that, "the longer any NE Asia conflict lasts, the more proficient/expert the "rusty" PLA will become". [Wired] The ongoing trials of China's first aircraft carrier and her ship-based jet fighters represent a major leap ahead in capability for the People's Liberation Army Navy. But the hype surrounding Lioaning's debut test cruise last summer and the inaugural landing of her J-15 fighters in late November masks an important truth, one the world's other carrier powers have long known. Developing a flattop and its planes is hard, requiring years of trial and error and no small amount of risk. And while China's ascent as a naval power might seem unstoppable, the saga of China's first seagoing fighter pilots proves otherwise. A lot of things can, have and will go wrong, casting into doubt whether Beijing will possess a truly useful carrier capability any time soon. There have been at least three close calls involving the small force of experimental J-15s since the Chinese navy established its initial carrier aviation task force in late 2006. The accidents and near-accidents are detailed in a remarkable story published this week on the Chinese website Sina -- remarkable because Sina gets its information directly from state-run media outlets, which rarely cop to mistakes on the part of the mighty Chinese military. At great risk to its pilots over a period of years, China had proved it could perform the basic functions of an aircraft carrier. Performing those functions routinely, and safely -- to say nothing of doing them under the stresses of actual combat -- is another matter. If the recent past is any indication, China still has a ways to go before its nominal carrier capability becomes a meaningful one. Posted by: Pappy 2013-03-27 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=364974 |