China's Aircraft Carrier Milestone

At a naval base in Dalian,Liaoning Province in Northeast China,the aircraft carrier Liaoning,China's first,was delivered and commissioned Tuesday.Navy contractor China Shipbuilding Industry Commission endorsed a People's Liberation Army flag for the ship and a naming certificate to Senior Captain Zhang Zheng,commander of the new carrier.Zhang had previously commanded a frigate and destroyer.
The Liaoning is a retrofit of a an old Soviet era vessel,the Varyag.New engines and weapons were installed,and a year of sea trials were carried out.The ship's crew includes more than 50 officers with advanced degrees,as well as female sailors.China is the tenth country in the world to have an aircraft carrier in its navy.
China is currently contesting the ownership of what it calls the Diayou Islands with Japan,but Fang Bing,a professor at the PLA's National Defense University,said the commissioning was unrelated to the territorial issue.Chinese President Hu Jintao and outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao attended the ceremony.
The number and types of aircraft on the Liaoning were not disclosed,although foreign military intelligence will ascertain those facts from satellite photos and other sources.

Chinese Navy Celebrates

The Chinese navy has been marking its 60th anniversary.To celebrate,it held a parade of warships for hundreds of onlookers,including foreign dignitaries.Included in the parade were nuclear submarines,destroyers,frigates and support vessels,as well as navy jets.It was a considerable show of might,but most of the activity took place some distance from shore.The flotilla was a signal to the world that China can now project power internationally,not just near the homeland.The Chinese economy is still growing,providing the wherewithal to sustain deep water operations.This is a growing concern for both the U.S. Navy and China's neighbors.

China Builds Navy Base

China is building a navy base on its southern island of Hainan,according to a Pentagon assessment.The base appears large enough to accommodate a mix of attack and ballistic missile submarines,as well as advanced surface combatant ships,the report states.It goes on to say that the port has underground facilities and would provide the Chinese navy with direct access to vital international sea lanes,and offers the potential for stealthy deployment of the submarines into the deep waters of the South China Sea.China is working toward building its first aircraft carrier,and is augmenting its fleet of attack submarines.China is also building up its stock of highly accurate cruise missiles.This military expansion is regarded as curious,since no one is directly threatening China at the moment.Just what these programs are for remains a puzzle to the Defense Department analysts.

Navy Cancels Program

The Navy has canceled its DDG1000 destroyer program.Only three of the advanced,stealthy ships will be built.The U.S. Marine Corps had desired them for fire support,but the combination of rising costs and a shift in priorities to ballistic missile defense led the Navy to return to its DDG51 program,the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers.Paul Francis of the Government Accountability Office said it was a painful decision for the Navy to truncate the DDG 1000.It was a business case that wasn't executable.Why do ship systems get approved that can't be built for the money estimated?Representative Joe Sestak(D-Pennsylvania),a retired admiral,said we were going to the littorals;now we're going back to the blue seas.Mine is a statement of disappointment in the process.Whither the Navy of the future?The Navy hopes to restart the DDG51 in 2009.It wants a fleet of 313 ships by 2017.Besides ballistic missile defense,it is concerned about the Chinese navy build-up and detecting quiet submarines.