China's Varyag Aircraft Carrier (Photo from Pakistan Defense)From Defense Tech:
After more than a decade of speculation about China obtaining an aircraft carrier, there appears to be some movement in that direction -- although not related to procurement of a ship. Rather, there are reports that 50 Chinese naval officers have begun a pilot training program at the Dalian Naval Academy to provide a cadre of carrier-based aviators.
The Chinese Navy already has a large, shore-based air force, which includes more than 400 aircraft, mostly fighter/attack types, but also a score of Chinese-produced Tu-16 Badger strike aircraft as well as training and transport aircraft. There are some 26,000 personnel assigned to the naval air arm, according to the web site "Periscope."
The training program for the 50 students is reported by some sources to cover a four-year period. The training will largely be conducted at the Faculty of Automation Engineering at the Dalian school, which in one of several Chinese naval education institutions. The students will also learn seamanship alongside their colleagues who will become surface ship and submarine specialists.
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My Comment: In the short and medium term, this Chinese carrier program will not be impressive. But after doing business with China for 20 years, the one thing that I know about them is that they do everything with a very long term point of view ..... 20 years and up. I am sure that they are approaching the development of a carrier strike force with this type of time frame. If that is the case .... and I believe that it is .... in 20 or 30 years the Chinese will have a carrier fleet that will be impressive.