Writing in 2010 after several years of reporting from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Australian journalist Richard McGregor observed that much of the country’s character comes from the influence of Russian communists who helped them create their state after the 1949 Chinese Revolution. For all the changes that had taken place to transform China since Deng Xiaoping, he said at the time, the modern Chinese state “still runs on Soviet hardware.”
One of the examples of how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) mirrors the Soviet past is that their nation was born from a penchant for what Russians used to call “giagantomania.”
The term refers to the tendency within totalitarian states to create abnormally and superfluously large structures or organizations. This practice was a dominant aspect of political and cultural life in the Soviet Union.
Not to be outdone, the PRC has taken this practice to heart with the plan in the works to now build the world’s largest aircraft carrier. Satellite photos of the ship show its mass. The vessel will be the fourth carrier to enter service with the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the third to be built by the Chinese.
The first aircraft carrier, the CV 16 Liaoning, was purchased as the Varyag from the Nikolayev Shipyards in Ukraine before being sent to Dalian for a complete re-fit.
Size Matters on Aircraft Carriers
This new Type 004 aircraft carrier is currently under construction at the same Dalian shipyards where the Varyag was transformed into the Liaoning. Reports are that it will be the first PLAN carrier to run on nuclear propulsion, comparable in size to the latest United States Navy Gerald R. Ford-class carriers.
This carrier is touted as a next-generation vessel that will have four catapult launch positions from the flight deck, the first PLAN carrier to be capable of launching that many aircraft at once. This ship is the second “flattop” design ever built in the PRC and has a distinctly different design from the Type 003 Fujian carrier, which has only three launch points and is smaller than this latest ship.
The Type 004 ship’s overall size makes it possible to have a higher number of launch points—84,000 long tons for the Fujian v. more than 110,000 for this newest carrier design. This size also makes a significant difference in the number of aircraft that this larger ship can carry, estimated at up to 100.
Entering The Construction Phase
Construction of the newest carrier is still assessed as not fully underway, but there has been evidence that full-scale production is imminent. Some satellite imagery reveals what is believed to be a potential aircraft carrier module for the Type 004 at the Xianglujiao drydock in Dalian.
The same section of the facility was used to maintain the Liaoning and Shandong (CV 17) carriers. This module is most likely a port foredeck segment that shows grooves for catapults. However, there is somewhat of a mystery in that the twin catapults on the starboard side are parallel, but in what might be the port module, these grooves are crossed.
At the same time, test sections of the C3 and C4 catapults were seen near Dalian No. 2 Factory Dock, where the Shandong was built. These modules are identical to the test section of the Hudong 076 catapult, which was first identified in other satellite photos at the end of 2022.
A mock-up of a Shenyang J-15 carrier-capable fighter was also reported in the same area of the shipyards, all of which leads to the conclusion that these are the catapult modules for the Type 004.
It is also possible that these sections could be test modules and not necessarily the sign the full-scale construction of the ship has commenced. There is significant activity on the worksite, but there is no consensus on what stage of construction the ship is actually in.
There were subsequent reports that the nuclear reactor for the aircraft carrier was being developed at the Nuclear Power Institute of China’s (NPIC) Site No. 1, also designated as Base 909, in Muchengin in early 2025.
These reports also stated that a prototype reactor had been built on land, and the satellite pictures prove that NPIC’s Site No. 1 was the reactor’s location.
The program moves forward at a fast pace, nonetheless, as does the expansion of the PLAN.
An executive at one of the most well-known carrier engineering firms in the US explained to 19FortyFive, “It is not very clear that the Chinese want a bluewater navy, but they are going to have a substantial naval aviation capacity before too long.”
Meet the Author: Defense Expert Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
