- China has one "combat ready" aircraft carrier, another one undergoing preparation for service, and another one still in development.
- The Liaoning, an old Soviet heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser refitted to become China's first aircraft carrier, and the Type 001A, China's first indigenously-produced aircraft carrier, are both limited in their combat capabilities due to several glaring weaknesses.
- Striving to enhance the power of its carrier fleet, China is trying to overcome problems with its engines, launch system, pilots, carrier-based fighters, and knowledge of carrier operations.
- China has a third carrier in the works, and it is expected to be a "huge step forward" for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, as it may be a flattop that begins to close the technology gap between China and its main competitor.
The capabilities of China's current carrier force are severely limited by several serious weaknesses, making it vastly inferior to the US Navy, but the one it has in the works is where the world could start to see the Chinese navy closing the gap with its primary competitor.
China only has one aircraft carrier - the Type 001 Liaoning - in service. But that carrier, known as the sister ship of Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, recognized as one of the worst carrier's in the world, is "not very impressive," said Matthew Funaiole, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Originally a Soviet "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser," China obtained the vessel from the Ukraine under questionable circumstances in the late 1990s, upgraded and refitted it domestically over the next decade, and officially commissioned it into the People's Liberation Army Navy in 2012.
China declared the carrier combat ready in November 2016, according to a CSIS China Power Project report. While the ship has participated in and led live-fire exercises, it primarily serves as a training vessel.
"For what the Liaoning is, I think it's pretty good at its job," Funaiole said. "They purchased it, they reverse engineered it, they used it to design their second aircraft carrier, and now they are using it as a training vessel to sort out carrier operations, figure out how to integrate it into the fleet, and determine what kind of supporting vessels they need to put with the carrier for their mission."
China's first domestically developed aircraft carrier, the Type 001A, is seen at a port in Dalian
China launched a second carrier, the Type 001A, earlier this year. That ship, similar to its predecessor, is "improved in some places," Funaiole said, "It has a newer radar, it's a little bit bigger, the flight deck is a little bit bigger, the island is a bit smaller, so they have more space."
"It definitely has some technology upgrades on it," he added.
There's also a third carrier - the Type 002 - in the works, and while it may be a significant step up, for now, China's carrier force faces several glaring weaknesses that limit its capabilities.