The Diplomat:
The carrier strike group led by the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) sole operational aircraft carrier, the 60,000-ton Liaoning, a retrofitted Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov-class multirole aircraft carrier, has achieved initial operational capability, according to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.
“The carrier group’s exercises have been deepened to include combat operations in the open seas. It has initially formed a system combat capability,” Ren Guoqiang, spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense, said at a press conference on May 31 without elaborating. The carrier strike group’s “comprehensive system of offense and defense has been effectively tested,” he added.
Last week, PLAN pilots conducted night landings on the Liaoning with Shenyang J-15 multirole fighter jets, which the official China Daily hailed as a “huge leap towards gaining full combat capability.” As I noted repeatedly in the past, the aircraft carrier, commissioned in 2012, principally serves as a test platform for future Chinese naval aviation and carrier operations
