Operational Carrier News

China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier headed out for sea trials on May 13, Chinese state media reported. The report said that the new aircraft carrier, temporarily named Type 001A, sailed out at around 7 a.m. in Dalian, in the northeast province of Liaoning. The Chinese Navy — officially the People’s Liberation Army Navy — already has one operational carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought unfinished from Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. So, the 50,000-tonne ship will become the country's second aircraft carrier, and the first to be entirely built and designed inside of China, when it joins the navy sometime before 2020. State media reports say China is also planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of remaining at sea for long durations.

A team from Northrop Grumman Newport News reinstalled USS Carl Vinson's (CVN 70) arresting gear engines into the ship's flight deck, June 6. The arresting gear engines were placed onto the ship's flight deck via cranes at the ship’s new location at Pier 3, completing another major milestone for the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier during its Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH) at Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard. “This has been a total team effort,” said Gray Milteer, aircraft launch and recovery equipment superintendent for Northrop Grumman Newport News. “These are the largest arresting gear components we’ve installed to date, and every trades department has supported this project over the past 18 months.