Expert: China's aircraft carrier may use upgraded version of J-11 fighters

China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is over 300 meters long and over 70 meters wide. The distance from the keel to the top of the mainmast is over 60 meters. There are 10 decks below the main deck, and nine levels of island-style superstructures above the main deck, making the aircraft carrier look like a 20-story building. The Liaoning has a normal displacement of more than 50,000 tons.

Aircraft carriers top all other types of large ships in tonnage, size, and operational capability, and are hailed as "floating airports." The island-style superstructures at the starboard side of an aircraft carrier are the command center for flight-deck operations, as well as the ship as a whole.

Modern carrier-based aircraft take off in mainly three ways: catapult assisted takeoff, ski-jump takeoff, and vertical takeoff. The Liaoning can carry fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters as designed.

Although there are no carrier-based aircraft on the flight deck of the Liaoning, the aircraft carrier is fully equipped for aircraft takeoff and landing.

City at sea with restaurants, bars, post office, and supermarket

The modern aircraft carrier is widely referred to as a "city at sea," and living on an aircraft carrier is like living in a small society. There are restaurants, supermarket, post office, laundry room, gym, garbage disposal station, and both noisy and quiet bars on the Liaoning, offering the crew a relatively convenient living environment
Challenge: Landing on an aircraft carrier is like landing on a postage stamp

Military expert Li Li said in an interview with the CCTV that in the short term, the Liaoning will be mainly used for scientific research and the training of aircraft carrier pilots.

Li added that a new generation of carrier pilots and excellent military officers will be trained on the Liaoning aircraft carrier, which will be the cradle of China's naval talent.

Li Jie, a researcher at the Naval Military Art Studies Institute, previously said that there are mainly two ways to train pilots. The first way is conducting most training directly on aircraft carriers using aircraft from primary through advanced training aircraft, which is adopted by the United States. The other way is conducting training on land for some time and then on board, which is adopted by China and many other countries.  
Expert: Carrier-based aircraft is upgraded version of domestic J-11 fighters

There has been a lot of speculation about the aircraft, which will be deployed on the Liaoning. Military expert Yin Zhuo said in an interview with the CCTV that the type of the carrier-based aircraft has already been determined. It will take off from a ski-jump runway. It is a heavy-duty aircraft, and has an operational capability comparable to that of the Jian-11BS and Su-30 fighter aircraft.

Du Wenlong, a researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, said the aircraft deployed on China's first aircraft carrier must be an upgraded version of domestic J-11 fighters.