Study the photo: China flexes its aircraft carrier “muscles”.

What you need to know: China recently demonstrated its naval power with its first dual aircraft carrier training exercise involving Liaoning and Shandong carriers in the South China Sea, featuring a dozen J-15 fighters and a strong escort fleet.

-This exercise marks the evolution of China’s aircraft carrier ambitions, rooted in decades of study, including insights gained from the former HMAS Melbourne and the Soviet era Varyag (now Liaoning).

-With the anticipated addition of Fujian and potential nuclear-powered carriers, the PLAN aims to expand its carrier fleet to six by the mid-2030s, underscoring China’s commitment to strengthening its naval power.

Going to PLAN: China Conducts First Dual Carrier Training Exercise

For Beijing, everything was going to plan for the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Just over a decade ago, The Type 001 Liaoning entered service – becoming China’s first aircraft carrier. Now, this week, PLAN has made its first dual aircraft carrier training exercise in the South China Sea as the Type 001 operated alongside the Type 002 Shandong like a dozen Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark carrier-based fighters flew overhead.

The carriers were supported by three Type 055 guided missile destroyers (DDGs), five Type 052D DDGs and one Type 054A guided missile frigate (FFG). Also present were a pair of Type 091 Combat Fast Supply Ships, which respectively support the PLAN’s deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs).

It was meant to be a massive display of Chinese naval military power and one that was shared with the masses on state broadcaster CCTV as well as via the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

“The event is notable also to the extent that CV-17 Shandong has been in service for five years now. Other naval services have previously taken the opportunity to show newly commissioned carriers operating together.” Naval News reportedand further highlighted how Britain’s Royal Navy saw its Queen Elizabeth class operating together, as did India with the INS. Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya just last year.

Beijing took a bit longer to conduct its dual carrier training exercise.

The origins of the Chinese aircraft carrier program

What is remarkable about Beijing’s transport ambitions is that they go back decades. However, Chinese shipbuilding capabilities could not match these ambitions, and instead it gained experience slow and steady.

In 1985, Beijing bought the former Australian HMAS Melbourne (R21), a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier that was operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1955 to 1982. It was the third and last conventional carrier used by the RAN.

The warship had been laid down as HMS Majestic during World War II and was launched in 1945. She was nearing completion when the war ended and work progressed slowly, however many lessons learned during the war relating to carrier design and operation were then incorporated into the ship’s modernization program. The ship, which was actually designed as a “disposable warship” to be decommissioned after the war ended, soon found life with the RAN.

After decades in service, followed by time spent in a stranded state, the ship was officially decommissioned and sold for scrap to China for $1.4 billion. However, when the ship arrived in China in 1985 for the scrapping project, engineers studied the World War II warship in detail. The ship was obsolete by that time, and the Australians had removed all modern and sensitive technology, but this did not prevent Chinese engineers from taking a special interest in equipment such as Melbourneits catapults, arresting wires and the aircraft’s elevators/elevators.

The flight deck was not only studied, but was also dismantled and put ashore where PLAN pilots used it for landing practice. It was copied and a replica was used to launch aircraft. Much of the carrier remained in existence until at least 1994 and provided Beijing with valuable information about the carrier’s operations. Scrapping efforts did not begin in earnest until 1994 and took several years to complete.

The next big leap forward in carrier-based technology came after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Enter type 001

Launched in November 1988, the unfinished Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Varyag it was transferred to Ukraine in 1992 – but Kiev failed to complete the vessel and instead sold it to Chinese military basketball star-turned-business tycoon Xu Zengping.

It was designated scrap, while the official plan was to turn it into a floating casino. However, Xu had another idea; carrier could be completed for PLAN.

Conformable a 2015 report from The Diplomat, the cost of the hulk and its transit to Macao cost $120, “small change for a government, but a staggering sum for an individual. Xu bet that a grateful Beijing would add the ship to the PLAN and reimburse them. for that.”

As the story goes, Beijing accepted the carrier but never paid Xu! Instead, China was gifted with what would become its first carrier.

Beijing eventually renovated the ship as Shi Lan before being renamed Liaoningafter his northeastern province. Completed in 2012, the Type 001 enabled the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to begin its first carrier program, leading to the development of the domestically built Type 002. Shandong.

Last August, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) completed three sea trials of its Type 003. Fujianits second domestically built aircraft carrier – and the first to be equipped with advanced electromagnetic catapults that are used to launch aircraft.

The PLAN has revealed a void to have six carriers in service by the mid-2030s, and Beijing is expected to soon unveil plans for a fourth aircraft carrier. Speculation is rife that the next carrier could be nuclear powered, indicating that China will continue to improve its naval capabilities.

Experience and expertise of the author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a writer from Michigan. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites with more than 3,200 articles published over a twenty-year career in journalism. He writes regularly on military hardware, firearms history, cyber security, politics and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: (email protected).

All images are from the Chinese military.