Battle over the ocean
The world's oceans cover more than 70 percent of the earth's surface: controlling it is sometimes just as important as controlling the land. It should be added here that strong economic growth in Asia has made the South China Sea one of the most important (in terms of trade) region of the Earth. The interests of the United States and China, however, are not limited to this. The Celestial Empire, for example, has hooked African countries into the credit game and now really wants to completely control (as much as possible) the black continent. Of course, all this requires not only money, but also powerful naval forces. The second is impossible without the first.
So far, the Russian fleet is firmly holding the second place in terms of total potential among all naval forces. But this is achieved mainly due to the marine component of the nuclear triad. There are strategic submarines of Project 667BDRM "Dolphin", which are gradually becoming obsolete: they are being replaced by the fourth generation submarines of Project 955 "Borey", equipped with the Bulava, which, by the way, was recently adopted. The Russian fleet is developing, but this is incomparable with the strengthening of the Chinese Navy. Suffice it to say that the Chinese have already received two aircraft carriers at their disposal (although the second is still being tested).
The main thing is aircraft carriers
There is no point in debating the role of aircraft carriers in modern naval warfare. The tactical potential of the fleet, in fact, is built around them, as well as universal amphibious ships. Suffice it to recall the distant World War II, and specifically the Pacific theater of military operations. And the role played by the aircraft carriers of Japan and the United States. Today their importance has only grown. Frigates and destroyers, even the most advanced ones, will perform rather protective functions in a major (but not nuclear) war. Without air cover, they are still very convenient targets for enemy aircraft.
The Chinese are well aware of this, although, again, they do not forget to build destroyers and frigates with new guided missile weapons. It is important to emphasize one point here: do not underestimate and do not overestimate the Chinese fleet. The aircraft carrier Liaoning is the most striking confirmation of this. This is one of the few large non-American aircraft carriers and also one of the most controversial ships in general. As you know, it was built on the basis of the Soviet "Varyag" project 1143.6 bought by China. Frankly, the entire family of Project 1143 ships has always been criticized. The built aircraft carriers did not have launch catapults and carried relatively few aircraft. The new aircraft carrier, Project 001A Shandong, is already a purely Chinese development, but it essentially became the development of the same Varyag (or Admiral Kuznetsov, if it is more convenient). With all its pros and cons.
The main thing: in both cases, the Chinese chose not the best path, making the J-15 fighter, a copy of the Soviet Su-33, as the basis of the air group. This is a fairly large aircraft, even against the background of its "land" counterparts. Why they didn't buy the MiG-29K in Russia is unclear. The Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post recently reported that the Celestial Empire is developing a new carrier-based fighter to replace the J-15, which has proved to be not the best after a number of problems.“Malfunctions in the flight control systems of the J-15 led to at least four accidents, the death of one pilot and the serious injury of another,” the newspaper notes. Recall that in April 2016, 29-year-old pilot Zhang Chao died after trying to save the car. The flight control system failed during a training landing on deck. There is nothing surprising if such "childhood diseases" visit a fundamentally new technique. It's unpleasant when you have to fight with them on developments almost half a century ago. Frankly speaking, the J-15 was morally outdated even before its first flight, and replacing it is a quite sensible idea.
What exactly is another question. It's hard to believe in the deck version of the very large and very strange from a purely conceptual side of the J-20. A more likely choice seems to be some kind of deck version of another Chinese five - the mysterious J-31. The attitude towards him, in general, is also ambiguous. Earlier it was reported that the J-31 will have the Russian RD-93 engine - an export modification of the RD-33, which received the MiG-29. Afterburner thrust is about 9000 kgf. The RD-93 cannot be called a fifth-generation engine - it does not allow for supersonic flight in cruising non-afterburner mode. That is, first, the Chinese will need to create their own "super engine", and only then talk about the start of production of the J-31 and the possibility of the appearance of its deck version.
Actually, in April of this year, the Chinese media reported that Chinese designers had already begun developing a carrier-based version of the J-31 fighter for an aircraft carrier equipped with a catapult take-off system. There is only one option here - the promising aircraft carrier Type 002, which was laid down quite recently. It is a kind of mega-aircraft carrier, conceptually more similar to the American Nimitz and Gerald Ford than to the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov. More than once it was reported that he should receive a steam or electromagnetic catapult, although in terms of its displacement it will be inferior to the American giants. The ship can supposedly be built by 2021, but this seems unlikely. China has no experience in creating such ships.
Boats and rockets
The Chinese submarine fleet, which we have already talked about, looks in general about the same as the surface one. A lot here is tied to Soviet, now outdated technologies. A series of strategic submarines of Project 094 "Jin" is even visually difficult to distinguish from the domestic 667BDR "Kalmar" and 667BDRM "Dolphin". Each Chinese boat carries twelve Juilan-2 ballistic missiles. In 2010, a Pentagon report claimed that the Juilan-2 missile was unsuccessful. She failed the final series of tests, in connection with which the experts did not undertake to name the date of putting into operation the boats of Project 094 with these missiles.
The most potentially serious component of China's naval nuclear triad is the promising 096 Teng SSBN, each of which is rumored to carry 24 ballistic missiles. This is objectively more than any domestic submarine can take and is comparable (at least in quantitative terms) with the American nuclear submarine Ohio. Presumably, American experts have already begun to worry about this, although so far their multipurpose submarines look like a very significant force on the way to the underwater dominance of the PRC. To challenge the United States here, China will need to create something more serious than Project 093 Shan multipurpose boats. With this, as far as can be judged, the situation with the Celestial Empire is not important yet. A real counterbalance for the Sivulfs and the numerous Virginias is now seen only in the Russian Yasens, which are going to be built by seven units. But this is a topic for a separate discussion.
