The Chinese aircraft carrier program is gradually gaining momentum. Although it is still a long way from the commissioning of a new Chinese aircraft carrier, more and more new messages concerning relevant projects are already being received. Not so long ago, Chinese shipbuilders announced the beginning of research and development work in the field of naval nuclear reactors. This news was taken unequivocally: China is preparing to build a nuclear surface fleet and, first of all, aircraft carriers with a nuclear power plant. The timing of the start of the construction of such ships, for obvious reasons, has not yet been named and, probably, has not even been determined yet, but the corresponding work has already started.
Recently, the Chinese news portal Mil.news.sina.com.cn opened the veil of secrecy over some of the details of the work. The authors of the publication stated in plain text that China could use not only its own developments, but also foreign experience. As a foreign project for a nuclear aircraft carrier that could help Chinese designers and scientists, the publication named the Soviet project 1143.7. According to this project, the aircraft-carrying cruiser Ulyanovsk was built in the late eighties and early nineties. The journalists directly stated that, despite the sad completion of the Soviet project, the developments on it are of interest to China and could be used in the development and construction of new ships of a similar purpose.
The official plans of the Chinese Ministry of Defense regarding the construction of new aircraft carriers have not yet been announced. To date, all available information on this topic boils down to several statements by various high-level officials, and all these statements are of an extremely general nature. So far, no exact numbers or detailed technical information have been announced. For this reason, there are several assumptions about the further development of the Chinese aircraft carrier fleet. One of the most popular versions (it is worth noting that it is also mentioned in the publication Mil.news.sina.com.cn) is that according to which China will build a number of non-nuclear aircraft carriers in the coming years and only after that will start creating ships with a nuclear power plant.
According to various estimates, the series of non-nuclear aircraft carriers will consist of no more than four or five ships. This number will provide aircraft carriers for all three fleets of the Chinese Navy and thereby increase their combat effectiveness. Chinese shipbuilders are guaranteed to spend several years on the implementation of the non-nuclear part of the aircraft carrier program. It is possible that the last of the four or five ships with a steam turbine power plant will not be laid down until 2018 or even later. The beginning of construction should be attributed to about the same time, and if everything goes well, then launching or even commissioning the first Chinese aircraft carrier with a nuclear power plant. The number of such ships is also questionable, but it can be assumed that it will not exceed the total number of non-nuclear ships with an aviation group.
The creation of a nuclear aircraft carrier, primarily due to the most complex power plant, is a rather difficult task even for an industrially developed country. Given this fact, as well as some of the characteristic features of the Chinese approach to the design of military equipment, the interest in the Soviet project 1143.7 looks more than understandable. Also in this context, one can recall the story of the origin of the first Chinese carrier-based fighter Shenyang J-15, which can reveal the situation with China's new aircraft carriers and Soviet developments in an interesting light. Recall, despite numerous statements by officials that the J-15 was developed by China independently on the basis of an earlier J-11 fighter (an unlicensed copy of the Soviet / Russian Su-27SK), most experts and aviation enthusiasts associate its appearance with the purchase by the Chinese from Ukraine, one of the prototypes of the Soviet T-10K aircraft. Thus, there is every reason to suspect China of the complete or almost complete absence of any of its own developments on the topic of nuclear aircraft carriers, as well as a desire to take advantage of someone else's experience and pass it off as its own.
Demonstrating the reasons why the Soviet project 1143.7 is interesting to China, the Mil.news.sina.com.cn portal gave the main characteristics of the lead ship, named Ulyanovsk. The ship with a length of over 320 meters with a flight deck about 80 m wide was supposed to have a displacement of over 62 thousand tons, and also be equipped with a 33-meter take-off jump and two steam catapults. "Ulyanovsk" could carry up to 70 aircraft of several classes: fighters, helicopters and early warning aircraft. In addition, it provided for anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile weapons. The operation of the huge ship was supposed to be ensured with the help of four KN-3 nuclear reactors and four OK-900 steam generating units. The total capacity of the power plant is 280 thousand horsepower.
The construction of the Ulyanovsk aircraft-carrying cruiser began in the fall of 1988 at the Black Sea shipyard (Nikolaev). To assemble the structures of such a large ship, the plant's equipment had to be modernized. "Ulyanovsk" was supposed to join the Navy by 1995, but the difficult economic situation in the Soviet Union, and then its collapse put an end to all plans. The ship was about 20% ready (shipbuilders managed to build most of the hull structures), but the leadership of independent Ukraine ordered to stop work and cut the unfinished ship into metal.
It should be noted that the construction of "Ulyanovsk" was stopped not for technical reasons, but because of economic and political problems. Thus, this project, despite its sad end, can be considered successful, at least in technical terms. This is probably the very fact that attracts the attention of Chinese shipbuilders. The technical solutions used in the 1143.7 project are of great interest to any country that wants to start creating its own nuclear-powered aircraft carrier fleet. China is trying to cooperate with Russia in the military-technical industry and therefore it cannot be ruled out that it will officially propose to start a joint project to develop a nuclear aircraft carrier as a whole or just a nuclear power plant for it.
Should Russia agree to such cooperation? Most likely no. The construction of nuclear aircraft carriers can be attributed to the category of defense industry projects that should only be created independently. Aircraft carriers with nuclear power plants, due to their capabilities and characteristics, are a great force and therefore related technologies should not be transferred to third countries. In addition to the military-technical aspect, it is also necessary to pay attention to the military-political one. The Russian navy will not receive ships of this class in the next few years, and therefore cooperation in this area with a large neighbor with big plans cannot be considered a reasonable step. At the same time, Russia may agree to sell some technologies that are not directly related to nuclear reactors for ships, but at the same time, are necessary for the implementation of Chinese plans. However, for cooperation or refusal thereof, an official request from China is required. So far, Beijing has not sent any such documents to Moscow, and it is not known whether it will send it at all.
Heavy aircraft carrier "Ulyanovsk" under construction, December 6, 1990
TAKR "Ulyanovsk" at the Black Sea shipyard in Nikolaev, early 1990s
