Chinese aircraft carrier programme

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As of 2024^[update], the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has two active carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, with the third, Fujian, currently undergoing sea trials.^[1] A fourth carrier, currently called "Type 004" and featuring nuclear propulsion, might be under construction. Wang Yunfei, a retired PLA Navy officer^[2] and other naval experts^[3] projected in 2018/2019 that China might possess five or six aircraft carriers by the 2030s.^[4]

In the years after 1985 China acquired four retired aircraft carriers for study, namely, the British-built Australian HMAS Melbourne and the ex-Soviet carriers Minsk, Kiev and Varyag. The Varyag later underwent an extensive refit to be converted into the Liaoning, China's first operational aircraft carrier, which also served as a basis for China's subsequent design iterations. China's PLAN had had ambitions to develop and operate aircraft carriers since the 1970s.