China on Saturday disclosed the details of a 40-plus-day combat training deployment by its Liaoning aircraft carrier task group in the far seas earlier this year, the longest such training the carrier has conducted since entering service in September 2012.
The formation led by the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier named after the northeastern province, operated across the South China Sea and the Western Pacific, conducting extensive combat readiness drills that sharpened the carrier group's ability to fulfill missions. The carrier group returned to its home port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, on June 22.
A key enabler of the extended deployment was the 50,000-ton comprehensive supply ship Hulunhu, whose large capacity and ample stores of supplies allowed the carrier group to sustain high-intensity drills over an unusually long period.
The vessel carried out alongside, astern and vertical replenishment, delivering dry and liquid cargo, including ammunition, fresh water, fuel and, critically for a carrier group, aviation fuel, in a single resupply operation.
In the waters of the Western Pacific, the Liaoning group conducted joint exercises with an amphibious assault fleet, testing the carrier group's ability to operate alongside amphibious forces in far-sea combat scenarios.
During the training, Japanese vessels and aircraft repeatedly tracked and monitored the Chinese carrier group at close range in provocative and disruptive maneuvers. The Liaoning group maintained high vigilance throughout and responded professionally to Japan's dangerous actions.
Notably, the Chinese frigate Luohe, on its first far-sea deployment with the Liaoning, drove off the Japanese vessels from the outer perimeter, while carrier-based J-15 fighter jets effectively intercepted and expelled a Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft.
In another milestone, a YU-20 tanker aircraft of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force flew to the Western Pacific to refuel a J-15T, an upgraded variant of China's homegrown carrier-based J-15 fighter, in mid-air.
Compared with "buddy refueling", in which a J-15 jet is converted into a tanker with an aerial refueling pod, dedicated land-based large tanker aircraft like the YU-20 helps significantly extend the J-15's combat radius and time on station, a development that marks an important step forward in the Chinese military's joint command, control and combat capabilities in far-sea operations.
China discloses Liaoning aircraft carrier group's record far-sea training deployment
