Global Times recently reported that the Ministry of Defense announced at a press conference that China has completed all of the design work on the first aircraft carrier that China has made in its entirety and the main ship hull has also been closed at the dock. It is very rare that the Chinese military reports to the public on the status of an aircraft carrier construction project. Experts estimated that, at the current speed, construction of the entire carrier can be completed in 2016. However, it may take another half year to one year after the launch to get the carrier into active military service. Typically, the United States takes four to five years to build an aircraft carrier. This first Chinese-made carrier is expected to take less time to build. Those doing the construction learned a lot from building the previous Chinese carrier, which had been built on top of an old soviet carrier bought from Ukraine. That experience significantly sped up the building process of the new ship. The article also mentioned the Dongfeng-21C mid-range missile being tested for combat scenarios. It is China’s strategic missile model that is capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Source: Global Times, October 28, 2016
http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2016-10/9611376.html