Intensified training
In the past year, the Navy has striven to fulfill Xi's instructions by intensifying military drills and going deeper into blue water.
In April, the Navy carried out its largest parade in the South China Sea, involving a vast armada of 48 ships, including the Liaoning, and six nuclear-powered submarines as well as 76 naval aircraft. The parade, viewed by Xi, displayed the latest achievements in the Navy's modernization drive.
Since May 2017, the Liaoning carrier battle group, a symbol of China's rising prowess at sea, has undertaken two long-range combat exercises, aiming to verify and enhance the collaboration and coordination among ships in the group and between ships and carrier-borne aircraft.
"Such operations have examined the battle group's offensive and defense systems and fostered commanders' ability to make decisions under complicated circumstances," said Gao Zhaorui, chief of staff of the carrier battle group.
Ding Yang, a J-15 carrier-borne fighter jet pilot, said that combat training over open seas hones aviators' response capabilities and supports crew preparedness and commander skills.
In March, two PLA Marine Corps forces, totaling over 10,000 personnel, traveled about 2,000 kilometers to Yunnan and Shandong provinces in a long-range mobility exercise, which military observers called the corps' largest training operation.
In July, China established the Djibouti Logistics Support Base, the nation's first of its kind. The base, managed by the Navy, is tasked with supporting naval escort, peacekeeping operations and humanitarian missions in Africa and western Asia. Navy personnel stationed there have conducted several live-fire drills.
The Navy has also been active in conveying China's goodwill to other nations in the past year. A three-ship fleet made a 176-day voyage to 20 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe from late April to mid-October, setting a record for the Navy.
Chinese naval flotillas also participated in multiple international drills in the Pacific Ocean and executed live-fire exercises in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas during joint exercises.
Improved arsenal
In the past year, the Navy commissioned the nation's largest supply vessel－the first Type 901 class comprehensive resupply ship－enabling the Liaoning carrier battle group to sail farther away. Military observers said the ship displaces more than 45,000 metric tons, making it almost two times heavier than the Type 903 class, now the pillar of the Navy's supply force.
The country's first domestically designed aircraft carrier, launched in April 2017, completed its maiden sea trial last week.
The ship, the largest and most sophisticated naval vessel in China, displaces at least 50,000 metric tons and has stronger fighting capabilities than the Liaoning. Analysts anticipated that it will be delivered to the Navy within a year if sea trials are successful.
The Navy is expecting delivery of a 10,000-ton guided-missile destroyer, widely believed to be the mightiest of its kind in the world. The first in the Type 055 class, the destroyer carries over 100 vertical launch cells capable of firing air-defense, missile-intercepting, anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles. Several Type 055 ships are under construction, and the first is expected to soon begin its first sea trial, according to media reports.
Navy researchers also have developed electromagnetic launch technologies that give Navy ships a futuristic, game-changing weapon－an electromagnetic railgun. Experts say the weapon is capable of revolutionizing future naval warfare with power, range and speed far superior to explosive-powered guns.
