China Military News: Latest Aircraft Carrier Built Domestically, Anti-Aircraft Missiles Bought From Russia

China launched its second aircraft carrier Wednesday, as the unnamed ship was moved “from dry dock into the water” at the country’s north east port of Dalian. The aircraft carrier is the first domestically built vessel of its kind for China.

“With each new aircraft carrier, China is sending a signal that it has no peer among its neighbors,” Patrick M. Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, told the New York Times.

Read: China's Military Infrastructure On South China Sea Islands Near Completion: Report

With no close competition in the region, China was looking at “a long-term and ongoing quest to use these floating sovereign airfields into military operations,” Cronin said. “But the political and psychological benefits keep accruing, and the impact in China’s near seas is being felt today.”

According to previous reports, the new ship may be named Shandong or be referred to as CV-17. With a 1,033-foot gray hull, the ship is based on the earlier Liaoning carrier. It is 315 meters long and 75 meters wide, and weighs 70,000 tons. Reports suggest the new aircraft carrier also boasts of a ski jump and angled flight deck to allow aircrafts to take off with greater ease.

It was first floated off its dry dock Sunday to celebrate the 68th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army. Despite the launch, the new vessel may need around three years to be fully equipped, tested and cleared for missions.

China’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, was launched in 2011. The Soviet-era hull was purchased from Ukraine in 1998 but the lack of expertise delayed its commissioning. This year, however, Liaoning has been involved in conducting take-off and landing drills in the controversial South China Sea.

The Asian power already has plans ready for its third carrier as shipbuilding picks up pace in China. While Liaoning took almost 15 years to be commissioned, the construction for the latest aircraft carrier began only in 2015. And according to analysts, a future aircraft carrier built locally could be nuclear-powered.

“The first domestically built carrier is likely to be like the Liaoning [China's first aircraft carrier],” Sputnik International reported Xu as saying. “It will be conventionally powered and use a ski-jump take-off, whereas the second one is likely to use a catapult take-off.”

“The third one, however, will benefit from major breakthroughs and may even be nuclear-powered,” he added.

China has also begun the process of receiving S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia, Kremlin’s state agency Rosoboroneksport reported Wednesday. The country had made a payment in advance for four to six Russian-made S-400 Triumph missile defense systems under a contract that was made public in 2015.