China’s aircraft carriers put to ‘train-as-you-fight’ test beyond island chains

Chinese aircraft carriers have undergone intensive far-sea training to forge strong combat readiness, carrying out dozens of “train-as-you-fight” drills beyond the island chains and ramping up the frequency of aircraft launches.

The revelation was just one detail in a PLA Daily article last week that shed light on the training activities of China’s three aircraft carriers – a subject that the People’s Liberation Army has previously guarded closely.

The details come less than two weeks after China put its biggest and most sophisticated aircraft carrier, the Fujian, into active service, marking a major step in Beijing’s ambition to modernise its navy to challenge the United States in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, entered service in 2012 and conducted its first training in the western Pacific – indicating the crossing of the first island chain – in December 2016.

The article said the Liaoning had conducted “train-as-you-fight” drills more than 10 times beyond the first island chain, which stretches from Okinawa through to Taiwan and the Philippines.

The article also clarified that the Liaoning – which was refurbished and upgraded from the unfinished Soviet carrier Varyag that China bought from Ukraine in 1998 – was not a “training ship” or “experimental ship” as online commenters had thought.

“From the moment it was commissioned, its purpose has been combat readiness. Aircraft have long been fully deployed on the carrier and we have taken routine far-sea combat readiness training. In 2024 alone, the [Liaoning’s] voyages [added up to] nearly 30,000 nautical miles,” Zhang Hongyang, a navigation officer on the vessel, was quoted as saying.

  

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