Last June 15, the disappearance of the Chinese aircraft carrier hull type 003 has been noticed and since then a search to look for its whereabouts began.
The Chinese Navy is attempting to build up its PLA Navy, with the construction of another aircraft carrier that will rival the Nimitz or Ford-class carriers of the US Navy. Because of this, the Chinese shipyard was getting built has periodic surveillance on the current state of its construction, when it disappeared on June 15.
As an update to the disappearance of hull type 003, the ship in the building phase has moved from an initial shipyard to a dry dock. It is close to the place the shipyard it was getting built-in before this current location. Expectations of faster completions of the hulls and more intelligence inquiries will update the current intel according to the source article in Forbes.
On Chinese social media, a photo surfaced that revealed the silhouette of a large hull section of the many segments placed in line located in an open dry dock. On inspection, the photograph was taken from a passing boat. Photos provide intelligence on the state of Chinese naval projects that are guarded by Beijing, who seeks dominion by arming up to match those it considers threats by the communist party, mentioned War News Updates.
Based on the photograph, the carrier modules or hulls' probable location is determined by OSINT analysts that are open source intelligence. By utilizing satellite photography and deduction based on the photo, the place where it will be assembled and sent into the water has been identified. Getting the photo evidence where the hull of Type 003 took weeks of monitoring before getting the actual picture. Satellite surveillance has been hampered by cloud cover over Shanghai that made it hard to conduct surveillance.
In contrast to the Liaoning and Shandong, the Type-003 will be better than it ski-jump equipped sisters, which are essentially older Russian carriers. Both are operating now but are no match for US carriers. These ships are not getting attention because they are regarded as better than US Navy carriers. Instead, they are a threat to neighbors without carriers. China is touting the Type 003 with EMALS (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System), which is said to be comparable to a nuclear-powered Ford Class carrier, cited Defense News.
Replacing the ski jump will enable the type 003 to send up planes with more loadout. The Chinese aspire to reach the technical excellence of US Navy aircraft. Even deployment of stealth fighter planes and unmanned drones are planned to match the US Navy and Air Force which they are years behind. The Type 003 will be the centerpiece of the Communist Party to project power in the South China Sea.
It will be the third carrier Type 003 in the Chinese Navy and might be a nuclear-powered carrier too. It will have a carrier strike group that is under construction in Shanghai, another is a rumored nuclear attack sub, the Type-095 Tang. The Chinese Navy regularly publishes such reports, but the J-20 is yet to be seen in active duty.
OSINT is one way to monitor the Chinese who don't want the entire world to realize its overreaching ambitions. As the PLA Navy becomes more powerful, the Chinese Communist Party is hell-bent on dominating. Soon the Type 003 might be sailing in other seas, even in Europe and the Arctic. The US Navy is a policeman monitoring a possible felon, and felons are secretive like China attempting to hide hull type 003.
