Chinese navy trains more fighter pilots for expanded aircraft carrier fleet
PLA Navy has stepped up training near Bohai Sea over winter
China’s navy on Tuesday said it had stepped up fighter pilot training near the Bohai Sea this winter as it prepares to expand its aircraft carrier fleet.
The PLA Navy has started training its own pilots – rather than recruiting them from the air force – at its Naval Aeronautical University, which opened last year with a main campus in Yantai, Shandong. Fighter pilot cadets are using the country’s most advanced training aircraft at that campus and three others – in Liaoning, Hebei and Shanxi provinces, the official PLA Daily reported.
The navy did not give an estimate of how many fighter pilots it would need for its aircraft carriers – it plans to have a fleet of four in the future – but military experts said there was some urgency to get cadets trained for the vessels. The university’s first intake of 450 cadets was in May.
China so far has only one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, but its sister ship, the Type 001A – which is Chinese designed and built – is expected to go into full service later this year. The navy needs more fighter pilots to be based on both of those aircraft carriers, along with support crew.
The report did not specify which training aircraft was being used, but experts said it was likely to be the L-15B Falcon supersonic advanced jet trainer developed by Hongdu Aviation Industry in Nanchang, Jiangxi province.
