Russian carrier becomes “Made in China” vessel prototype?
Published: 27 October, 2009, 13:03
Edited: 02 May, 2010, 22:21
Russian Federation, Arkhangelsk : Admiral Gorshkov, a Soviet-era aircraft carrier that was bought by India, is anchored in the Sevmash factory in the northern city of Arkhangelsk on July 2, 2009(AFP Photo / Pool / Alexander Zemlianichenko)
(10.9Mb) embed videoTAGS: Manufacturing, Military, Asia, Russia, Vehicles
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Russia should be very flattered indeed. That’s because China’s new aircraft carrier bears a striking resemblance to an old Russian model.
However, experts say the Chinese will still find it extremely difficult to build an aircraft carrier of their own.
“It is impossible to copy such a complex construction,” believes Andrey Frolov, Senior Research Fellow, Centre of Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
“One could copy the way it appears from the outside, but you need real knowledge to actually get it to work. It would be very difficult to make an identical aircraft carrier, so I don’t think this is a case of copying,” he noted.
This is not the first instance of the Chinese taking advantage of Russian military know-how.
Beijing has been making legitimate arms deals with Moscow for years, with the Chinese buying some $2 billion US dollars worth of Russian hardware in the last decade or so. But even these have been hit by scandal, with China last year being accused of copying the Russian SU-27 jet fighter.
Russia’s Varyag is outdated – China
Despite the accusations of hardware piracy in the past, Chinese analysts believe that there will be no need to copy Russian designs in this instance.
“Media hype says China is copying a Russian aircraft carrier. I have to say again, we need to gain experience from others in military technology, but we never copy any specific thing from any country,” that’s the assessment of Ji Zhiye, Vice President, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
“I have seen the Varyag, and actually it is only used as a tourist attraction. Its technology is old-fashioned and it is not advanced enough for our modern navy.”
Despite claims that they don’t need the help of Russian technology to build their aircraft carrier, the Chinese look like they are taking advantage of their purchase of the Varyag, with reports saying that they have already built a full-scale model of the ship’s deck near the city of Wuhan, in the centre of the country.
So while China continues to rely on Russian military know-how, to get its own aircraft carrier designs off the drawing board, it’s unclear how much use the Chinese will actually be able to make of the Varyag, and whether there is the political will in Beijing to actually go through with such a costly project.
27.10.2009, 12:37
2 comments
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These days it would be foolish to reinvent the wheel. But, machines as complex as an aircraft carrier can not be copied exactly and requires ingenuity of their own, especially the inside workings as mentioned in the video. Countries like India want advanced technologies from countries like Russia to progress militarily and economically such as the recent export attempts of the Brahmos by India.
The Russian Federation should not be crying too loudly about reverse engineering copies of their weapons by China. Let's not forget that Stalin had his engineers and technicians do the same with the four US B-29s that landed on Soviet territory in 1945. The Soviets copied every piece of the B-29, down to the foot pedals with the Boeing logo. The Russian version of the B-29 became the Tupelov 4 - USSR first '"atomic bomber".
China did do licensed production of SU-27s from Russia for sometime using Russian parts. If Russia really had a problem with it, they should have stopped exporting engines to China, as it is the only component that China needs to master. China does not want to become like India or S. Korea dependent on a foreign supplier for one's own defense. Had it continued to license build Su-27, they would make aircrafts at a premium, paying extra for each part in addition to missiles entirely needed b/c of avonics. The frame and exterior is identical but with the advent of the WS-10A you would have almost a different aircraft.