The biggest vessel in the Chinese navy has just been offcially incorporated into service with the

PLAN. The captain or skipper of this vessel, the PLAN aircraft carrier Liaoning, has said that the ship is comparatively smaller than other kinds of aircraft landing facilities. Liaoning should be used strictly for training and act as the conduit for producing (endless) streams of naval aviators and naval aviation crews for the Chinese navy which is the first line of defence in the event of any external confrontation or surprise attack against China. At the end of its useful life it should serve as a permanent naval museum. The ships design and general layout is not conducive or ideal for top-class frontline service with the PLAN. As said, the ship is small for todays expectations or conditions for frontline service or combat operations. The PLAN must produce much bigger vessels to serve as its future carriers and Liaonings distinctive ski ramp and angled deck features must be done away with altogether. They belong to another era. Future PLAN aircraft carriers must have most of their fighter aircraft kept at land bases with their aircrews serving on board the carriers on a rotational basis. Aircraft permanently serving on board should only consist of dedicated ASW helicopters, UCAVs, rescue choppers, patrol/surveillance planes and one-shot hypersonic craft. The rest should serve mostly as land-based units. This strategy is vital to counter japanese and US aggression and their increasingly wild naval ambitions..