J-15 fighter jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier make South China Sea debut
Liaoning and its escorts have been carrying out high-profile exercises in seas around China since December
China’s aircraft carrier-based J-15 fighter jets made a high-profile debut over the South China Sea on Monday amid tensions with the United States.
The J-15 “Flying Shark”, stationed on board the Liaoning, China’s sole aircraft carrier, since 2013, practised operations as the vessel sailed in heavy seas, Xinhua reported.
The Liaoning and its escorts have been carrying out a series of exercises since December, including a live ammunition drill in the Bohai Sea and a patrol in the Western Pacific that took it close to Japan’s Okinawa and Taiwan. The fleet made a brief stop in Hainan before entering the South China Sea.
Admiral Wu Shengli, commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and Miao Hua, the navy’s political commissar, were on board the carrier during the latest exercise.
The navy’s official website, Navy.81.cn, released a series of photographs taken of the operation and applauded the fighter jets for carrying out drills in all of the various waters near China.
“Compared with the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East [China] Sea, the climate and sea conditions in the South China Sea were more complicated ... They posed many challenges for the fighter jets when practising landing and taking off,” the website said.
