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| USS Nimitz Carrier and China's Shandong Carrier Both Enter the South China Sea |
International Military - The United States (US) aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz, and its battle group began operating in the South China Sea last Thursday. At the same time, China's aircraft carrier Shandong and its battle group were also in the same waters for combat exercises.
An American defense official told CNN that two Chinese ships were trailing the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (CSG) consists of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, a missile-armed cruiser and three missile-armed destroyers.
According to the commander of the USS Nimitz, a combat group that has lethal and non-lethal capabilities from “space to undersea”, crossing every axis, and every domain. The battle group is entering the South China Sea for the first time.
Meanwhile, the Global Times reported that the Shandong Carrier Strike Group had conducted a series of confrontational exercises in the South China Sea at the time the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group entered the same waters. Chinese military analyst Song Zhongping said the Shandong aircraft carrier had practically increased its combat readiness.
China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA) confirmed that the Shandong Aircraft Carrier Strike Group conducted realistic combat-oriented confrontation exercises in the South China Sea. "The exercise simulated an attack by enemy aircraft, and J-15 fighter jets took off from Shandong and conducted interception training," the PLA Navy said in a statement.
During the exercise, the Shandong Aircraft Carrier Strike Group also practiced multidimensional cross-service attack and defense on the surface, in the air and underwater with the new J-15 pilots certified for operational night capability. According to the PLA Navy, it marks another major step towards establishing a systematic combat capability.
According to Song, thanks to the experience gleaned from the PLA Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, the Shandong achieved operational capability quickly with full standard procedures. Furthermore, Song said with training in the South China Sea, a location where the maritime environment is more complicated, Shandong demonstrated its capabilities amidst challenging situations.
"The fleet training also shows that the Shandong has been integrated with other ships," said Song. “Liaoning recently conducted exercises in the West Pacific, and now Shandong is training in the South China Sea. In the future, the two carriers may form a dual carrier group and train together," he said.