Type 001A China’s first home-built aircraft carrier that recently started sea trials

China’s first domestically developed aircraft carrier “Type-001A” has recently started sea trials. The aim of trials is to demonstrate the reliability and capability of the ship’s propulsion systems. The 50,000-metric tonne vessel will become the country’s second aircraft carrier, and the first to be entirely built and designed inside of China, when it joins the navy before 2020. Few countries in the world have aircraft carriers. Besides India, the US, Russia, the UK, France, Italy, Thailand and China operate a total of 18 aircraft carriers.