So China's rapidly developing military, like its entire economy and society, is a teetering house of cards. But you gotta admire the spunk. One fine example? In 2000, a Chinese front company purchased an incomplete Russian aircraft carrier, the Varyag, from Ukraine with the expressed intent of turning it into a floating casino. That was a lie, of course, and over the last seven years, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy has been working hard to finish the bare-bones carrier while also assembling the many technologies and skills necessary to fly high-performance jets off of a ship. BEWARE SPOILERS BELOW!
It ain't going well.
First off, Varyag was little more than a hollow hull when China bought her. She reportedly had no engines, rudders or electronics. And as designed she was meant to support only small Yakovlev jump jets and helicopters. Since the only jump jets left in the world are American- and British-built Harriers and the forthcoming American F-35B, China has to modify Varyag to launch modified Russian-made Flankers. (A reported direct purchase of carrier-capable jets apparently never materialized.) The airplanes, too, need modification. All that rework requires extensive help from Russia. But Russia only this summer got her sole carrier back to sea after two years undergoing repairs. And the major Russian shipyard has proved incapable of modernizing one of Varyag's sister ships for India, as Reuters reports:
Bottom line, according to The Jakarta Post: "Just getting the Varyag, or some other carrier design, to sea as an operational warship could cost [China] at least several billion U.S. dollars and take until 2015 or longer."
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