Russia refuses to sell arresters for Chinese aircraft carrier
Russia refuses to sell arresters for Chinese aircraft carrier
source 2
Construction of the first
Chinese aircraft carrier
faced new unanticipated
problems; it turned out
that the former Soviet
carrier Varyag was not
equipped with arresters,
and it is unclear where
China could get them. In
2007 news agency Kanwa
exclusively reported from
St. Petersburg that China
would buy 4 arresters
designed by Marine
Engineering Research
Institute and made by
Proletarsky Zavod plant
which produces all
Russian arresters and
arresting hooks. Earlier
on, China had contacts
with this plant purchasing
constituent parts for
Project 956E/EM
destroyers.
Kanwa reported referring
to a source in the plant
that the Chinese had
visited it many times and
declared intentions to
purchase at least 4
arresters (the source used
the term "purchase"). The
talks took place in the
office of
Rosoboronexport;
negotiators of Proletarsky
Zavod presented their
production, and the
Chinese requested for
technical information.
In 2011 the authoritative
source told to Kanwa
reporter that the
negotiations were facing
unexpected problems –
Russian defense industry's
authorities had decided
not to sell arresters for
China.
According to the source,
China managed to get
arresting hooks from
Ukraine instead of buying
them directly from Marine
Engineering Research
Institute and Proletarsky
Zavod plant; those
arresters were suitable for
operational training
aircraft JL-9 and "copied"
J-15.
What made Russia refuse
to sell arresters to China
in the very nick of time?
Kanwa repeatedly asked
Russian defense and
foreign ministries about
China's purchase of
Russian aircraft carrier
construction technology.
Official reply was the
same: "it is prohibited to
export strategic armament
systems to China. Aircraft
carriers, nuclear-powered
submarines, nuclear
weapons production
technologies – all that are
strategic arms".
However, Kanwa inquired
into the subject and it
became apparent that
real cause of the problem
is not only "the ban on
strategic arms exports to
China" but Russia's
discontent with China
copying deck-based
fighter Su-33. Take note,
Marine Engineering
Research Institute
delivered two arresters
for Indian aircraft carrier
IAC and modernized
Admiral Gorshkov. The
institute also took part in
construction of naval
aviation training center
built on Goa, India.
In 2007 the source told to
Kanwa that designing and
production of arresters
was quite complicated
process and only Russia
and the US had
appropriate technology at
the moment. "In the past,
there used to be four
arresters on an aircraft
carrier, but the new
Indian carrier is equipped
with only three arresters,
which indicates of high
reliability of Russian
systems".
Representative of
Rosoboronexport A.
Plotnikov recently told to
Kanwa that "China really
wanted to buy arresters
but we did not sell them".
This confirms the
assumption that China
has not Russian arresters
in inventory. In 2006
director of Marine
Engineering Research
Institute and Proletarsky
Zavod plant told to
Kanwa reporter that
China was about to
purchase four arresters
and the parties had held
several rounds of
negotiations. However, in
2011 he said that "we've
received an unexpected
instruction from Moscow
to cut off all contacts with
Chinese partners. In other
words, we cannot deliver
arresters to China as well
as other equipment for
their aircraft carrier".
Russian foreign ministry
stated later on that
"strategic armaments and
technologies will not be
sold to China".
All abovementioned facts
illustrate why arresters
have not been delivered
to Yanliang air training
center by Aug 2010 and
why they were not
mounted on ex-Varyag
carrier by the time of her
first sortie. As for Kanwa,
construction of Chinese
aircraft carrier may face
considerable problems.
According to A. Plotnikov,
there are some old
arresters remained in
Ukraine, and China could
purchase them. However,
even if China really buys
them such arresters might
be used only as
presentation samples.
Ukrainian air training
center NITKA is not
equipped with large
number of arresters.
Moreover, after buying of
Ukrainian arresters and
studying their design
China would need some
time to develop own
analogs.
From: Rusnavy
Credibility of news source is suspected.