The Liaoning aircraft carrier participates in a dual-aircraft-carrier formation drill on October 21, 2024. Photo: VCG

On Monday, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's Liaoning carrier group returned to its home port after completing far-sea combat-oriented training, reported the CCTV News. Regarding the first publicly reported joint drill between the carrier group and an amphibious assault ship group, a military affairs expert told the Global Times that the PLA Navy is boosting its multi-mission coordinated combat capabilities in far-sea operations.

On May 19, the PLA Navy sent a carrier task group led by the aircraft carrier Liaoning to relevant waters of the Western Pacific to conduct training, according to the PLA Navy official WeChat account.

During the more than 40-day exercise, the group conducted operations in the South China Sea, the Western Pacific, and other air and sea areas, deeply advancing practical combat validation and effectively enhancing the carrier group's capability to fulfill its missions, reported CCTV on Monday.

During this training, the Liaoning carrier group continuously maneuvered across multiple training areas, rigorously established a comprehensive early warning and reconnaissance system, and carefully planned and organized various exercises, including integrated shore-sea system-of-systems confrontations, carrier-based aircraft tactical flights, and group search and rescue operations - all aimed at honing command skills, exploring tactics, assessing combat readiness, and enhancing capabilities, while steadily improving the group's combat-oriented training standards, CCTV reported.

In a certain area of the Western Pacific, the Liaoning carrier group conducted a joint exercise with an amphibious assault ship group. Both sides carefully planned and organized integrated system-of-systems training, fully honing the effectiveness of coordinated far-sea combat operations between the carrier group and the amphibious assault ship group, said the report.

The Type 075 amphibious assault ship Anhui (hull number 33) conducts a joint exercise with the Liaoning carrier group. Photo: Screenshot from the CCTV News

Wang Yunfei, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that this marks the first time a PLA aircraft carrier group and an amphibious assault ship group have conducted joint training in the far seas in a publicly reported exercise. Previously, each had carried out respective subject training independently. However, joint training demands are exceptionally high, as these are not ordinary large surface combatants. The integration of command and communication, intelligence liaison, data connectivity, and tactical coordination represent unprecedented challenges.

Wang said that the combined formation of these two vessels is primarily tasked with amphibious operations and long-range power projection. An amphibious assault ship operating alone lacks air cover, while a carrier group alone cannot independently execute amphibious projection. With this mixed formation completing its designated training objectives, it will contribute to China's comprehensive long-range projection capabilities.

This is only the beginning, Wang said, adding that future exercises will likely be conducted multiple times to develop a full set of mature tactical combinations and training methodologies. This appears to indicate that China's systems for sea-air control, long-range projection, and combat support in far seas are taking shape, Wang said.
Video released by CCTV also showed footage of the J-15T fighter jet conducting around-the-clock takeoffs and landings, as well as aerial refueling with the YY-20 tanker. 

A J-15T fighter jet takes off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Liaoning. Photo: Screenshot from the CCTV News

Wang said that this indicated that China's carrier group has achieved all-weather, full-domain combat-ready operational capability, along with an extended far-sea combat radius and sustained operational endurance.

Previously, Japan claimed it had detected the Type 054B frigate Luohe in the Liaoning carrier group. A Chinese military affairs expert said that if confirmed, the deployment marks the frigate's first far-sea mission since entering service and significantly boosts the group's combat capabilities. The latest CCTV News report indeed showed the presence of a Type 054B in the carrier group.

During the exercise, the Armed Forces of the Philippines claimed it would verify the exercises conducted by the Liaoning group in the Pacific Ocean, specifically east of Luzon Island, according to the Manila Bulletin on June 2.

The CCTV report noted that during the PLA exercise, Japanese vessels and aircraft repeatedly conducted close-range tracking, surveillance, and provocative harassment. 
The Liaoning carrier group maintained a high state of alert throughout, continuously launching carrier-based fighter aircraft for combat sorties, flexibly adjusting combat formations, and responding professionally to Japan's dangerous actions, CCTV emphasized.

Now that we have established a comprehensive aerial and maritime early warning system, foreign forces can no longer conduct close-in reconnaissance like before, nor do they have full or continuous situational awareness of our operations. Their forces can no longer keep up or sustain full-track surveillance of a large formation of this scale, Wang added.