China will build a bigger aircraft carrier which could carry more fighters, said a senior  officer with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in Beijing yesterday.

“The next aircraft carrier we need will be larger and carry more fighters,” Xinhua news agency quoted Song Xue, deputy chief of staff of the PLA Navy as saying.

He revealed that China's future carrier group will be composed of a carrier, destroyers, frigates, submarines and a supply ship.

However, Song denied the accuracy of some foreign media reports on China’s building new aircraft carriers in Shanghai, without further elaboration.

Currently, China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning , was refitted based on a Russian-made unfinished carrier and delivered to the navy on Sept 25, 2012.

The Liaoning has a full displacement of more than 50,000 tonnes and it could carry about 30 fixed-wing aircraft.

Song said the J-15 still needed a lot more trial tests before operating on the carrier, and there would be more J-15 fighters as the navy conducted more test flights.

More than one thousand Chinese enterprises have participated in the construction and refitting work of the Liaoning , he said.

Song promised that the navy will invite foreign military attaches to visit the Liaoning .

- Bernama

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