China’s Liaoning carrier: 10 years from training ship to warship

China’s Liaoning carrier group has carried out its second far-seas training deployment to the Western Pacific this year, a decade after the carrier’s first such voyage in 2016, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Oct. 24, describing the ship’s path over those 10 years as a three-step climb from training ship to combat ship to the command core of a carrier group.

Japanese forces first spotted the carrier on Oct. 13 with Renhai-class destroyers 103 and 104 and Luyang III-class destroyer 123. The group sailed southeast between Okinawa and Miyako-jima into the Pacific on Oct. 14, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force observed carrier-based fighters taking off and landing in waters about 250 km (155 miles) south of Ishigaki-jima, Japan’s Joint Staff said. Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighters scrambled in response. On Oct. 15, the four ships were confirmed sailing toward the South China Sea.

China’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed that a naval task group led by the Liaoning was training in the Western Pacific, Stars and Stripes reported. The carrier’s flight operations came days before Keen Sword, a U.S.-Japan exercise running from Oct. 19 to 29.

CCTV said the Liaoning’s Western Pacific deployments are routine training organized under the navy’s annual plan and are not aimed at any specific country or target. Military commentator Du Wenlong told the broadcaster that the training complies with international law.

“If we do not train, our level cannot improve and our readiness cannot be maintained,” said Du Wenlong.

Du traced the change in how Chinese state media describe the navy’s carrier drills. In October 2024, the Liaoning and the Shandong held China’s first dual-carrier exercise in the South China Sea, which was described as a joint drill. When the two carriers operated together again in June 2025, the wording shifted to “real combat confrontation,” with each side looking for the other’s weaknesses and building strike plans without a script.

“In future naval battles, no one will tell you what they will do next,” said Du Wenlong.

The Liaoning began life as the Soviet Kuznetsov-class carrier Varyag, laid down in 1984 at a shipyard in what is now Ukraine. China rebuilt the unfinished hull, and Du said the work taught Chinese engineers the basic principles of carrier design. After further upgrades, he said, the ship moved from simply being able to go to sea to being able to fight, with improved command and weapons systems and a major step up in its carrier aviation. With new information and command systems installed, the Liaoning now serves as the flagship at the center of its carrier group.

“Over ten years, the Liaoning has completed its ‘three steps,’ and in just ten years our overall capability has made a huge leap,” said Du Wenlong.

The October voyage follows a 40-day deployment from May to June, when the Liaoning group, including cruiser Wuxi (104), destroyer Kaifeng (124), frigate Luohe (545) and supply ship Hulunhu (901), trained in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific. Japan’s Joint Staff counted about 170 aircraft takeoffs and landings over three days in late May, and the group held joint drills with an amphibious assault ship group before returning to Qingdao on June 22.

China now operates three aircraft carriers: the Liaoning, the Shandong and the Fujian, which was commissioned in November 2025.