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China is now capable of deploying fighter jets on its first aircraft carrier after successful landing exercises on it, a senior navy officer has said.
China successfully landed and took off the J-15 jet from The Liaoning aircraft carrier on Sunday.
Pilots have mastered key skills to ensure the success of the take-off and the landing, especially under unfavourable conditions such as poor visibility and unstable airflow, Vice-Admiral Zhang Yongyi, a deputy commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, has said.
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"It's like 'dancing on a knifepoint' as the aircraft have to land on a very limited space," Zhang was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency as saying, while commenting on the successful flight landing recently conducted on The Liaoning.
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The aircraft must land precisely over a very short and narrow runway on the carrier at a speed of several hundred kmph, Zhang said, after the J-15 fighter succeeded in the landing tests.
"We have done all these test flights from the very beginning, and finally we mastered the key skills for the landing of carrier-borne aircraft," Zhang, who is also the commander-in-chief in charge of the tests and training programme of the flight landing, said.
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Currently, the Chinese pilots have found out the right ways to conduct the landing and they have consolidated their skills, according to the Navy officer, who himself is a meritorious pilot of the Chinese naval air force.
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Zhang said the carrier-borne aircraft and special equipment for the landing flight have gone through strict tests, and fighter jets can be deployed on the aircraft carrier.