In 2000, a Chinese front company purchased an incomplete Russian aircraft carrier, the Varyag, from Ukraine with the expressed intent of turning it into a floating casino. That was a lie, of course, and over the last seven years, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Navy has been working hard to finish the bare-bones carrier while also assembling the many technologies and skills necessary to fly high-performance jets off of a ship.

I used to live near a US military man in Beijing and we would have some deep discussions about the likelihood of a Chinese military threat to the US. I thought that it might be a possibility at some point in the far away future, he felt that it was happening now. This article seems to support both our theses … China is not ready yet but they sure as hell are trying to get ready.

Danger Room