Remember that mission tanker support for F/A-18s was provided by land-based USAF tankers.
Will PLANAF provide land-based mission tanking for J-15s?

That is true about the tanker support. Considering that tanker support in the PLAAF is still in its infancy it would be interesting to see how PLAAF tanker support takes place. On a related note where would the PLAAF tankers stage from? Any thoughts?

I am not sure what it has to do with Carrier. Carrier is practically useless in such situation. becauase the fight is in Northern Iraq or near to Syrian border. which is faraway from sorties from Carrier in Persian gulf. If China really want to help they can still send all the UAVs and ground equipment through An-124/IL-76.
Chinese tanks can be offloaded from Central Asian to Iran Caspian ports and goes all the way by train/transporters to Iraq. They can deploy 60 to 70 Su-30/JH-7 to Iraq airbase with direct flight from China.

With tanker support USN aircraft ranged all over Iraq during the two Gulf wars. Carrier air operations were necessary

In this instance though, as with most others in China’s sphere, power projection scarcely needs aircraft carriers. Whats to stop the PLA rolling two armoured divisions on to commercial hulls, steaming straight on in to Umm Qasr and offloading right into the road march north?. As stated they HAVE the soft-power to not require kick-in-the-door forced entry anywhere they realistically have interests.

The carrier is necessary when there is no friendly local basing or where the strategic situation is such that multiple strike axis are significantly important. In most cases the Chinese will have local basing and there will need to be a significant opfor, not to mention a lot of workup time for Chinese forces, before they are ready for coordinated multi-axis sea & land based strike.

What local basing could China use to “kick in the door” as you termed it if they needed air support to pull Chinese nationals out of Iraq?

This be the US Navy. Note the absense of helmets, flotation vests and basis eye protection gear.

As anyone can plainly see flight operations are not being conducted. During flight operations when aircraft are moving around the deck full safety gear is mandatory. Otherwise you will die. Here are a couple of videos that hopefully will educate you of how dangerous the flight deck really is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnCuvs-ACKQ&index=11&list=PLYltShiXgA7ZWG8gu0LgC87ZiDemUC5h4

In this old carrier safety film you can see how things have evolved. Note how these older flight deck crew are dressed like you see on Russian carriers and on the Vikramaditya. Hope these Indian Navy personnel don’t have to learn safety the hard way. America’s lessons were learned in blood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBcN-JdGND0&list=PLYltShiXgA7ZWG8gu0LgC87ZiDemUC5h4&index=13

Here the American navy shows how it is done. No one can match the tempo or efficiency of the American carriers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8xsiiNH9Nk&index=18&list=PLYltShiXgA7ZWG8gu0LgC87ZiDemUC5h4

Finally we do it Gangnam style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFqlwAWuMTg&index=2&list=PLYltShiXgA7a1LL9XvsDHJ-qH6v6EJJ-K

Even the girls do it right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsnlO-hpc_8&index=2&list=PLYltShiXgA7a1LL9XvsDHJ-qH6v6EJJ-K

my head hurts….

meanwhile where is the US air support?

They have promised action haven’t they? US aircraft flying alongside Iran and Syria. So, next we need the Russians to get involved overtly and then the whole world will be on it’s head.

Answer: America does not want to become Iran’s air force.

Time has told Rooivalk. These aren’t inexperienced newcomers like the Chinese…they have more than 40yrs experience of their own in carrier operations and have access to best practice from every navy with established fixed wing naval air. You rather suspect a lack of PPE for the flight deck crews would hardly be through 4 decades of not noticing their merits.

Since you mentioned the Chinese and their carrier operations you should note that the Chinese are trying to get off on the right foot. The Indian navy should review their carrier deck procedures. It would save them much future grief and injury.

This is the Indian navy operating aircraft off the INS Vikramaditya. Note the lack of safety equipment.

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Here is how they should be doing it

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The deck crew is lacking safety equipment. Namely head protection, gloves, and floatation vests. It would seem that their association with the US Navy would give them a head’s up on that issue. Time will tell

I can’t stand the host, but Polygon is a great series.

MiG-29K sure is a pretty bird.

Can’t wait to see them flying off the Kuzya regularly:

You are correct, The MiG-29K is a cutie!