Beijing: The Shandong, the Chinese navy's only entirely home-built aircraft, set out from shipyard on Tuesday for exercises, the Global Times reported.
The aircraft carrier, embarked from the Dalian Shipyard in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, will take part in the military exercise which is scheduled in Bohai in the next 22 days, the report added.
Reportedly, the carrier was well equipped with full-scale models of a J-15 fighter jet and a Z-18 helicopter on its flight deck.
Earlier in May, the aircraft carried out sea trials to test weapons and equipment and enhance the training of the crew.
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The exercises were being conducted as planned, apparently unaffected by the country's coronavirus outbreak.
The Shandong is the second Chinese aircraft carrier to enter service after the Liaoning, which was originally purchased as a hulk from Ukraine and entirely refurbished.
Both are based on a Soviet design with a "ski jump" style flight deck for takeoffs rather than the flat decks used by much larger US aircraft carriers. It is powered by a conventional oil-fueled steam turbine power plant, compared to the nuclear fuel American carriers and submarines use.
The Shandong's commissioning last year by Chinese President Xi Jinping underscored the country's rise as a regional naval power to resist military pressure from countries like the US in the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea, and potentially from India.
