Official design model pictures at the link below; the island looks less like the island of the
conventionally-powered carrier Liaoning already in PLA-N service.China Defense blogspotQuote:
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Chinese Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier (CVN): Design Finalized
China-Defense Forum members were somewhat astounded today when pictures were released on Chinese internet forums of what is certainly a model of the first Chinese nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) on display at an official event in Zhongshan.
While it being just a model might not seem that significant to many, there are telltales about the model in these pics that indicate it's genuine. In fact, it represents a final design for the new CVN has been approved by PLAN for production.
(...EDITED)
The hull number 18 falls in line with previous expectations that the first "all-indigenous" Chinese carrier design would be nuclear-powered and is expected to be the "002 Class". As the currently in-service CV LIAONING is hull number 16, this seems to imply hull number 17 will be the 001A class, a Chinese-built KUZNETSOV-class CV.