Category Archives: Progress

This page was last updated on June 15, 2021.

States, local governments, and tribal nations have been taking meaningful action to confront the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and ensure that more of the jobs building a 100 percent clean energy economy are high-quality union positions. In recent years, there have been key breakthroughs at the state levelincluding policies that light the path for Congress and the administration to follow through both executive and legislative action.

Twenty-five states and territoriesrepresenting a majority of the U.S. populationare committed to the greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals of the Paris climate agreement through the bipartisan U.S. Climate Alliance. Since 2015, 17 states as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., have taken action on 100 percent clean energy agendas, according to a recent report from the Clean Energy States Alliance. Progress has occurred in blue, red, and purple states alike: In 25 key states tracked by the Energy Foundation, 2019 and 2020 saw 218 policy victories for clean energy in state legislatures and public utility commissions, compared with only 17 setbacks. This progress followed 2017, 2018, and 2019 state elections that saw numerous climate leaders elected to statewide office and state legislatures.

States, along with local governments and tribal nations, have made important strides in areas from renewable energy deployment and conservation of public lands to environmental justice and support for high-quality clean energy jobs. According to an analysis for the U.S. Climate Alliance conducted by the Rhodium Group, 133,000 clean energy jobs were created in alliance states between 2016 and 2019, at a growth rate of nearly 7 percentfar outpacing the national economywide job growth rate during this same period.

Now, the lessons of climate leadership must travel from the state house to the White House. The Biden administration and Congress should draw from states experience implementing transformative policies on the ground and should engage states existing advocacy coalitions. Crucially, they should also pursue a policy and investment agenda that directly engages states and further empowers state and local governments to continue their climate leadership. For their part, the same advocates and lawmakers who have fought to make this progress happen across states now need to help guide the federal government.

The Center for American Progress, along with the League of Conservation Voters and other partners, launched the From the State House to the White House initiative in 2020 and are curating a series of materials to uplift the successes and voices of state, tribal, and local governments, policy experts, and advocates:

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Resources From the State House to the White House: Progress on Climate, Justice, and Jobs - Center For American Progress

Sparky makes her way to the paint shop at Damen Songcam (courtesy Damen)

PublishedJun 18, 2021 4:29 PM by The Maritime Executive

Shipbuilder Damen is making progress on its first fully-electric reversed stern drive tug, which is currently under construction for New Zealands Ports of Auckland. Recently, Damen's Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam installed the tugs batteries.

The project involved the installation of more than 2,200 batteries totalling nearly 2,800 kWh in capacity (the equivalent of 28 top-end Teslas). With this, the tug - named Sparky - will carry out two or more berthing/unberthing operations with up to 70 tonnes of bollard pull on a single charge. Afterwards, it will take just two hours for the tug to recharge to its full capacity.

For redundancy purposes, the batteries are arranged in strings. If one battery in a string were to fail, the others would simply carry on the work, Damen said.

Ports of Auckland placed the order with Damen in August of 2019 as part of its mission to achieve zero emissions by 2040. Work continues on Sparky,and Damen expects to deliver her towards the end of this year.

Damen put a high priority on the electric tug contract, as it is aiming to transition its business towards zero-emissions propulsion. The company has extensive experience in the construction of fully electric vessels, including seven fully-electric ferries for the City of Copenhagen and a fully-electric cutter suction dredger for an Australian client. It is also constructing a full range of all-electric and hybrid-electric ferry vessels for two public ferry operators in Canada.

Sparky got her name by means of an online suggestion box, open to the general public. Auckland's port authority disqualified some of the proposals - like Tuggy McTugface, The Fighting Queen of Covid, Electric Disco Biscuit and Doug - and presented the internet community with four final choices. These included Arahi (a Maori word meaning to lead, escort, conduct or drive), Hiko (Maori for electrical, power), E.T. (an acronym for "electric tug") and Sparky (the final vote winner).

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Damen Makes Progress on First Fully-Electric RSD Harbor Tug - The Maritime Executive

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(Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports) Sam Darnold

Newly acquired quarterback Sam Darnold might be a work in progress during his first full season with the Carolina Panthers in 2021.

Sam Darnold clearly has a lot on his plate in 2021. The Carolina Panthers have now officially hitched their wagon to the quarterback after acquiring him via trade from the New York Jets, a move that resulted in previous starter Teddy Bridgewater being shipped to the Denver Broncos prior to the NFL Draft.

Its clear Bridgewater wasnt the right fit and the Panther deserve credit for realizing this rather than going with the player once again next season.

Whether Darnold will be able to make the most out of the big opportunity in front of him remains to be seen. But this is a far better situation to be walking into than he ever got to experience at MetLife Stadium.

Carolina is gambling their short-term future on Darnold finally reaching his promise.

But expecting miracles right away might be unrealistic.

Darnolds confidence is bound to need some building up after a torrid three years in the NFL so far. He was thrown to the wolves by head coach Adam Gase and given almost no help with either weapons or scheme fit before the organization decided to go in a completely different direction with Zach Wilson at No. 2 overall in the draft.

This is a good landing spot for Darnold.

There is a wealth of talent on offense that should all make plays for him if the offensive line holds out, with the signal-caller also set to benefit from two progressive young coaches steering him on the right path in Matt Rhule and Joe Brady.

That being said, Darnold might be a work in progress for Carolina in 2021, at least from the outside looking in.

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Why Sam Darnold might be a work in progress for the Panthers in 2021 - Cat Crave

Thursday's meeting was the third since the lockout began on May 1.

BEAUMONT, Texas Representatives from ExxonMobil and the United Steelworkers met again Thursday morning but made no progress.

The United Steelworkers union offered up four or five different proposals to ExxonMobil but the company rejected them all during meetings that lasted nearly four hours, according to union spokesperson Richard "Hoot" Landry.

Landry tells 12News Thursday afternoon that they are "going back to the drawing board."

Today's meeting was their third since the lockout began on May 1.

The two sides also met last Thursday but made no progress other than sitting down for a meeting for the first time in nearly a month since their previous May 12 meeting.

"We believe that we tried to move closer to the middle where they are, but they told us that they were not compelled to move. Our proposals did not compel them to move and that's where we are," Landry said.

In a statement to 12news, ExxonMobil said that they continue to bargain in good faith and that the two groups remain far apart based on Thursday's discussions.

Exxon says one of their reps has made themselves available to meet with the union next week.

The battle between ExxonMobil and the union has lasted longer than most expected. It's the latest setback, for hundreds of union workers, who have gone without paychecks for about six weeks.

The energy giant said last week that their "current offer remains available at this time."

After the Thursday, June 10, 2021, meeting, ExxonMobil released this statement...

"The company continues to meet and bargain in good faith with the Union," the release says. "No additional proposals were exchanged in todays meeting with the Union, and the next meeting is scheduled for next Thursday. The Companys current offer remains available at this time."

The union's 650 members have been locked out of the Beaumont plant since May 1, 2021, after talks between them and the company stalled.

The lockout has been hard on workers and their families, Landry told 12News on Tuesday.

A pantry was recently set up at union headquarters in Beaumont to help locked out workers with food and other supplies.

Also on 12NewsNow.com...

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No progress made in talks between ExxonMobil, United Steelworkers as lockout continues for 48th day - 12newsnow.com KBMT-KJAC

UPDATE:The Ten Fire is now five acres and the forward progress was stopped.

CAL FIRE has seven engines, two dozers, two crews and one helicopter on scene.

#TenFire [update] Estimated 5 acres. 7 engines, 2 dozers, 2 crews, 4 water tenders, 1 air tac, 3 tankers, 1 helicopter at scene making good progress. Forward progress has been stopped.

CAL FIRE Butte Unit/Butte County Fire Department (@CALFIRE_ButteCo) June 17, 2021

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STIRLING CITY, Calif. - Firefighters are working on a fire that broke out around 2 p.m. Thursday in the area of Stirling City, CAL FIRE said.

CAL FIRE said the fire is two-acre and is moving at a slow rate of speed and is in an area of high timber.

The fire is about one mile south of Stirling City.

Ground crews and air crafts are making good progress and working to keep this fire small.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The name of the fire is the Ten Fire because it is on the Sierra Pacific Logging land.

This is a developing story. Action News Now will keep you updated with new information.

Air and ground crews are at scene of a fire in the timber south of Stirling City. Approximately 2 acres and crews are making good progress. #TenFire

CAL FIRE Butte Unit/Butte County Fire Department (@CALFIRE_ButteCo) June 17, 2021

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Fire crews stop forward progress of Ten Fire near Stirling City - Action News Now

Impulse Gears new hero shooter has the potential to be huge, but it still has some quirks to iron out. More in our Larcenauts review-in-progress.

Note: Weve only had limited time with Larcenauts in controlled, pre-launch conditions and with bots so far. As such, were posting an unscored review-in-progress of the game that well turn into a full, fleshed out review with a final ranking later down the line.

If one things clear from even just a few hours with Larcenauts, its that the game has genuine depth. Its the sort of texture, in fact, that we havent really seen done well in VR yet Onward covers mil sims, Popultation: One has the Fortnite angle, and you can take your pick of arena shooters, but Larcenauts delivers the class-based, team-driven gameplay thats been missing from that line-up. And it does it quite well, too.

Theres early cause for cautious optimism, then. I hope in fact I suspect were not talking about yet another multiplayer VR shooter thats doomed to empty lobbies and abandoned roadmaps three to six months down the line. Larcenauts does seem like itll have the legs so many of its contemporaries didnt.

For now, theres a lot to like. Larcenauts arrives with eight classes or specialists that both wildly vary in capabilities and complement the team-based play. An all-rounder character like Calmia, for example, features nimble, accessible weapons like an SMG and shotgun, plus a dash that makes her great for sprinting to capture zones or seizing the flag in Drone Hack. But without the extra support of a class like Thal, a guardian-type that can lay down suppressing fire and throw up shields or Evander, a sniper that provides expert cover fire under stealth, shell be left exposed.

Learning the intricacies of each character class a combination of unique guns, grenades, secondary fire types and the crucial ability types is going to take a long time and, smartly, Impulse Gear staggers its introductions with unlocks and a leveling system. Some classes are definitely more approachable and some have really smart twists on conventional character types. I love, for example, Evanders ability to lay cloaked bear traps behind him as he settles into a snipers nest. Meanwhile the medic class, named Chi, has such a powerful healing beam that taking them out becomes a top priority in any battle.

Already, you can see how plans might start to layer into the gameplay. Need to make up ground in Team Deathmatch? Why not send your heavy hitters out to the front lines, backed up by a medic or two who, in turn, can be protected by Thals shields. Im really looking forward to seeing what other types of strategies are possible as I dig into the classes Im yet to unlock. Progression, thus far, seems to be pretty pacey; the game strikes a good balance between giving you a new character and using class-specific levelling and customization to keep you coming back to the other types, including assigning Power Slates that offer small but important buffs for your prefered playstyle.

Some class types do seem a little stronger than others at this early stage. Going face-to-face with the grenadiers fast-firing explosives is a death sentence, while others have little issues, like how hard it is to pick up the red dot in the scope of Evanders rifle, but Id expect these things to get balanced out pretty quickly.

What it doesnt especially feel like right now is a uniquely VR game. Larcenauts doesnt have the physicality of Onward, for example; lots of its interactions are assigned to button presses (more on that in a bit). A flatscreen version of the game seems like itd be entirely possible but, having said that, it still manages to be immersive and engaging thanks to the potential of its systems and how tight its design is, from the diverse maps that have a way of keeping you locked in combat to the satisfaction of holding down the trigger on Thals meaty LMG. I will be interested, though, to see if that changes with high-level play, and how experts start to use VR to play the game in different ways.

So, whats wrong with Larcenauts right now? For that, you can point to the games immediate roadmap.

Whats notable here is that that the games first additions arent new maps and modes but instead features that you mightve hoped were actually already in at launch. One of them, Immersive Sprint, Ive actually had an early look at (itll be coming to the public build very soon). It works by having characters hot foot it when theyve got their gun lowered. Its a far more preferable alternative to the default option, which takes your weapon away and dangles two hands doing a running motion at the bottom of the screen as you sprint. Other additions like the Manual Reload, which will hopefully offer a better solution than the current canned animation after a button press, cant get here soon enough.

It is, at the very least, reassuring to see updates like this already being addressed. Id also like to see the games lacklustre bots get an overhaul so theyre no longer running into walls.

Some of the games UI is in need of a tune-up, too. In the hub area, for example, it took me multiple sessions before I realized that highlighting a specific character ability with my virtual pointer would actually explain what that ability is and what it does if I turned my head to the right and looked under the character model. Its completely out of view otherwise. Its also hard to tell when ability cooldowns are finished.

Its also worth mentioning that Larcenauts is definitely on the intense side of VR experiences, with a lot to remember in its control scheme. If Impulse Gears Farpoint was as considerate to VR newcomers as it gets, this is at the other end of the spectrum: fast sprinting, vaulting to great heights with a hookshot, quick turns, this has the lot. There are comfort options and, for the hardcore fanbase the team is pursuing, that likely wont be a problem, but keep it in mind if you dont think youre one of those people.

Overall, though? Its a strong start for this new contender. Check back later on for our full Larcenauts review once weve had enough time to play other classes and really get to know the game.

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Larcenauts Review-In-Progress: A Rich VR Shooter With Room To Improve - UploadVR

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) delivered progress on much-needed regulatory flexibility for livestock haulers. The addition of the backend 150 air-mile exemption from hours-of-service (HOS), crucial language pulled from the HAULS Act, was agreed to by Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), Senator JonTester (D-MT), Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) in the Senate Commerce Committee and adopted into the largerSurface Transportation Investment Act of 2021 by a bipartisan vote.

NCBA spearheaded introduction of the larger HAULS Act in both the Senate and Housethis spring, and worked hard to get the backend 150 air-mile exemption included in the Surface Transportation Investment Act that will be sent to the Senate floor.

Livestock haulers are a critical part of the supply chain keeping grocery stores stocked with high-quality U.S. beef. The upheaval of the pandemic and ongoing market volatility has only underscored the need for further flexibility in livestock hauling regulations to keep the supply chain strong.

"When one-size-fits-all government regulations fail to account for expertise on the ground, livestock haulers are put in the impossible position of either complying with regulations or doing what they know is best for the humane and safe transportation of live animals," said NCBA Executive Director of Government Affairs Allison Rivera. "We strongly support this bipartisan, commonsense effort to give livestock haulers the flexibility they need to maintain the highest level of safety for drivers on the roads, transport livestock humanely, and ensure grocery stores remain stocked with beef. We thank Sen. Fischer, Sen. Tester, Sen. Cantwell, and Sen. Wicker for their leadership on this legislation, and we will continue working with Members of Congress to move this language across the finish line.

Background

Current hours-of-service (HOS) rules allow for 11 hours of drive time, 14 hours of on-duty time, and then require 10 consecutive hours of rest. When transporting livestock, there is a real need for further flexibility beyond the current hours-of-service. Unlike drivers moving consumer goods, livestock haulers cannot simply idle or unload their trucks when drive time hours run out without jeopardizing animal health and welfare.The HAULS Act language adopted today into the Surface Transportation Act would add a 150 air-mile radius exemption under HOS regulations to the backend of hauls for those transporting livestock.

NCBA is working with Members of Congress from across the country to ensure that any infrastructure and transportation spending bills reflect the unique needs of rural communities and cattle producers.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, NCBA successfully fought every month for a renewed emergency declaration which provides an exemption from hours-of-service for livestock haulers, while also working with Congress to maintain the ELD delay for livestock haulers until Sept. 30, 2021.

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NCBA Delivers Progress on Backend 150 Air-Mile Exemption for Livestock Haulers - Drovers Magazine

As New York City progressives urge consolidation around Maya Wiley in the Democratic mayoral primary, a new poll from progressive think tank Data for Progress shows her in second place in the race, trailing just Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

The poll shared exclusively with City & State shows Adams in first place, as 26% of likely Democratic primary voters top choice, Maya Wiley, former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, in second, with 20%, Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur and former presidential candidate, in third with 16% and Kathryn Garcia, the former New York City sanitation commissioner, in fourth with 14%. All other candidates are in the single digits. The text message poll of 998 likely voters was conducted between June 7-13. That followed a period when prominent progressive elected officials and organizations lined up behind Wiley alone. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman and state Sen. Julia Salazar all endorsed Wiley between June 4-5, and on June 4 the New York Working Families Party said Wiley would be the only mayoral candidate it would be supporting.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer lost major endorsements and support in the polls following accusations of sexual misconduct in 2001 and 1992, and former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales lost endorsements and grassroots support following complaints about working conditions on her campaign that led to a labor dispute and the firing of more than 50 campaign staffers. That has left Wiley as the last progressive standing, hoping to garner some of the energy that helped elect de Blasio in 2013 and has flipped so many legislative seats from moderate Democratic incumbents to more progressive newcomers in the last few years.

Data for Progress is actively rooting for Wiley and against Adams, who is more conservative. After a volatile race for Mayor, Data for Progress polling shows that the race has narrowed and that Maya Wiley remains the only viable progressive who can win this race, Data for Progress Political Director Marcela Mulholland said in a statement emailed to City & State. In close second, Wiley has a window of opportunity to bring together a winning coalition ahead of next Tuesday and block Eric Adams, a veritable Republican whos looking out for the NYPD and corporate interests instead of working New Yorkers, from becoming Mayor.

Data for Progress had previously polled the mayors race between March 21-April 5, when it found Yang in first place as 26% of likely Democratic voters first choice, Adams in second with 13%, Stringer in third with 11% and Wiley in fourth with 10%.

With support from many major labor unions and elected officials and a massive campaign warchest buoyed by outside spending from super PACs, nearly every public poll of the mayoral race in the last six weeks has shown Adams leading. A WNBC/Telemundo 47/POLITICO/Marist Poll conducted from June 3-9 also released Monday showed Adams with a comfortable lead. Insiders were eagerly awaiting a poll from the trusted Marist Institute for Public Opinion, since many of high-profile pollsters have stayed away from the mayoral race, thinking it would be difficult to accurately poll the first citywide use of ranked-choice voting in New York. The Marist poll found Adams in first, as 24% of likely Democratic voters top choice, Garcia in second with 17%, Wiley in third with 15% and Yang in fourth, with 13%. All other candidates were in the single digits, and 13% of voters are still undecided ahead of election day on June 22.

Data for Progress also polled the comptroller race, finding New York Council Speaker Corey Johnson and City Council Member Brad Lander tied for first place, as 23% of likely Democratic voters top choice. However Johnson outperformed Lander when voters were asked for their second and third choices. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former financial journalist, was in a distant third with 10% of voters top choices, and every other candidate was in single digits but 29% of voters were undecided. Public polling in the comptroller race has been limited, but this poll would be the best result for Lander by far. Lander has positioned himself as the most progressive candidate in the race. He has consolidated support on the left and has been running TV ads touting support from Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Willians and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Data for Progress is also releasing a text message and web poll of 642 likely Democratic voters in Manhattan, asking who they would vote for in the race for Manhattan district attorney, which will not use ranked-choice. Alvin Bragg, former chief deputy state attorney general and Tali Farhadian Weinstein, former general counsel to the Brooklyn district attorney, were tied for first with 26% each. Some 21% of voters were undecided and every other candidate was in single digits.

Farhadian Weinstein is running on a much more moderate platform than some of her competitors, including Bragg. Progressive activists including former state attorney general candidate Zephyr Teachout and former Manhattan district attorney candidate Janos Marton have urged Manhattanites who support progressive criminal justice reform to consolidate behind Bragg, though supporters of other progressive candidates in the field like civil rights attorney Tahnie Aboushi have pushed back. But just about every one of Farhadian Weinsteins opponents criticized her this past weekend after campaign finance filings revealed that she has donated $8.2 million of her own money to her campaign in the span of just two weeks. That massive sum was more than any other candidate had raised for the race in total. And Data for Progress is openly advocating against Farhadian Weinstein. Tali Farhadian Weinstein poured $8 million dollars of her own coin into her campaign for DA and still is only tied, DFP Executive Director Sean McElwee wrote in an emailed statement. Its clear that progressives have an obligation to consolidate and block Weinsteins Bloomberg-esque run for Manhattan DA and back Alvin Bragg, the only progressive positioned to beat Weinstein.

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Exclusive Data for Progress poll: Wiley in second behind Adams - City & State

Societe Generale SAs car leasing arm ALD SA is progressing in negotiations on a potential combination with competitor LeasePlan, people with knowledge of the matter said.

ALD is in bilateral talks with LeasePlans owners, an investor group led by buyout firm TDR Capital, about a deal, the people said. The French company has been conducting due diligence on LeasePlans business, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

LeasePlans private equity backers are considering options for the business ranging from a full to partial sale, Bloomberg News reported in March. Spanish lender Banco Santander SA was also evaluating LeasePlan earlier, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

A merger between LeasePlan and ALD, which manages nearly 1.8 million vehicles across 43 countries, could create a European vehicle leasing powerhouse. For Societe Generale, it would represent one of the French banks biggest bets in auto leasing since it began expanding into the market in the early 2000s.

Shares of ALD have risen 10% in Paris trading this year, giving the company a market value of about 5.1 billion euros ($6.2 billion). While the TDR consortium is currently focusing on discussions with ALD, other suitors could still emerge, the people said.

No final agreements have been reached, and talks could still fall apart, the people said. Representatives for ALD, Societe Generale and TDR declined to comment. A spokesperson for LeasePlan didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

LeasePlan offers personal car leases and oversees corporate fleets. It manages about 1.7 million vehicles in more than 30 countries, according to its website. It reported about 9.85 billion euros of revenue last year, competing with the likes of ALD and BNP Paribas SAs Arval unit.

Leasing businesses can be highly profitable for lenders, with the potential to deliver better returns on equity than banking and trading units. Societe Generale has grown ALD in part through acquisitions and took the business public in 2017. The French lender owns about 80% of ALD, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A consortium including TDR, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and an arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buy LeasePlan for 3.7 billion euros in 2015. LeasePlans shareholders were seeking a valuation of around 7.5 billion euros from an aborted initial public offering in 2018.

With assistance by Geraldine Amiel

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SocGen's ALD Is Said to Progress in Talks on LeasePlan Deal - Bloomberg

A new satellite photo shows China making "substantial progress" on its newest aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis.

Photos of the new carrier, under construction at Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, have been leaking out online over the past several weeks, some images clearer than others.

This week, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, DC think tank, released an analysis of the carrier's development with high-resolution satellite photos of the new carrier from Maxar Technologies.

The Chinese navy has two aircraft carriers the Liaoning and Shandong. The first ship was built from the refitted hull of an older Soviet vessel, and the other is a Chinese-built copy of the first, with some improvements.

The third carrier, a still unnamed ship known as Type 003, is expected to "significantly upgrade China's naval capabilities," CSIS senior fellows Matthew Funaiole and James Bermudez Jr. and associate fellow Brian Hart wrote Tuesday in their satellite imagery analysis.

"When the Type 003 eventually enters service, it will be a formidable addition to China's navy and allow it to more effectively project power," they wrote.

Likely similar in size to the US Navy's Kitty Hawk-class carriers a decommissioned class of steam-powered flattops that were roughly 1,070 feet long the third carrier is expected to be the Chinese navy's largest surface warship, the CSIS experts assessed.

Additionally, the ship is expected to feature a smaller command center, or "island," and a much larger flight deck than its predecessors, freeing up space for a larger carrier air wing than the roughly 40 fixed-wing and rotary aircraft carried by the Liaoning and Shandong.

Though work on the flight deck is incomplete, there are indications that it will feature a more modern flat-top design, almost certainly with catapults, as opposed to the less efficient ski jumps seen on the other two carriers.

The ski jump design of the first two carriers has put limitations on how much weaponry and fuel the heavy J-15 carrier-based fighters can launch with, reducing the combat power of the carrier.

Steam catapults or the newer electromagnetic aircraft launch system would likely solve that problem, and they would also allow the carrier to launch larger aircraft like early warning planes able to boost situational awareness.

China's third carrier is expected to be conventionally-powered. There has, however, been speculation that follow-on carriers could be nuclear-powered, like the US Navy's current fleet of Nimitz- and Ford-class carriers.

The CSIS report said that progress on the carrier is moving at the same pace as the construction of the Shandong, suggesting that the new ship may not be launched until next year. It could then be several more years before China gets it fitted out, through sea trials, and commissioned into service.

"It is not a US carrier, as things are today," Funaiole recently told Insider, speaking of China's third aircraft carrier, "but it's still a huge step for China. It's impressive what they have been able to do in a short amount of time."

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Satellite photos show China's progress on the new aircraft carrier expected to give its naval power a boost - Business Insider