Since the 1970s, China and its People's Liberation Army Navy has had ambitions to operate aircraft carriers, and since 1985 has acquired retired aircraft carriers for study; namely, the Australian HMAS Melbourne and the ex-Soviet carriers Minsk, Kiev and Varyag. The Varyag later underwent an extensive refit to be converted into the Liaoning, China's first operational aircraft carrier, which also served as a basis for China's subsequent design iterations. As of 2018, the PLAN has two combat-ready aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, with the third under construction. It is projected that China may possess five or six aircraft carriers by the 2030s.