The Ministry of National Defense confirmed on Thursday that the design and manufacturing of China's first domestically-manufactured aircraft carrier is moving along as planned.

"Currently, the overall design has [been] completed and the main body has taken its shape in the dock. Equipment and facility installation as well as outfitting are underway," the ministry spokesman Wu Qian said at a monthly press conference in Beijing.

He also said that information will be released in due time concerning the follow-up progress of the aircraft carrier's manufacturing.

At the end of last year, another ministry spokesman Yang Juyun confirmed that China was designing and building its second aircraft carrier "completely on its own" in Dalian, Liaoning province.

It will be China's second aircraft carrier.

China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is a refitted Russian-made carrier that was delivered to the People's Liberation Army Navy in 2012.