[News Terms] China's Third Aircraft Carrier 'Fujian' Ready for Deployment

The "Fujian (福建) ship" is China's third aircraft carrier, following the Liaoning (遼寧) and Shandong (山東) ships. It was first unveiled at the launching ceremony in June last year. The hull number is 18, with a length of approximately 325 meters, a width of 73 meters, and a full-load displacement of 85,000 tons. It can carry China's carrier-based fighter J-15, stealth fighter J-31, and early warning aircraft KJ-600.

The biggest feature of the Fujian ship is the installation of the "Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS)." The existing Liaoning and Shandong carriers use the "STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery)" system, where carrier-based aircraft take off using a ski-jump ramp and land using arresting wires. In contrast, the Fujian ship uses the "CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery)" system, similar to U.S. aircraft carriers, where aircraft are launched by catapults and land using arresting wires.

Fujian ship unveiled at the commissioning ceremony last June.
Photo by Xinhua/Yonhap News

Unlike U.S. aircraft carriers that use two nuclear reactors to power four steam turbines generating electricity for four catapults, the Fujian ship uses conventional engines (diesel or gas turbines) to generate electricity and has only three catapults. Although China has accumulated considerable nuclear-related technical know-how, including building several nuclear submarines, this choice is analyzed as being in line with China's operational doctrine.

Chinese aircraft carriers operate in the near seas, such as the South China Sea, under the protection of China's coastal anti-ship missiles and air force. Since there is no need for long-term voyages like other countries' carriers, it is known that they decided on reliable conventional engines despite higher maintenance costs.

However, technical issues related to carrier operation are also considered. The Fujian ship's catapult launch system uses electrodes that repel each other by passing high-voltage current of the same polarity. This is the method adopted by the U.S. Navy's latest Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. The existing U.S. Nimitz-class carriers use high-pressure steam generated by boiling water with heat from the carrier's engines to power the catapult. This indicates that the Fujian ship has reached a technological level comparable to the latest U.S. carriers.

China's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning.
[Photo by AFP/ Yonhap News]

In this regard, Western military experts analyze that the Fujian ship's catapult system may suffer from insufficient power supply. The J-35 fighter, developed by allegedly hacking the design plans of the U.S. latest stealth fighter F-35 and criticized as a "fake F-35," raises suspicions that the carrier technology might also have been copied.

On the 28th, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) cited photos taken by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-2, reporting that the Fujian ship moved about 27 meters at the Jiangnan Shipyard dock in Shanghai (上海) on the 19th and returned to its original position two days later. Additionally, on the 26th, China's Weibo released a video clip showing the Fujian ship testing its launch device by firing a wheeled object.

The Fujian ship is expected to undergo its first trial voyage as early as this year and be deployed for actual service around 2025. Experts anticipate that if deployed, military demonstrations around the Taiwan Strait will intensify. China is reportedly planning to build at least four carrier strike groups by 2030 to develop the world's second-largest blue-water navy after the U.S., and to secure a total of six aircraft carriers by 2035.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.