EMALS-equipped Fujian aircraft carrier to supercharge China's naval might by end of 2025

China plans to operationalise its third aircraft carrier 'Fujian' by the end of 2025 as the warship has completed several sea trials. With the commissioning of  Fujian, the Chinese Navy will have three operational carrier groups for the first time.

 

Fujian, China's most advanced aircraft carrier, possessing the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) similar to that of the American aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, was launched in 2024. Since then, it has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trials.  

 

With a displacement of over 80,000 tonnes, Fujian is the world's largest conventionally powered warship and the third largest aircraft carrier globally, after the US Navy’s Nimitz and Ford classes. Fujian is expected to carry around 50–70 aircraft, including the J-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters and support aircraft.

 

This is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to state-run CCTV News. The other aircraft carriers of China, Liaoning and Shandong, use ski-jump ramps rather than catapults to assist aircraft takeoff. While Liaoning is a refit of the Soviet-era ship commissioned in 2012, Shandong is an indigenously built aircraft carrier commissioned in 2019.

 

China reportedly plans to rotate the three carriers for maintenance to be “on standby for missions (and) at sea for deployment”.

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The entry of the Type 003 class warship which carries a wide variety of carrier-borne aircraft, including fighter jets, early warning aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft and drones will enable China to enter a new era of three aircraft carriers, CCTV reported.  

 

Global Times quoted Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, as saying that Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year.

 

"... I personally think it is very likely that the Fujian will enter service in 2025," Fu Qianshao, another Chinese military affairs expert, has been quoted as saying to Global Times.

 

According to the official media, China plans to have four to five aircraft carriers, including a nuclear-powered one, making them the frontline force of its navy as Beijing seeks to expand its global influence with deployments in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the Indian Ocean in future.

 

Meanwhile, China is also developing a new fighter aircraft that can operate from its carrier groups.

Defence