China has commissioned its third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, now possessing the world's second-largest fleet of such vessels. This expansion, however, still places it significantly behind the US Navy's 11 carriers.
The Fujian officially entered service this week during a ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. Its advanced electromagnetic catapult launchers represent a technological leap, enabling the navy to project power across the Pacific and assert influence in disputed areas like the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and South China Sea.
The Fujian is China’s first domestically designed carrier. Its first, the Liaoning, was refurbished from an unfinished Soviet ship that Ukraine inherited and later sold to China, while the second, the Shandong, was built in China based on the Liaoning’s design. All three carriers are named after coastal Chinese provinces.
The country’s three carriers push it past India, the United Kingdom and Italy, which have two each.
The Fujian is China's first aircraft carrier with a catapult launch system, which means it can launch heavy and fully-loaded warplanes including an early-warning and control plane. That allows the carrier to operate against distant targets while far out at sea, since it doesn’t have to rely on land-based reconnaissance aircraft to detect threats. Its planes can also carry more arms and fuel, boosting their range and firepower.
The Shandong and Liaoning have an upward sloping ski-jump deck that can only launch fighter jets with lighter loads and cannot handle large support aircraft.
It's also the second carrier in the world with an electromagnetic catapult launch system, after America’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.
America's 11 carriers all have catapult launchers, but the 10 Nimitz-class carriers use a steam system rather than an electromagnetic one.
The steam catapults put more stress on both the aircraft and the ship, requiring more maintenance, and take up more space.
The electromagnetic version operates more efficiently and can also handle a wider range of aircraft, because its launch power can be calibrated to handle both lightweight drones and heavier planes.
These include the KJ-600 early warning and control plane and China's latest J-35 stealth fighter and J-15T heavy fighter.
It lacks one important feature: nuclear power
China's carriers are not nuclear-powered, limiting how long and how far they can sail. Estimates put the Fujian’s operational range at 8,000 to 10,000 nautical miles. America's carriers are nuclear-powered, giving them virtually unlimited range with no need to refuel.
China appears to be working on nuclear propulsion for its next-generation carriers, the AP reported last year, but the timetable is unclear. The nation's carrier development is moving in that direction, Zhang Junshe, a researcher at the military's naval research institute, told state broadcaster CCTV in September.
The Fujian is smaller than US carriers
The Fujian has a full-load displacement of more than 80,000 tons, versus the 100,000 tons of America's Nimitz and Ford-class carriers.
China has not disclosed how many planes the Fujian can carry, but experts estimate it is 40 to 60. The U.S. carriers can hold 60 to 70 planes.
The Fujian has two aircraft elevators versus three on the USS Ford, a smaller flight deck and three catapults compared to the Ford's four. Experts say that means the American ship should be able to launch planes more rapidly.
A second Ford-class carrier is expected to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2027.
