The formal commissioning of China’s newest and most capable aircraft carrier is a significant step forward for Beijing as it seeks to catch up with the United States in naval supremacy.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping attended a commissioning ceremony for the Fujian province earlier this week at the military port in Sanya, Hainan Island, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday.
According to Chinese state media, Fujian is China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, equipped with electromagnetic catapults that can launch three types of aircraft.
A new technology known as EMALS allows planes to take off with heavier weapons and fuel, allowing them to attack enemy targets further away.
The only other aircraft carrier in the world equipped with the EMALS system is the U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, which was certified for flight deck operations using the EMALS system in spring 2022.
According to Chinese state media, the decision to adopt the technology in Fujian province was taken personally by President Xi.
At the commissioning ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, President Xi joined the honor guard and more than 2,000 navy and carrier construction personnel watched from stands along the pier. The Chinese leader then toured the ship, including checking out the dining room and testing out the ship’s catapult button, CCTV reported.
Three catapult launch positions and China’s carrier-based aircraft, including J-35s, J-15Ts and KJ-600s, were “prominently displayed” on the flight deck, while the country’s second aircraft carrier, the Shandong, was located in a nearby slip, enhancing the visuals of this latest show of military power, CCTV said.
Fujian will be launched in 2022 and sea trials will begin in 2024. Its official commissioning was highly anticipated in China, where rapid military modernization, including the expansion of its navy, has become a national pride.
News of the commissioning became the top trending topic on Chinese social media on Friday, with the hashtag “Japan’s first electromagnetic catapult-equipped aircraft carrier commissioned” racking up more than 10 million views in an hour.
Under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, China has launched high-tech warships at a breakneck pace and built the world’s largest navy, as it increasingly asserts its claims in the disputed South China Sea and projects naval power in the region and further afield.
In terms of sheer number of ships, the Beijing Navy is currently larger than the Washington Navy, and Chinese shipyards can churn out new ships at a much higher rate. However, the United States maintains a significant technological advantage and can field far more aircraft carriers.
Nuclear power allows U.S. aircraft carriers to remain at sea as long as their crews have food. The Fujian is powered by conventional fuel, so it will need to visit a port or meet a tanker at sea to refuel.
And despite incorporating EMALS technology, two former U.S. aircraft carrier officers told CNN last month that Fujian’s air operations may still be only about 60% as operational as a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier was 50 years ago, due to the configuration of its flight deck.
The carrier is China’s first aircraft carrier to do away with the ski-jump ramps used on the flight decks of China’s existing smaller carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, in order to fly aircraft under its own power, and has been hailed in China as evidence of the country’s rise as an aircraft carrier power.
With a displacement of 80,000 tons, it is the closest aircraft carrier to the U.S. Navy’s 97,000-ton Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.
And China is already in the process of building another aircraft carrier, now known as Type 004, which is expected to not only employ EMALS technology but also be nuclear-powered, unlike Fujian.
