Fujian is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system
China announced the entry into service of Fujian, the third and most advanced aircraft carrier in the fleet, equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system, marking a milestone in the modernization of the Chinese navy.
Modern catapult technology, once exclusive to the United States, allows Fujian to launch a greater variety of aircraft, more heavily armed and with greater range than the two existing aircraft carriers.
“No other Western country, besides the United States, operates an aircraft carrier of similar size and capabilities,” naval armaments expert Alex Luck told the France-Presse news agency (AFP).
The only other aircraft carrier currently equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system is the United States Navy’s Gerald R. Ford.
“It will still take a few years for this aircraft carrier to reach true combat capability”, and “China will need several aircraft carriers of this type” to “really change the balance of power”, highlighted Alex Luck.
Despite naval rivalry with Washington in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, Beijing remains significantly behind the Americans in terms of power projection capabilities, most analysts argue.
“The Chinese Navy is still behind its potential adversaries — particularly the United States — in terms of accumulated operational experience, training of aircraft carrier strike groups and, above all, actual combat experience”, the latter being a “major disadvantage”, Collin Koh, an expert in naval affairs in the Asia-Pacific region at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told AFP.
The ship was officially incorporated into the fleet during a ceremony held on Wednesday on the tropical island of Hainan, in southern China, in the presence of leader Xi Jinping, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
“After the ceremony, Xi Jinping boarded Fujian (…) and was briefed on the development of the aircraft carrier system’s combat capabilities, as well as the construction and application of the electromagnetic catapult system,” the agency specified.
The country so far had two aircraft carriers: the Liaoning, acquired from Ukraine in 2000, and the Shandong, the first aircraft carrier built in China, commissioned in 2019.
In September, the Chinese Navy revealed that the Fujian had sailed through the Taiwan Strait towards the South China Sea for testing and training.
Defense experts in Taipei, cited by the Taiwanese news agency CNA, warned at the time that the entry into service of the Fujian allows China to permanently operate three aircraft carrier combat groups, which will increase pressure on Taiwan.
Beijing considers the Taiwan Strait part of its territorial waters, while Taipei, the United States and their allies classify it as an international waterway.
