China launched its third aircraft carrier on June 17 in a ceremony at the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai. Currently known as Type 003, the most powerful Chinese carrier to date (later named Fujian) will be equipped with catapults and operate with more advanced aircraft and UAVs once it is completed.

The day before the launch, a large podium had already been erected next to the dock for the official opening ceremony. The carrier had decorations with national patriotic banners above its still unfinished catapult rails as well as flags draped over the “island” and along the flight deck. With lots of pyrotechnics – and all under masks – the 80,000-ton (fully equipped) warship, the largest ever built in Asia, finally glided into the bay from the dock, which had been flooded days before.

@PLANow comes the long phase of final outfitting with hundreds of mission subsystems, sensors and defensive armaments. Their main components will be four HQ-10 SAM systems, supported by 30 mm turret cannons à la Phalanx for “last line” defense against anti-ship missiles. One of these could be seen on a platform, of which there are still several (empty). As can be seen in the numerous published pictures and videos, the island structure of the Fujian (hull no. 018) is much more compact and tidier than the two previous Russian-built carriers, Liaoning (no. 016) and Shandong (no. 017). The prominent flush positions for electronically scanning array radar antennas (X- and S-band) were also already visible on the island.

The most important innovation
is that, unlike the US Navy’s “supercarriers”, the Fujian is conventionally and not nuclear-powered. The ship also visibly has only two aircraft elevators (on the starboard side) and three catapults, instead of the three or four on the US carriers. The latter, however, mark the Chinese Navy’s (PLAN) switch to a combination of catapult-assisted take-offs and (conventional) arresting cable landings, known as the Catobar type (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery). This allows fixed-wing aircraft – only the USA, France and now China have the system – to take off with significantly heavier fuel and weapons loads and also allows a wider range of aircraft types to be used. Even more significantly, there is apparently an advanced electromagnetic aircraft launch system based on the magnetic pulse principle (EMALS) under each of the three “tunnels”. The PLAN already installed an EMALS catapult alongside a steam catapult at its Huangdichun naval aviation test center in 2016/17. Compared to steam catapults, this does away with the need for heavy and bulky mechanics in the ship’s design, enabling higher and denser deployment rates.

@PLAOnce perfected, EMALS also promises to reduce loads on the aircraft by providing the ability to more accurately adjust the forces generated during take-off depending on aircraft type/weight. This last point is particularly relevant for the take-off of drones of all sizes, an area to which China obviously attaches great importance. On the other hand, it should be noted that on US carriers the steam generation practiced so far has always been nuclear and in the case of the Chinese carrier the high electrical energy required for EMALS without nuclear propulsion could become problematic. In any case, this magnetic polarity technology is not yet easy to master, and there is still a lack of experience with hundreds of launches under all conditions. So far, only the US Navy’s new Ford class (CVN-78) is equipped with this type of equipment. And its introduction did not go entirely smoothly and was characterized – probably not an issue in China – by cost overruns criticized by the US Congress and the Court of Auditors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8ZeIBRiu4&t=71s New aircraft
In terms of the manned aircraft stationed and operated on the new ship in future, the Fujian should enable a major advance over the two previous PLAN carriers. These ships were equipped with early single-seat J-15 fighter jets (once “derived” from a Ukrainian-leased Su-33 from Crimea), which were subject to several limitations in terms of take-off weight and weapons load when taking off under their own power via the “Shi” nose ramp. These will almost certainly be replaced or initially supplemented by the second, smaller Chinese stealth fighter FC-31 (or J-35). A prototype is already flying with visible folding wings and a catapult bar on the nose landing gear. A CATOBAR-optimized version of the J-15 and a two-seater J-15D for electronic warfare á la EA-18G Growler are also being developed. Finally, the catapults also enable take-offs of heavier and slower non-combat aircraft, such as the twin-engine KJ-600 early warning and radar control aircraft, which – very similar to the E-2 Hawkeye – is also already undergoing flight tests and will bring a considerable increase in capability compared to the previous early warning helicopters. Various combat and ISR drones such as Lijian can also be seen on various web computer graphics. @PLAStill years away
It is currently still unclear when all of these platforms will be available, and the driving and flight tests required for full commissioning will still take some time. Even though it is now out of dry dock, due Fujian is still at least a few years away from being operational. It will still take a lot of work and a “learning curve” that may not rise continuously to refine the CATOBAR operating concept and new elements of the squadron. In addition, the chosen modular construction method has not significantly increased the construction speed of No. 018 (at least 10,000 tons heavier than No. 017). The keel of No. 017 was laid in May 2015, the launch then took place on April 26, 2017. The construction of the modules of (then) No. 003 began in November 2018, keel laying was in June 2020, the launch now on June 17.

The installation of the EMALS has also obviously taken a long time, the first pictures are from September 2021, and is not really finished yet, as the installation process usually starts halfway through the hull construction, but is completed during the final outfitting after the launch. In addition, the entire project was also massively affected by the particularly rigid Covid lockdowns in China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE9yIG8zjQk Extended power projection
In China, as in the West, the (future) operational introduction of the new and more powerful ship, including its onboard squadron, is expected to herald significant improvements for the Chinese People’s Navy. In any case, the launch of this new warship continues the PLAN’s determined “long march” to become not only one of the largest, but also one of the most capable navies in the world. The potential of such an aircraft carrier and its more advanced air wing is obvious with a view to future conflict potentials, for example around Taiwan and in the South China Sea, for power projection as far as the so-called second island chain to Guam, but also in the Indian Ocean and for securing China’s areas of interest along the “Maritime Silk Road” to the Horn of Africa and beyond.

Six aircraft carriers?
If what some Chinese commentators or forum posts claim is true, China’s Central Military Commission is aiming for a final build-out of six aircraft carriers. And now two shipyards can build them at the same time, one in Dalian and the other in Jiangnan. In conversations with the author, some local experts expressed their expectation that, with Fujian Province (opposite Taiwan) as the namesake, it looks like the ship is planned for the PLAN’s southern fleet stationed on Hainan Island. Both No. 016 and No. 017 have been given provincial names in the area of responsibility of the Chinese Northern Fleet. It is now speculated that after these two fleets, the East China Fleet will receive the carriers Guangdong (No. 019) and – nuclear powered? – Jiangsu (No. 020) and Zhejiang (No. 021). In any case, we are already talking about the 2040s, at the end of which the 100-year-old People’s Republic wants to be the strongest power in the world – also militarily. @PLADark period of history as today’s motivation
In view of the naming, evil tongues in forums immediately remark that all these names would also symbolize historical Chinese defeats. Fujian: Destruction of a Chinese fleet in the Franco-Chinese War of 1884. Liaoning: Japanese victory over the Beijang fleet in the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894. Shandong: Loss of the peninsula of the same name with the port of Weihaiwei (as well as Korea and Taiwan to Japan) and destruction of that fleet in 1895. Guangdong as a symbol of the lost two Opium Wars (1839-1842) and Jiangsu as a province with the capital Nanjing and the treaty of the same name from 1842, in which the cession of Hong Kong to the British was sealed. This marked the beginning of the “century of humiliation”, often emphasized in modern China as a motivation for today’s armament, caused by the invasions of Western colonialism and imperialism, including economic exploitation and loss of territory. As a result of this collective traumatic experience, there is still a great deal of distance and mistrust towards the West in the country.

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