China formally entered a new era of carrier aviation as the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) commissioned the aircraft carrier Fujian at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard. The ceremony, attended by President Xi Jinping, signaled the official transition from experimental carrier operations to sustained sea-based power projection, a milestone that places China in an exclusive club of naval powers.
State broadcaster CCTV described the commissioning as “a historic leap in maritime capability,” marking China’s shift from coastal defense to global blue-water operations. The Fujian, designated Type 003, is China’s first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults—technology that only the U.S. Navy has previously fielded—bringing the PLAN closer to parity with the world’s most advanced naval forces.
The Fujian represents the culmination of more than two decades of Chinese carrier development. Weighing between 80,000 and 85,000 tons at full load, it is the largest and most advanced warship ever built by China, surpassing its predecessors Liaoning and Shandong. Unlike those earlier carriers, which use a ski-jump launch system, Fujian features a CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) configuration.
Three electromagnetic catapults, roughly 90 meters long, are embedded in the expansive flight deck, paired with an angled landing area and two large aircraft elevators. These design innovations allow aircraft to launch with heavier fuel and weapons loads, accelerating sortie generation and enhancing overall combat endurance.
During sea trials throughout 2025, PLAN-released imagery confirmed catapult launches and arrested recoveries by the new stealthy J-35 fighter and the KJ-600 airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. These successful operations verified the ship’s aviation systems and paved the way for full operational service. With today’s commissioning, the Fujian joins the U.S. Navy as the only force at sea operating EM catapult-equipped carriers—a remarkable technological leap that narrows a once-unbridgeable qualitative divide.
Electromagnetic catapults are central to Fujian’s combat potential. They replace traditional steam-driven systems with linear induction technology, offering smoother acceleration, less wear on aircraft, and higher launch efficiency. Crucially, they enable the operation of large, fixed-wing AEW platforms like the KJ-600, providing radar coverage and command control that helicopter-based systems on Liaoning and Shandong could never achieve.
The KJ-600 will act as the carrier group’s “flying radar dome,” extending situational awareness hundreds of kilometers beyond the horizon. This fills a critical gap that previously limited China’s ability to detect, track, and coordinate distant threats. Combined with J-35 stealth fighters capable of both air superiority and deep strike missions, the carrier’s air wing will transform the PLAN’s ability to project power across the Indo-Pacific.
Analysts expect Fujian’s full complement to exceed 60 aircraft:
- J-35 stealth fighters for air dominance and precision strike;
- J-15T multirole fighters adapted for catapult launches;
- KJ-600 AEW aircraft for battle management;
- Z-18 and Z-20 helicopters for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), logistics, and search-and-rescue.
Such an air wing will give China, for the first time, the means to conduct sustained carrier-based operations, maintain continuous air patrols, and deliver long-range maritime strike.
The Fujian will serve as the centerpiece of new-generation carrier strike groups centered on Type 055 Renhai-class cruisers, Type 052D destroyers, and Type 901 fast combat support ships. These escorts provide layered air defense, missile coverage, and logistical support, enabling high-tempo operations far from the Chinese mainland.
Together, such a strike group can control key approaches in the South China Sea, project power into the Philippine Sea, and extend the PLAN’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) envelope deep into contested waters. Dual-carrier operations rehearsed in 2024 and expanded in 2025 have already demonstrated China’s intent to conduct complex, multi-carrier formations—a prerequisite for credible sustained presence beyond the first island chain.
In a Taiwan scenario, Fujian would serve as an operational hub for air defense, strike coordination, and sea control. Its KJ-600 AEW aircraft would link dispersed assets across the strait, while J-35 squadrons could contest U.S. and allied air power. Analysts argue that this capability could create temporary windows of local sea and air superiority, complicating Western intervention plans and altering the military balance around Taiwan.
The commissioning of Fujian reflects a larger transformation in Chinese naval strategy—from “Near Seas Defense” (focused on coastal and regional deterrence) to “Far Seas Protection”, emphasizing sustained blue-water presence and global reach.
By operating three carriers—the Liaoning, Shandong, and now Fujian—China can rotate one for training, one for maintenance, and one for deployment, ensuring a continuous at-sea presence. This rotational model mirrors U.S. Navy practices and enables persistent patrols, crisis response, and deterrence cruises across multiple maritime theaters.
However, hardware alone does not guarantee capability. The decisive factors will be crew training, deck-handling efficiency, and integration with broader joint forces, including space-based surveillance, cyber warfare, and long-range missile systems.
In the global hierarchy of carrier power, Fujian positions China second only to the United States in technological sophistication.
The U.S. Gerald R. Ford-class supercarriers, displacing around 100,000 tons, feature four EM catapults and nuclear propulsion, enabling unlimited range and up to 160 sorties per day. While Fujian’s conventional propulsion may limit endurance and electrical capacity, its electromagnetic launch technology represents a direct technological echo of the Ford-class.
Europe’s leading carrier, France’s Charles de Gaulle, uses steam catapults and operates Rafale M fighters and E-2C Hawkeye AEW aircraft—still a gold standard for compact CATOBAR operations. The UK’s Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, though formidable, operate STOVL (short takeoff, vertical landing) F-35Bs and rely on helicopter-based AEW, offering less range and radar coverage.
India’s INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya, along with Japan’s modified Izumo-class, operate ski-jump configurations with limited payload capacity and no fixed-wing AEW capability. In contrast, Fujian’s EM catapults and KJ-600 AEW make it the first non-U.S. carrier capable of fielding a full-spectrum air wing with heavy aircraft launches.
In effect, the Fujian vaults China ahead of every other navy except the United States, bridging the technological gap that once defined global naval hierarchy.
Equally significant is the ecosystem enabling Fujian. The Jiangnan Shipyard, under the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), has compressed construction and fitting-out timelines, signaling a growing industrial efficiency rivaling Western standards.
Meanwhile, the PLAN’s carrier aviation training units have expanded aggressively. New facilities at Huludao and Hainan are dedicated to EM catapult operations, with mock decks used to train pilots, deck crews, and aviation support personnel. Joint drills with destroyer and logistics units underscore a shift toward integrated maritime warfare doctrine—an effort to move from mere hardware demonstration to sustained operational readiness.
With each successive deployment, the PLAN is learning to coordinate complex flight operations, sustain at-sea logistics, and refine deck cycles—all essential components of blue-water naval maturity.
The commissioning of Fujian is more than a technical milestone—it is a strategic declaration. It demonstrates that China’s naval modernization, once seen as aspirational, has reached a level of operational credibility that must be factored into any Indo-Pacific security calculus.
President Xi’s presence at the ceremony underscored the political and symbolic weight of the achievement. For Beijing, Fujian represents not only national pride but also the material foundation of a maritime strategy aimed at defending its interests from the Taiwan Strait to the Indian Ocean.
China can translate this technological leap into combat proficiency. Mastery of catapult operations, flight deck management, and sustained power projection will take time—and real-world experience. Yet the trajectory is unmistakable: the PLAN is no longer a regional force experimenting with carriers. It is evolving into a global navy capable of shaping the maritime balance from the South China Sea to the Pacific and beyond.
As one Western naval analyst observed, “With Fujian, China hasn’t just built a carrier—it has built the idea of blue-water permanence.”
