-By LeN Defence and Asia-Pacific Editor
(Lanka-e-News - 24.Sep.2025, 11.00 PM) It was only a matter of time. On Monday(22), in what military analysts regard as a defining moment in the transformation of naval power in Asia, China’s navy announced that its newest aircraft carrier, the CNS Fujian, had successfully launched and recovered a range of carrier-based aircraft using an electromagnetic catapult and arresting system—the first time such a feat has been achieved outside the United States.
The event may not have had the theatre of a missile launch or a warship commissioning, but for those who understand the subtleties of maritime power projection, it was nothing less than a statement of intent: China has broken into the most exclusive club of naval technology.
The test flights involved three aircraft types: the J-15T, a catapult-capable variant of China’s heavy strike fighter; the J-35, a stealthy fifth-generation jet widely seen as Beijing’s answer to the US Navy’s F-35C; and the KongJing-600, the country’s first carrier-based fixed-wing early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
Each aircraft performed electromagnetic-assisted takeoffs and arrested landings on the Fujian’s flat-top deck. With that, the ship—launched only in June 2022 and still undergoing sea trials—achieved initial full-deck operational capability.
“The training verifies the sound compatibility of China’s fully domestically developed electromagnetic catapult and arresting systems with multiple aircraft types,” the navy said in a statement.
The words may be bland, but their implications are stark. For the first time, China’s naval aviators can launch heavy, fully armed jets, early warning planes and stealth fighters from their own home-built carrier without the limitations of the ski-jump ramps used on earlier vessels.
Until now, China’s two operational carriers—the Liaoning and the Shandong—relied on the ski-jump method, where fighters accelerate up an angled ramp. Effective for short take-offs, the system cannot handle heavier aircraft such as early-warning planes and restricts fighters to reduced fuel and weapons loads.
Electromagnetic catapults change the game. Based on principles similar to a linear induction motor, they provide smoother acceleration, higher sortie rates, and the ability to launch heavier aircraft. The US Navy’s USS Gerald R. Ford introduced the technology at sea; now China has its own.
“This is the moment when China has decisively closed the technological gap with the United States in naval aviation,” says Dr Han Wei, professor at the Naval Aviation University. “The Fujian marks China’s transition from coastal defence to blue-water operations.”
Aircraft carriers are more than floating airfields. They are mobile symbols of sovereignty, prestige and coercive power. The ability to project airpower hundreds of miles from shore is what separates a regional force from a global one.
China’s achievement is not only about launching planes—it is about signalling capability, ambition, and political will.
Strategic depth: With catapult-launched AEW&C aircraft such as the KongJing-600, the Fujian can see hundreds of miles further into the Pacific, detect stealth aircraft, and coordinate strike packages.
Operational flexibility: Fighters like the J-35 can take off fully armed, conduct long-range missions, and recover safely.
Combat credibility: The navy can now field a balanced carrier air wing with fighters, bombers, electronic warfare planes, and airborne command posts, matching the profile of a US Navy carrier strike group.
The J-15T: Derived from Russia’s Su-33 but modified for catapult operations, this heavy fighter can carry significant payloads for land-attack and maritime strike. It remains a workhorse.
The J-35: A twin-engine stealth aircraft roughly in the class of the F-35C, it has been dubbed the “concealed dagger” of the Chinese fleet. Its role: gain air superiority, suppress enemy air defences, and escort strike packages.
The KongJing-600: Perhaps the most transformative. China has long lacked an airborne early-warning capability at sea. Helicopters such as the Ka-31 offered limited range and endurance. The KJ-600, launched via catapult, will radically extend situational awareness, enabling command-and-control over vast ocean spaces.
For decades, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) was a green-water force focused on the “first island chain”—Japan, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. The doctrine was one of near-sea defence: keeping adversaries at bay, protecting territorial waters.
Now, as Han Wei explains, the doctrine has shifted to far-sea protection. That means securing shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean, deterring US forces in the Western Pacific, and asserting influence along the Belt and Road maritime routes.
The Fujian is at the heart of this strategy. At more than 80,000 tonnes displacement and with a flat-top deck, she resembles a US supercarrier in everything but nuclear propulsion.
Since her first sea trials in May 2024, the Fujian has conducted a series of equipment tests and integration trials. Monday’s announcement suggests the ship has passed the most critical hurdle: seamlessly combining catapult technology with different aircraft.
The navy hailed it as proof of “equipment commissioning and assessments of overall operational stability.” In plain English: the system works, and it works under operational conditions.
China did not waste the chance to parade its achievements. On 3 September, during the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan and the end of World War II, the J-35, J-15T and KJ-600 were showcased in formation over Beijing. For domestic audiences, it was a triumphant symbol of technological progress; for international observers, a reminder of the pace at which Beijing is closing gaps with its rivals.
It is tempting to draw direct comparisons with the US Navy’s Ford-class supercarriers, which also feature electromagnetic catapults. The Gerald R. Ford has faced teething troubles, from software glitches to reliability issues.
By contrast, China claims its catapult was developed entirely in-house and tested extensively before installation. Analysts caution that much depends on operational performance: maintenance, sortie generation rates, and combat endurance.
Yet symbolically, China has demonstrated that it is no longer playing catch-up—it is now innovating in parallel.
The impact is already being felt across Asia:
Taiwan: The ability to sustain air operations at long range raises the pressure on Taipei and complicates US intervention plans.
Japan: Tokyo has converted its Izumo-class carriers to operate F-35Bs, but these remain short take-off, vertical landing aircraft—no match for a catapult-launched stealth fighter in endurance or payload.
India: New Delhi’s carriers, the INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant, still rely on ski-jumps. India has ambitions for a catapult carrier but faces funding and design hurdles.
United States: Washington will see this as part of a broader trend of PLAN expansion, adding to concerns about freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
China’s leap mirrors the trajectory of other naval powers. Britain’s HMS Queen Elizabeth relies on ski-jump ramps and F-35Bs—a compromise driven by cost. France’s Charles de Gaulle is nuclear-powered with catapults but is ageing.
Only the United States and now China possess the industrial base, engineering skill, and political determination to build large carriers with electromagnetic catapults.
The Fujian is expected to complete further trials throughout 2025 before being declared fully operational. When that happens, China will possess not only the largest navy in terms of hull numbers but also one of the most advanced in terms of carrier technology.
The message is clear. Beijing does not simply seek parity—it seeks maritime superiority in its neighbourhood and credibility on the world stage.
As one Western analyst put it: “The day the Fujian sails into the Indian Ocean with a full air wing of stealth fighters and AEW&C planes, the balance of power at sea will look very different.”
Aircraft carriers have always been symbols as much as weapons. Britain’s carriers once ruled the waves, American supercarriers defined the Cold War. Now China has entered the rarefied club of catapult-capable naval powers.
The electromagnetic crackle of a fighter jet being hurled skyward from the deck of the Fujian may seem technical, even mundane. Yet behind that moment lies a strategic truth: power at sea is shifting eastwards, and the world will have to adjust.
-By LeN Defence and Asia-Pacific Editor
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by (2025-09-24 17:44:54)
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