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Alcott Wei

China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is expected to achieve combat readiness sooner than the first two, and the country has the potential to produce more carriers for regular deployment on the high seas, according to state media.
The reports also said China had the technology to build nuclear-powered carriers.
The Fujian, the nation’s most advanced carrier and the first with electromagnetic catapults, was officially commissioned in Sanya, Hainan province, on Wednesday.
It will now focus on intensive training and building combat capability, according to the navy.
“The primary task at present is to organise performance tests and verifications of new equipment and accelerate the improvement of its full-strength carrier-based aircraft deployment,” Captain Chen Zhiguo told state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday.
Full-strength carrier-based aircraft deployment is considered a marker of aircraft carrier combat capability.
It took the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, 51 months after entering service to be able carry out missions in the western Pacific. The Shandong, the second carrier, took 39 months.
The Fujian is expected to operate on the high seas sooner, according to military expert Zhang Junshe in an article published on Friday by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with CCTV.
“The Fujian may be able to travel to these areas to test its capabilities in a shorter period, achieving combat readiness more quickly,” he said, adding that it might someday appear in the waters around Guam, Hawaii and Australia, key points in Washington’s island chain strategy to counter China. The Liaoning and the Shandong have rarely been spotted in these locations.


The Fujian is also expected to achieve longer and regular deployment, according to Yuyuan Tantian, adding that it would be ideal to rotate the three aircraft carriers, with one undergoing maintenance, one on patrol and the other in port for preparation.
“However, three aircraft carriers might not actually be able to achieve such a deployment. Therefore, the commissioning of the Fujian is only the first step in our routine deployment of aircraft carriers,” the article said.
It added that the Type 003 aircraft carrier – the Fujian’s class – was a mature platform for integrated naval vessels and carrier-based aircraft.
The ship’s electromagnetic catapults and ability to accommodate multiple types of aircraft will become standard features of Chinese aircraft carriers, according to the article.
The vessel is capable of deploying the KJ-600 early warning aircraft, which could enable shipborne fighters, the J-15T multi-role fighter and the J-35 stealth fighter to strike targets at greater distances without relying on land-based radar.
Z-20F anti-submarine helicopters were also spotted on the Fujian during the commissioning ceremony.
“Following China’s previous practice in producing warships, after some optimisation and improvements on a mature platform, we will enter the ‘mass production’ stage,” the article said.
“With the increase in the number of aircraft carriers, China will maintain a long-term, routine presence of aircraft carriers at a certain location.”
Song Zhongping, a Chinese military commentator and former PLA instructor, said the technologies used by Type 003 carriers were mature enough to allow improvements such as increased size and tonnage and the use of nuclear-powered engines.
It is widely thought that China might need at least six or seven carriers as the People’s Liberation Army continues its modernisation drive.
Meanwhile, commercial satellite images posted to Chinese social media in September showed new hull sections at a shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning province, where a new aircraft carrier – known as the Type 004 – is believed to be under construction.
While Beijing has never officially confirmed the existence of the Type 004, the project is widely thought to be under way.
Military expert Zhang Xuefeng, interviewed by CCTV on Friday, said: “China has basically mastered all the construction technologies for aircraft carriers … The next step for China will inevitably be to develop nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, as it possesses the relevant technologies.”
Nuclear power can improve the endurance and global strike range of aircraft carriers and provide significantly more power for running advanced systems. Currently, only France and the United States have active nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
China’s three aircraft carriers are all conventionally powered.


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China’s Fujian carrier on track for rapid combat readiness. Will there be more?

China’s Fujian aircraft carrier is commissioned at a naval port in Sanya in south China’s Hainan province on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, enters service

The Fujian, China’s newest aircraft carrier, is commissioned on Wednesday in Sanya, Hainan province. Photo: Xinhua

President Xi Jinping with carrier-based pilots and aviation support personnel on board the Fujian. Photo: Xinhua

It took about 40 months for the Fujian to be officially commissioned into PLA Navy service after the ship’s launch in June 2022. Photo: Xinhua

The Fujian’s delivery was described as fast given its advanced functional testing requirements. Photo: Xinhua

Can the Fujian aircraft carrier catapult the PLA Navy deep into the Pacific?

The Fujian, China’s newest aircraft carrier, will be based in Sanya, Hainan province. Photo:  Xinhua

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Liu Huaqing was 13 years old when he joined the Red Army and took part in the Long March as a teenage soldier. Photo: Handout

Then PLA deputy chief of joint staff Liu Huaqing gets a closer look at a helicopter on the deck of the USS Kitty Hawk in 1980. Photo: Handout

Liu Huaqing (centre) visits the Paracel Islands in 1985. Photo: Handout

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China has the potential to produce more aircraft carriers, including nuclear-powered ones, according to state media


China has the potential to produce more aircraft carriers, including nuclear-powered ones, according to state media.


China’s Fujian carrier on track for rapid combat readiness. Will there be more?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China has the potential to produce more aircraft carriers, including nuclear-powered ones, according to state media

China has the potential to produce more aircraft carriers, including nuclear-powered ones, according to state media