China’s latest aircraft carrier showcases new fighter jet launch system. Only the US has the same tech

By Nectar Gan, Brad Lendon, CNN

Hong Kong and Seoul (CNN) — China’s latest and most capable aircraft carrier has used its new electromagnetic catapult to successfully launch three types of aircraft, according to Chinese state media, which released footage of the launches for the first time to mark the technological breakthrough.

In footage released by state broadcaster CCTV on Monday, China’s fifth-generation J-35 stealth fighter, 4.5-generation J-15T fighter and KJ-600 early warning and control aircraft were seen taking off from the Fujian aircraft carrier using its advanced launching system, also known as EMALS.

State media hailed the tests as another “breakthrough” in China’s aircraft carrier development and a “milestone” in advancing its naval transformation.

The only other aircraft carrier in the world that has the EMALS system is the US Navy’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, which was certified for flight deck operations using the EMALS system in the spring of 2022.

The development comes as a US Congress delegation is in Beijing for talks aimed at bolstering bilateral exchanges including military-to-military communication, in the first such visit to China in six years.

The successful tests on the Fujian, which included both catapult launch and arrested landing, mean the ship’s commissioning – when it officially enters the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet – could be only a few weeks away, said analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain.

Further certifications can be expected in the next few months with final trials on the Fujian’s ability to integrate with the PLA Air Force and Rocket Force likely to come next spring, Schuster said.

The EMALS system allows carrier aircraft to take off with heavier weapon and fuel loads than those operating off China’s two older carriers, the Shandong and Liaoning, which feature ski-jump-type take-off ramps, enabling Fujian’s aircraft to strike enemy targets from greater distances.

Analysts have said that the Fujian’s ability to launch larger warplanes carrying higher munitions loads to farther distances will give the carrier a greater combat range than its predecessors in the Chinese fleet, providing the PLAN with so-called “blue-water” capabilities.

While the EMALS system puts the Fujian on par with the US Navy’s USS Gerald R Ford – the US Navy’s 10 older carriers, the Nimitz class, rely on steam-powered catapults to launch aircraft – the Chinese carrier is not nuclear powered like all the US carriers.

Nuclear power gives the US carriers the ability to remain at sea for as long as crew provisions last. The Fujian is powered by conventional fuel, meaning it must either make a port call or be met by a tanker at sea to refuel.

Military communication

As China ramps up its naval power, it has also acted more assertively in regional waters from the Taiwan Strait to the East and South China Seas, drawing frequent criticism from the US as well as its regional allies like Japan and the Philippines.

On Tuesday, US Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee who’s leading the delegation in Beijing, said the military-to-military relationship between the US and China is of “particular concern.”

“China is the most rapidly growing military and the most rapidly growing nuclear power in the world. The US has the biggest military in the world and the biggest nuclear arsenal. It is dangerous for us not to be having regular communications about our capabilities and intentions, so we understand each other, and so that miscalculations and misunderstandings don’t lead to larger problems,” Smith told reporters in Beijing.

“We’ve seen this with our ships, our planes, their ships, their planes, coming entirely too close to one another. We need to have a better conversation about de-conflicting those things,” he said, while calling for the US and China to ramp up dialogue on nuclear weapons.

The rapid development of AI, drones, cyber and space capabilities has only exacerbated the risk of misunderstanding, he added.

The bipartisan group arrived in Beijing on Sunday and had a series of meetings with Chinese officials, including Premier Li Qiang, Defense Minister Dong Jun and Vice Premier He Lifeng, who has been leading the trade talks with the US on behalf of China.

In their meeting on Monday, Smith told Dong that the US wanted to open up the lines of communication with China, especially on military matters.

Dong called on the US lawmakers to “remove disruptive and restrictive factors” and take constructive and pragmatic steps to improve US-China military relations, according to Chinese state media.

The trip followed a call on Friday between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping and is the latest in a flurry of high-level engagement between the two countries ahead of a potential summit between their leaders.

Following the call, Trump said he will meet Xi at the APEC summit in South Korea next month, and that he will visit China early next year. The leaders also agreed that Xi would come to the United States “at the appropriate time,” Trump said.

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