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5h ago

China Commissions EMALS-Equipped Carrier Fujian as Xi Presides

The new CATOBAR design enables heavier aircraft launches that extend the navy’s reach into the Pacific.

China's third aircraft carrier, CNS Fujian, holds a commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony at a naval port in Sanya, Hainan province, on November 5, 2025.
The CV-18 Fujian seen during the commissioning ceremony, showing the newly painted ‘18’ on its deck. (Image credit: CCTV)
Aircraft carrier Fujian at her commissioning ceremony on November 5, 2025 in Sanya, together with carrier Shandong and a Type 075 LHD in the background. Image Chinese state media.

Overview

  • Xi Jinping oversaw the November 5 commissioning at Sanya, formally bringing the Fujian into the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
  • China’s third carrier—and its first designed and built domestically—features EMALS catapults and has tested J-35, J-15T and KJ-600 aircraft during sea trials.
  • At roughly 80,000 tons and conventionally powered, the ship has less endurance than U.S. nuclear carriers, and former U.S. carrier officers caution its sortie rate may be about 60% of a Nimitz-class vessel.
  • Chinese state media frame the carrier as a step toward blue-water operations with implications for the Western Pacific and Taiwan, following a trial transit of the Taiwan Strait in September.
  • Japan’s government expressed concern over China’s rapid, opaque military expansion, and multiple reports note work on a larger Type 004 carrier that is expected to be nuclear-powered.