Two Years of Sea Trials for the Fujian Aircraft Carrier: Technological Leap of the Electromagnetic Catapult Carrier and Strategic Implications for Moving Towards the Deep Blue

On May 1, 2026, China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, reached a key milestone marking the second anniversary of its first sea trial. This electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier, with a full-load displacement of over 80,000 tons, has completed a total of 8 sea trials during its two-year testing period, spending 117 days at sea—this figure far exceeds the 84 days spent by the Shandong during its sea trials, marking a historic leap in China's aircraft carrier technology from ski-jump takeoff to electromagnetic catapult.

Looking back to May 1, 2024, the Fujian first departed from the Jiangnan Shipyard dock to conduct sea trials in the East China Sea. At that time, the outside world generally expected that, as China's first fully self-designed and built aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system, its sea trial period might take three to four years. However, in just two years, the Fujian completed a series of core projects at an unexpectedly fast pace, including power system verification, power system stability testing, full-process testing of the electromagnetic catapult system, overall ship shock resistance testing, and compatibility testing for carrier-based aircraft takeoff and landing. In July 2025, when the Fujian returned to the shipyard after its eighth sea trial, the hull deck had been fully cleared, scaffolding completely removed, and its delivery status was increasingly mature. In November of the same year, the Fujian was officially commissioned into the People's Navy, becoming the new flagship of China's aircraft carrier program moving towards the deep blue.

The most striking technological breakthrough of the Fujian is its world-first conventional power electromagnetic catapult system. Unlike the nuclear-powered U.S. Ford-class carriers, the Fujian is powered by conventional steam turbines providing a total output of 260,000 horsepower, supporting the operation of high-energy-consuming equipment such as the electromagnetic catapult and active phased array radar through an integrated power management system. This electromagnetic catapult system uses a medium-voltage direct current power supply scheme, with a single launch energy reaching 120 megajoules, approximately 54% higher than the medium-voltage alternating current system of the U.S. Ford-class. Even more impressive is its system reliability—sea trial data shows a failure rate of only 1 in 3200 launches, far superior to the early failure rate of 1 in 41 for the Ford-class electromagnetic catapult. Additionally, the Fujian's electromagnetic catapult can complete launch preparations in 15 minutes, while traditional steam catapult systems require up to 24 hours of preheating time, making this technological advantage significant for tactical response speed in combat conditions.

Complementing this is the formation of a new generation of carrier-based aircraft squadrons. During the sea trials, images of the J-35 stealth carrier-based fighter jet launching from the Fujian's deck were publicly revealed for the first time. According to public information, the J-35 has a radar cross-section of only 0.01 square meters, placing it in the same stealth category as the U.S. F-22; it has a combat radius of approximately 1250 kilometers and can carry 8 air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles for beyond-visual-range strike missions. Meanwhile, the KJ-600 carrier-based fixed-wing early warning aircraft also completed multiple rounds of launch and recovery tests during the sea trials. This type of early warning aircraft is said to be able to detect aerial targets 500 kilometers away, with electronic countermeasures and anti-jamming capabilities improved by about 30% compared to the U.S. E-2D early warning aircraft, forming the "aerial command center" of the carrier strike group. The Fujian's deck is equipped with three electromagnetic catapult tracks, theoretically allowing for a maximum of 75 aircraft, with a maximum daily sortie rate of about 240 aircraft, improving operational efficiency by approximately 300% compared to the Shandong, which uses ski-jump takeoff.

Placing the rapid advancement of the Fujian in a broader strategic context, one can clearly see the overall logic of the modernization of the Chinese Navy. In March 2026, China announced an annual defense budget of 1.94 trillion yuan (approximately 281 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 7%, continuing the stable single-digit growth rate maintained since 2016. This budget scale is about twice that of 2015, but its proportion of GDP has long remained around 1.3%, showing a characteristic of "absolute amount doubling, relative proportion stable" expansion. In the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), the proportion of equipment expenses in the defense budget continues to rise, reflecting a clear signal: China is continuously transforming the systematic dividends of economic growth into structural upgrades in military technological capabilities.

At the same time, the PLA's operational theory is also undergoing profound changes. On March 17, 2026, the PLA Daily published a theoretical article titled "On 'Cluster Operations' and 'Winning by Numbers'," proposing a thought-provoking proposition for modern warfare: large-scale drone swarm operations may redefine the model of combat power generation. The article cites the Lancaster principles, pointing out that under the support of interconnected intelligent systems, low-cost, mass-producible unmanned combat platforms can compensate for or even surpass the qualitative advantages of traditional high-cost precision strike systems through numerical superiority. The article also emphasizes that human factors—including strategic judgment, operational planning capabilities, and the ability to respond to emergencies—remain irreplaceable in intelligent warfare. This theoretical trend resonates with the experiences of drone warfare in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Iran, suggesting that the PLA may appropriately adjust the priority of high-end platforms in its equipment development path, increasing investment in low-cost, large-scale drone swarm combat systems.

Additionally, it is noteworthy that from May 14 to 16, 2026, the 11th China (Beijing) Military Intelligent Technology Equipment Expo will be held at the National Convention Center in Beijing, covering an exhibition area of 50,000 square meters, with over 500 participating companies, encompassing various emerging military technology fields such as command and control, artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, and network information. This exhibition has become an important window for observing the intelligent transformation of China's military industry.

The two-year milestone of the Fujian's sea trials is akin to a "coming-of-age ceremony" for China's aircraft carrier program. From the delivery of the Liaoning in 2012, to the completion of the Shandong's independent construction in 2019, and then to the official service of the Fujian with electromagnetic catapult technology in 2025, the Chinese Navy has completed the full path from reconstructing a second-hand aircraft carrier to independently developing a world-class electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier in just 13 years. In this process, the Fujian is not only a combat platform equipped with advanced weapons but also a symbol of the structural nature change in China's maritime power projection capabilities—it signifies that the Chinese Navy has developed a systematic capability to conduct oceanic sea control, power projection, and strategic deterrence on a global scale. Against the backdrop of ongoing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the deep restructuring of the Indo-Pacific strategic landscape, the combat power generation process of the Fujian and its supporting carrier-based aircraft squadrons will continue to attract significant attention from various parties both within and outside the region.