Video | One Year Anniversary of Fujian Ship Commissioning: What is the Status of Its Combat Capability?

Today (November 5), our country's first domestically designed and built catapult aircraft carrier, the Fujian, celebrates its first anniversary of commissioning. One year ago today, this giant ship with hull number "18" officially joined the naval combat sequence, marking the entry of the People's Navy into the era of three aircraft carriers.

The formation of aircraft carrier combat capability is a complex system engineering task, and 2026 is also a key year for the Fujian to transition from basic combat capability to fully formed combat capability. What stage has the combat capability of the Fujian reached?

In the year since its commissioning, the Fujian has successively sailed south through the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea, and then north to the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, completing cross-sea area test training, demonstrating its capability for distant sea operations across maritime areas, with coordinated operations among fleet vessels reaching a certain level.

Looking back at the extraordinary trajectory of the "great power heavy ship"

On the first anniversary of the Fujian's commissioning, we reflect on the growth path of this "great power heavy ship" as it cuts through the waves towards the deep blue. As our country's first electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier, it embodies a hard-core breakthrough in independent innovation, testing equipment and honing tactics through numerous maritime training exercises, steadily advancing the generation of new combat capabilities.

The three aircraft carriers make a normalized maritime presence possible

In November 2025, with the commissioning of the Fujian, the Chinese Navy entered the "three aircraft carrier era." The real significance lies not in the three ships being in the same frame, but in the orderly rotation of "duty, training, and maintenance": one on duty, one in combat readiness training, and one for maintenance, making "normalized presence" possible and promoting the navy's transition from near seas to distant oceans.