Are You Happy to See Me, or Is that Just a CATOBAR in Your Pocket?
By 
China got a new aircraft carrier.
The new visuals, coupled with the recent catapult test, indicate that sea trials are very likely to begin soon; marking an important step towards eventually handing over the carrier to the PLAN, which could come as early as 2025.
Once it is in service, the PLAN will become one of only three navies worldwide to operate CATOBAR (catapult-assisted takeoff but arrested recovery) carriers, the others being the U.S. and French Navies. In the 2030s, India’s Navy is set to get a CATOBAR carrier, while the U.K. Royal Navy has looked into the possibility of adding catapult launch capability to its Queen Elizabeth class flattops. It’s also been suggested previously that India’s future CATOBAR INS Vishal will feature EMALS catapults, as will France’s New Generation Aircraft Carrier.
Beyond Fujian and its EMALS catapults, it should be noted that the PLAN has significant ambitions to expand its flattop fleet further in the future, as well as its rapidly growing big-deck amphibious assault ship cadre, which could become capable of launching a range of different aircraft in their own right. All this is part of Beijing’s vision of rivaling the U.S. Navy in its ability to control the seas and project power far from its shores.
A few thoughts:
- Ship looks good. Dunno how she’ll perform under the hood, but building a CATOBAR carrier is a BFD. China is the first new entrant into this level of carrier operations since the diffusion of light carriers in the immediate interwar period. First to country to build its first CATOBAR since… the French Clemenceau class, I think?
- It will take a good long time for the Chinese to work up CATOBAR ops. A ski jump carrier is useful experience but CATOBAR is a different game entirely in terms of launch and even recovery. Took the USN years to work things out on dozens of flat decks.
- Aircraft carrier may be obsolete but its apparent that the Chinese (who’ve invested the most in carrier killing technology) nevertheless believe that big, fast flat decked ships that can launch a lot of airplanes fast are a good investment.