Fujian Aircraft Carrier: China Commissions Its “Most Powerful” Naval Vessel While USS Ford Steams Toward Showdown

By
EurAsian Times Desk
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China has finally commissioned the Fujian, its third and most advanced aircraft carrier, featuring electromagnetic catapults. Meanwhile, the US Navy’s largest carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, is currently on its way to Venezuela amid rising tensions between the US and Venezuela.

With the induction of Fujian, China has officially become the second country in the world (behind the United States) to have a flattop with a catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) system featuring electromagnetic catapults (EMALS).

This would allow the PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) fighter jets to take off with heavier weapons and fuel loads. Earlier, the USS Gerald R. Ford was the only carrier with EMALS.

The occasion marks China’s entry into a “three-carrier era,” with Fujian being the first fully indigenously designed and built carrier, skipping the ski-jump ramps of its predecessors, Liaoning and Shandong.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian in south China’s Hainan Province.

President Xi reportedly boarded the advanced aircraft carrier to inspect it, according to the state-owned Chinese broadcaster CCTV.

According to CCTV, three catapult launch positions were “prominently displayed” on the flight deck along with carrier-based aircraft, such as China’s J-35, J-15T, and KJ-600. Additionally, a Z-20F Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) helicopter was purportedly spotted on Fujian’s deck. More details from the event are apparently still emerging.

The announcement of the induction follows cryptic messaging by official Chinese sources that teased the commissioning of the carrier but stopped short of confirming it, leaving analysts excited and confused at the same time.

The Weibo account of China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) posted a video of the carrier undergoing sea trials along with a caption that read, “We know you’ve been waiting for two days — don’t worry, take a look at this first.”

Meanwhile, the official press account of China’s armed forces on X, named China Military Bugle, posted a photograph of the carrier captioned: “We want U.”

The induction of Fujian is a historic moment for the PLA Navy, which commissioned its first carrier, Liaoning, in 2012. The carrier was a refurbished Soviet Kuznetsov-class cruiser carrier that was acquired from Ukraine in an incomplete state.

It is noteworthy that the use of catapult launch systems is a significant leap forward in China’s naval capabilities. These systems, more effective than ski jumps, alleviate strain during take-off, enabling the launch of larger fixed-wing aircraft with heavier payloads and increased fuel capacity.

The carrier was launched on June 17, 2022, at Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. It underwent extensive sea trials since May 2024. The state media announced in September 2025 that the J-35 carrier-based stealth fighter, the J-15T, and the KJ-600 AWACS aircraft completed catapult launch and arrest landing tests on the carrier.

China would also be the second country, after the US, to deploy an indigenously developed fifth-generation stealth fighter aboard an aircraft carrier.

The Fujian rivals the American carriers in terms of size and capabilities. It is larger than the Liaoning, which displaces about 60,000 tons, and the Shandong, which displaces 66,000 tons, but it is significantly smaller than US Ford-class carriers, which displace about 100,000 tons.

Image
PLAN Fujian aircraft carrier (Via China Military Bugle on X)

The one major disadvantage Fujian has compared to US and French carriers is that it is not nuclear-powered. The US carriers can stay at sea as long as crew supplies last, thanks to nuclear power, whereas the conventionally powered Fujian would have to make port calls or be refuelled by a tanker mid-sea.

Fujian has a single, pyramidal-shaped island located just aft of the ship’s center, designed to prioritize aircraft operations. The structure is integrated with radars, and sensors are integrated to reduce radar cross-section and enhance survivability.

The carrier will be able to carry about 50-60 different heavy aircraft, significantly more than the capacity of PLAN’s existing carriers. Moreover, there are plans to host anti-submarine warfare helicopters and navalized drones aboard the carrier for future combat.

Fujian has entered the PLAN fleet as tensions escalate between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific, and the threat of a conflict lingers, especially since Beijing has vowed to annex Taiwan. But more importantly, it is a testament to the country’s rapidly expanding naval capability, which US officials have flagged as a threat.

Interestingly, questions have already been raised about the aircraft carrier’s flight deck design, which makes simultaneous take-offs and landings practically impossible. These design flaws would mean that China’s newest aircraft carrier may be able to conduct air operations at about 60% the rate of a 50-year-old US Navy carrier, according to US defense experts.

However, China continues to expand its carrier fleet. It has already started development of its fourth indigenous aircraft carrier, which is expected to be nuclear-powered and comparable in size to US carriers, representing another massive leap in capability for PLAN. The carrier is currently under construction and is touted as a next-generation vessel that will allow fighters to launch from four parts of the flight deck.

China’s naval strategy has evolved from coastal defense to global power projection, with aircraft carriers as the cornerstone of its “blue-water navy” vision—a force capable of operating in open oceans to safeguard overseas interests, deter rivals, and assert dominance beyond the First Island Chain. The induction of Fujian aligns with that objective.

It must be noted that the induction of the first Chinese EMALS carrier comes just 10 days after US President Donald forcefully criticized the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) on US carriers while standing aboard the steam-powered USS George Washington in Japan.

“You pour a glass of water on the electric catapult, and it’s gone. I’m signing an executive order: NO MORE stupid electric catapults. We’re going back to goddamned steam—it’s worked for 70 years and it never fails,” he said.

It is nearly ironic that despite Trump’s disdain for the EMALS, the Pentagon ordered its EMALS carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to deploy to the South Caribbean amid tensions with Venezuela.

Ford Is Coming To The Caribbean

Late last month, as tensions between the US and Venezuela surged amid repeated US strikes on alleged drug boats, the Pentagon announced that the USS Gerald R. Ford was being redeployed from the Mediterranean to the Latin American region.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere. These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs,” said Pentagon’s top spokesperson, Sean Parnell.

The deployment is in line with a massive US military build-up in the South Caribbean since August 2025 as part of the US war on narco-terrorism. The Trump administration accuses the Venezuelan President, Nicholas Maduro, of enabling the transport of drugs into the mainland United States, calling him the world’s biggest drug dealer.

Earlier this week, the USS Gerald R. Ford and the destroyer USS Bainbridge were spotted transiting the Gibraltar Strait into the Atlantic Ocean. The ships are anticipated to join remaining strike group members, the destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Mahan, in the Atlantic.

Notably, the deployment has been viewed by Maduro as an attempt at fabricating a war, and analysts believe that the carrier is being brought in to conduct strikes on Venezuela rather than anti-drug ops. The US has also hinted that it wants Maduro to step down as President, validating his long-standing assertion that the operations in the region were mainly aimed at toppling his government.

Earlier, Trump said he had authorised a covert CIA operation, followed by another statement that the US could launch strikes against alleged drug traffickers abroad without Congress passing an official declaration of war. He later dismissed the prospect of a direct attack on Venezuela, acknowledging that the strikes might not force Maduro to step down.

Some recent reports have noted that the flattop is in a static position after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar, speculating that the land strikes may have been called off.

However, in an interesting development on November 6, the US Senate Republicans blocked a resolution that would have prevented President Donald Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional authorization. This would give Trump a free hand to order strikes against Caracas.

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA – JUNE 24: U.S. Navy sailors stand along the deck as they prepare for the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to depart from the Naval Station Norfolk on June 24, 2025, in Norfolk, Virginia. The aircraft carrier is leaving on its scheduled deployment to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility. The deployment comes during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, who was briefed by the Secretary of State on November 5, said, “Based on that briefing, I think the administration does not want to go to war with Venezuela.” However, he added, ” President Trump is rather known for his – what would be the best way to put this – chaotic approach to things. He’s one to change his mind very quickly. So who knows?”

If the strikes are authorized, the cutting-edge, combat-proven fighter jets stationed aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford could swiftly launch from the carrier to conduct airstrikes on Venezuelan military bases, command centers, oil infrastructure, ports, or alleged drug facilities.

The Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWEs) Ford enables roughly up to 150 sorties per day. It would allow sustained bombing campaigns to degrade Venezuela’s air defenses early, creating a no-fly zone. The combination of warships firing long-range missiles and F-35C and Super Hornet conducting land strikes could cripple Venezuela in a conflict scenario.

Additionally, the carrier air wing would be able to neutralize much of Venezuela’s Air Force, which mainly includes the Su-30 and archaic F-16 fighter jets.

What happens next could only be speculated, but the US Navy’s EMALS carrier is in position to enter the fight whenever ordered to do so.

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