Chinese TV footage shows carrier Fujian is close to being operational

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV released footage on 22 September 2025 effectively showing that Fujian, the latest and most capable aircraft carrier in the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), is close to being commissioned into service.

According to the CCTV report the PLAN’s fifth-generation J-35 fighters, 4.5-generation J-15T fighters and KJ-600 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft have successfully completed their inaugural catapult-assisted take-off and arrested landing training on Fujian. The CCTV footage showed all three aircraft types being launched from and recovered onto the carrier.

Fujian is only the second carrier worldwide to have an electromagnetic catapult launch system; the ship’s deck features three electromagnetic launchers and an angled landing area with arrestor gear. While the US Navy’s Gerald R Ford-class carriers are all set the receive the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System developed by General Atomics, only the first carrier in the class is so far in service.

Launched on 17 June 2022, Fujian departed Shanghai for its first sea trials on 1 May 2024. The ship is by far the PLAN’s largest; believed to be around 316 m long, Fujian displaces around 84,000 tonnes compared to 45,900 tonnes for China’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning (formerly the unfinished Russian Kuznetsov-class Riga/Varyag), and 50,000 tonnes for the PLAN’s second carrier, Shandong, which was China’s first domestically built carrier.

The electromagnetic catapult launchers on Fujian mean that aircraft taking off from the carrier can do so with higher payloads than the PLAN’s other two carriers, allowing them to carry more weapons or carry additional fuel for longer-range missions. The J-35 is believed to have a combat range of 2,000 km with external fuel tanks.