China’s navy is gradually moving closer to becoming a peer adversary for U.S.naval forces in the Pacific region, as evidenced by China’s growing number of modern aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
The increasing quality of these flattops also threatens to erase the qualitative advantages that U.S. ships currently have.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, has expanded its aircraft carrier well beyond its humble origins. It recently commissioned the domestically built Type 003 Class Fujian aircraft carrier, the first non-U.S. aircraft carrier in the world equipped with electromagnetic catapults used in the Gerald R. Ford-class of carriers.
Open-source intelligence also indicates that China appears to be building a nuclear-powered supercarrier. (A supercarrier is an unofficial term for the largest aircraft carriers). That means China could join the United States and France as the only countries operating nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
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And in November, China’s newest and most modern Type 076 amphibious assault ship, the Sichuan, left port for sea trials. Like the Fujian, the vessel features an electromagnetic catapult for both manned aircraft and drones. If China ever launched an invasion of Taiwan, such a ship could launch drones against naval targets while keeping its most valuable pilots and aircraft farther back and under the protection of land-based airpower.
All these flattops serve multiple purposes in China’s current strategy, allowing it to project power, develop operational experience with naval aviation, and ultimately extend its defensive perimeter beyond the First Island Chain, which includes Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
China’s aircraft carrier program has come a long way since it purchased an unfinished Soviet flattop from Ukraine in the 1990s, which it renamed the Liaoning. Although the vessel’s capabilities were limited, China successfully used it as a training ship to learn the nuts and bolts of carrier aviation.
Launched in 2017, China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Shandong of the Type 002 Class, underwhelmed some Western strategists, but China was playing the long game.
By the time China commissioned the Fujian last month, it was clear the PLAN had pulled off a great leap forward. The Fujian is fundamentally different from its two predecessors. It is close to the size of American supercarriers and features three electromagnetic catapults — the Ford, by comparison, has four such catapults.
The Fujian’s electromagnetic catapults increase the number of aircraft that the Fujian can launch, including the J-15 Flying Shark; the J-35 stealth fighter; the GJ-11 Sharp Sword, China’s stealthy uncrewed combat aircraft; and the KJ-600, a fixed-wing airborne early warning aircraft comparable in concept to the American E-2 Hawkeye.
Now, satellite imagery from China’s Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai has revealed the PLAN’s Type 004 aircraft carrier could be nuclear-powered, and that would give it practically unlimited range — although successfully operating nuclear-powered carriers requires a disciplined maintenance culture, highly trained engineering teams, and decades of refinement.
On our YouTube channel, Task & Purpose’s video producer, Kyle Gunn, explains how China’s fleet of flattops is growing and fast-becoming a more effective naval force — and a bigger threat.
