China’s New High-Tech Aircraft Carrier: Fujian

• China demonstrated its first indigenous aircraft carrier, the new-generation Fujian.
• China now has the second-largest fleet of aircraft carriers after the U.S.

About Fujian

• Fujian has been named after China’s eastern coastal province which lies across from Taiwan.

• Fujian joins two other aircraft carriers currently operated by China — Shandong which is Type 001, commissioned in the year 2019, and the Liaoning, Type 002, bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998.
• Fujian, Type 003 carrier is more technologically advanced than its predecessors Shandong and Liaoning.

Features

• The Fujian’s displacement is around 80,000 tons which is much more than the existing Chinese aircraft carriers and, comparable to U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.
• The Fujian has been fitted with the latest launch technology, Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) which has been first developed by the U.S. Navy.
• It also has a straight flat-top flight deck for the take-offs and landings.

How this aircraft is significant for China?

• China put claim over almost all of the South China Sea and has heavily deployed naval assets as a show of power in the Strait that separates the Chinese mainland from Taiwan
• With the Fujian, China is likely to get more power to operate in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits.
• The Indian Navy has a significant presence in the Indian Ocean but the capabilities of the Fujian provide China with a leeway to head to India’s backyard, where it is increasing its presence.
• China has already taken the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka as a debt swap and is modernizing Pakistan’s Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea and also has expanded its naval base in the strategically important Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, increasing military capabilities like Fujian will further add might to its expansionist policy.

Though China has expanded its military strength, the U.S. remains far ahead. At present, the U.S. is the world’s largest leader in aircraft carriers, with 11 nuclear-powered vessels followed by China, Britain, and Italy.

Status of Aircraft Carrier in India

• INS Vikramaditya

INS Vikramaditya is the Indian Navy’s largest aircraft carrier and warship converted from the Russian Navy’s decommissioned Admiral Gorshkov/Baku.

• It is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier that was commissioned into service in November 2013.
• It works on a Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery, or STOBAR mechanism with an angular ski-jump.

STOBAR is a system that is used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of "short take-off and vertical landing" with "catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery".

• INS Vikrant:

India’s second aircraft carrier is INS Vikrant which is set to be commissioned later this year, it will use the CATOBAR system to launch aircraft.

Its construction will propel India into a select group of countries having capabilities to build state-of-the-art aircraft carriers.

Operational Modalities: According to the Indian Navy, the warship will operate MiG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31 helicopters, MH-60R multi-role helicopters, and the indigenous-built Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH).