Powerful new warship features three catapults for rapid aircraft launch
After two postponements due to the confinement of Shanghai due to covid, China’s third aircraft carrier was launched this Friday, baptized ‘Fujian’ in honor of the coastal province off the island of Taiwan, claimed by Beijing. It does not seem like a casual name because the waters of that strait will be the ones that this new ship sails, whose entry into service will still take a few years. Amid growing maritime tensions with the United States in the Pacific, aggravated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese regime confirms its rise as a military superpower and is moving towards its goal of having six aircraft carriers by 2035, the next nuclear-powered.
With 80,000 tons and a totally own design, the ‘Fujian’ is the most sophisticated of China’s large ships of this type. With a deck that does not end in a ramp like the previous two, it incorporates innovative electromagnetic catapults to propel the takeoff of its fighters. Said system, which improves on-board operations, demonstrates China’s military and technological progress because, until now, this system was only used by the United States on its Gerald Ford-class ships. “This is the first aircraft carrier with these catapults entirely designed and built by China,” state television CCTV proudly announced, indicating that the first mission of the ship will be “to sail and do mooring tests after launching.”
Since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012-2013, he has pushed for the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army to support China’s rise as a superpower.
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