On Friday, at a port in Shanghai, the Chinese government inaugurated the aircraft carrier Fujian, a warship used to transport, take off and land fighter jets at sea. Fujian is the third aircraft carrier to be inaugurated by the Chinese government, but it is the first designed and built entirely in China, which is expanding, strengthening and modernizing its military.
The newly inaugurated aircraft carrier is 300 meters long and, unlike previous models that used a simple ramp to launch the planes, it can launch them with a catapult that uses fairly advanced technologies, according to some experts working for the Washington Post and the Associated Press , the Fujian’s catapults are in fact similar to those used in some US Army aircraft carriers, which until now have had this technology exclusively.
Launch and naming ceremony for China’s third aircraft carrier #Fujian took place on Friday around 11 a.m., after which the ship left the dock. Xu Qiliang, a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee and vice chairman of the CMC, attended the ceremony. pic.twitter.com/7Xtm5mzZea
– Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 17, 2022
According to Ridzwan Rahmat, an analyst with Defense Intelligence Agency Janes, the construction of Fujian marks a major advance in China’s military industry. China currently has the largest navy in the world by number of ships, although its overall military capacity lags far behind that of the United States, according to various analysts.
Aircraft carriers in particular are very important weapons for a country that wants to become a naval power. In fact, aircraft carriers are like mobile airports, allowing you not to be dependent on land bases and being able to expand your air power. Also, they are very expensive and difficult to build, which is why they are relatively rare: the United States has 11 active ones, the United Kingdom has 2, France and Italy have one.
The inauguration of the Fujian was broadcast on state television: jets of water were sprayed around the ship in the presence of naval officials, garlands and colored smoke were shot into the air.