By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
As China prepares to commission and launch its “Fujian” aircraft carrier, the People’s Liberation Army Navy is preparing a new Carrier Air Wing and training pilots to fly specially-configured carrier “mission aircraft” to launch from the ship’s electromagnetic catapult.
The Fujian is China’s third carrier and the first with a USS-Ford-like electromagnetic catapult; as a result, it is the first PLAN carrier to be built with a large flat deck without a ski-jump type of ramp;
“We are now fully adept at maintaining precise flight direction, optimal posture, and pinpoint landing accuracy,” Lin Chunliang of the PLA Naval Aviation University said in the Chinese-government backed Global Times newspaper.
Some of the special mission aircraft designed for the new carrier air wing are not yet announced, but Chinese government-backed newspapers say the “Fujian” will launch the J-15 and the emerging J-35 5th-gen stealth fighter aircraft.
J-35 Carrier Launched
Launching the J-35 from a carrier is quite significant for the PLA, as it has been operating with a massive deficit in the area of sea-launched 5th-generation aircraft, for quite some time. China operates its 5th-gen J-20 in impactful numbers, yet it is a land-launched fighter and the PLA Navy has only had a few prototype 5th-gen carrier-launched aircraft such as the J-35, formerly called the J-31. The PLA Navy has not had an F-35C-like carrier-launched 5th-gen aircraft or any F-35B-like vertical-take-off-and-landing 5th-gen ocean-launched aircraft, so the PLAN has been operating with a serious maritime 5th-gen air power deficit. This deficit is something which would clearly imperil any effort to take over Taiwan with an amphibious attack.
These are the reasons why a carrier-launched J-35 5th-gen stealth fighter could change the threat equation in the region, depending upon the extent to which the J-35 can rival a US Navy F-35B or F-35C. However full parity is not likely to happen anytime soon as it will be several years until the PLAN is able to operate with impactful numbers of its J-35 from the Fujian, and the US Navy can already fly dozens of F-35s from its carriers and amphibs.
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University
