China's Carriers: What the PLAN's Flatdecks Can and Cannot Do in a Taiwan Scenario

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, underwent sea trials beginning in 2023 and has been advancing toward operational status. It is the first Chinese carrier equipped with electromagnetic aircraft launch system catapults — the same technology used on the American Gerald R. Ford class — which allows it to launch heavier aircraft with greater frequency than the ski-jump launch systems on China’s first two carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong. The Fujian represents a genuine capability advance that brings Chinese carrier aviation meaningfully closer to the operational model that American carriers have perfected over decades. It does not bring the PLAN to American carrier aviation parity, and its operational utility in a Taiwan contingency is less straightforward than its physical characteristics suggest.

PLAN Carriers on Taiwan Strait

China's Carriers: What the PLAN's Flatdecks Can and Cannot Do in a Taiwan Scenario