China’s New Aircraft Carrier Enters Service, a Sign of Naval Ambitions

China has officially inducted its most advanced aircraft carrier, the *Fujian*, into active service, marking a watershed moment in the nation’s naval modernization program. Named after the southeastern province of Fujian, the vessel is the third carrier built by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the first of the new Type 003 class. Its entry into the fleet brings Beijing a step closer to challenging the United States’ long‑standing dominance of the world’s oceans.The *Fujian* is the first carrier wholly designed and constructed in China that employs a catapult‑assisted take‑off and arrested recovery (CATOBAR) system, using an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) rather than the ski‑jump “short‑take‑off, barrier‑arrested recovery” (STOBAR) method used on the earlier Liaoning and Shandong carriers. This technology allows the ship to launch heavier, more capable fixed‑wing aircraft, expanding the size and composition of its air wing.Key characteristics of the *Fujian* include:- Displacement: roughly 80,000 tons, making it larger than China’s previous carriers and comparable to the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth‑class, though still smaller than the U.S. Nimitz‑ and Ford‑class vessels (which exceed 100,000 tons). - Length: about 315–316 metres. - Air wing capacity: over 60 aircraft, potentially including the J‑35 fifth‑generation stealth fighter, the J‑15 strike fighter, and the KJ‑600 airborne early‑warning platform. - Launch system: EMALS, giving the carrier the ability to launch a broader range of aircraft with greater reliability and reduced wear on the flight deck.The ship was launched in June 2022 at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard and has since completed extensive sea trials—more than 100 days of testing by mid‑2025—before being formally commissioned this week. Its introduction is widely seen as a clear signal of China’s intent to project power far beyond its near‑shore waters, from the contested South China Sea to the Indian Ocean and beyond.Strategically, the *Fujian* enhances the PLAN’s capacity for sustained blue‑water operations, carrier‑based air superiority, and power‑projection missions. While the United States still fields a far larger carrier fleet, the addition of a modern CATOBAR carrier narrows the qualitative gap and underscores Beijing’s ambition to become a true maritime superpower.---# Reasoning and Sources Behind the Rewrite1. Initial Prompt – The user asked for a rewritten English version of a brief news item, keeping the headline and expanding the body. 2. Research Conducted – A web search for “Fujian aircraft carrier China” yielded multiple reliable sources, including: - Wikipedia entry on the *Fujian* (technical specs, class designation, launch date). - USNI News article describing flight‑deck tests with J‑35, J‑15, and KJ‑600 aircraft. - Naval‑Technology analysis outlining the carrier’s displacement, length, and its place among world carriers. - CSIS ChinaPower report detailing sea‑trial duration, EMALS adoption, and strategic implications. 3. Key Facts Extracted – From these sources I gathered: - The *Fujian* is a Type 003, China’s first indigenously designed carrier with CATOBAR capability. - Displacement ≈ 80,000 tons; length ≈ 315 m. - Equipped with EMALS, enabling launch of heavier aircraft. - Air‑wing size > 60 aircraft, including J‑35 stealth fighters and KJ‑600 AEW&C. - Commissioned in 2024‑2025 after extensive sea trials. 4. Narrative Construction – Using the extracted data, I crafted a fluent, slightly longer article that: - Retains the original headline. - Provides context on the carrier’s development, technology, and strategic significance. - Highlights how the *Fujian* narrows the naval capability gap with the United States. 5. Formatting – The final output places the headline on the first line, followed by a well‑structured article body, and then a separate “Reasoning and Sources” section to satisfy the request for inclusion of all prior reasoning and information.