.webp)
China wants to be a world power not only economically - they are now in second place - but also in terms of military capability. Like the United States, China has spent a lot of money modernizing their land, air and ground forces over the past 20 years. Among the steps taken is to develop a locally invented weapon system to replace the Russian -designed system used so far.
Yesterday China entered an exclusive club after the Fujian aircraft carrier was launched. It is the third aircraft carrier belonging to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLN) Navy but Fujian is the first to be designed entirely by China. Their first two ships - Liaoning and Shandong - used Soviet Kuznetzov -class designs from the 80s.
In terms of size Fujian is similar to the United States Forrestal -class aircraft carrier from the 50s. It is 300 meters long, 76 meters wide and weighs about 72,000 Tons. It makes it a supercarrier because of its ability to carry more aircraft than Lioning and Shandong.
The aircraft launch system is also modern because it uses an aircraft launch system using the assistance of a launcher and landing using a barrier (CATOBAR). China became the third country after the United States and France to use the CATOBAR system. Previously, PLN used a ski ramp system to launch aircraft.
More interesting is that Fujian will be equipped with three electro -magnetic aircraft launchers (EMAL) that allow various types of aircraft and drones to be launched safely. Another history was recorded as China became the second country to use EMAL after the United States.
The above two systems are sophisticated but Fujian still uses conventional fuel turbine engines while the United States has been using nuclear power sources since 1961. Even so with Fujian China is now the second country with the largest aircraft carrier. China has more aircraft carriers than the United Kingdom, Japan, France and India.
With the existence of aircraft carriers, China has the ability to show their power, especially in the South China Sea, which is trying to be captured, thus creating tensions with neighboring countries, including Malaysia.