China’s Fujian aircraft carrier completes first full sea training mission

China’s newest aircraft carrier Fujian has completed its first full training voyage after conducting electromagnetic launch and recovery drills with advanced combat and support aircraft.

China’s third aircraft carrier Fujian has returned to its naval base on Hainan Island after completing its first operational training voyage at sea, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The mission marked the carrier’s initial deployment with a full combat fleet and the first time its air wing carried out full electromagnetic launch and arrested landing exercises.

During the voyage, J15T and J35 fighter jets, the J15DT electronic warfare variant, and the KJ600 early warning aircraft conducted repeated takeoff and landing drills using the carrier’s electromagnetic catapult system. The training was described as the vessel’s first real combat readiness exercise at sea, signalling that the carrier is progressing towards full operational capability.

Named after the southern province of Fujian, the carrier was launched at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard in June 2022 and officially entered service in November 2025 following a ceremony on Hainan Island. It is China’s first aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technology, making the country the second after the U.S. to operate this system.

Fujian follows Liaoning and Shandong in China’s growing carrier fleet, but stands out as the first fully domestically designed and built vessel of its class. The carrier completed its initial sea trial in May 2024 and later sailed through the Taiwan Strait into the South China Sea for its ninth trial phase in September.

China’s first carrier, Liaoning, entered service in 2012 after being rebuilt from the former Ukrainian vessel Varyag. Shandong, commissioned in 2017, was constructed in China based on Liaoning’s design. With the addition of Fujian, China continues to expand the world’s largest navy by ship numbers and aims to form six carrier groups by 2035.

Copied