A shelter covering part of an advanced plane launch system on the country’s newest aircraft carrier appears to have been removed, suggesting catapult take-off tests on the vessel could start soon, according to military analysts.
Photos posted by a military enthusiast on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, on Monday also showed an array of radar systems had been installed in the control tower island of the Fujian.
Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at the Taiwanese Naval Academy, said installation of the electromagnetic catapult system was completed a few months ago, providing a stable power supply for the ship.
“The next step should be testing of the J-15T fighter jets,” Lu said.
He also said the radar systems in the photo included advanced active electronically scanned arrays, or AESAs.
“That is the same one used on the Type 055 cruiser and the Type 052D destroyer, meaning that a sea trial may start anytime,” Lu said.
The J-15T is an updated version of the J-15 fighter jet and has been equipped to work with the new catapult system.
The aircraft is the country’s only active carrier-based fighter jet and has been deployed on China’s two other aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong.
Military enthusiasts have followed the development of J-15T since 2021 when photos of the aircraft began circulating on Chinese social media platforms.
Ground-based flight tests of the J-15T are understood to have started many years ago in the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s training base in Xingcheng, Liaoning province.
Zhou Chenming, a researcher with the Beijing-based Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank, said Chinese engineers have continued to modify the electromagnetic catapult system since its launch a year ago.
“After more than one year of calibration, now it’s time to make sure that the flight test of the J-15T can be completed by the end of this year,” Zhou said, adding the schedule could be between August and October.
“Ensuring safety is still the top priority for such a highly sophisticated weapon system, and if it is not ready by August, then [the PLA] can aim for [National Day on] October 1.”
Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation analyst, said the J-15T flight test would only take place if the Fujian’s maiden sea trial went smoothly.
The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier and the most advanced so far. It is expected to play a key role in the PLA’s anti-access and area denial strategy if the United States intervenes in a conflict over Taiwan, according to Lu.
Beijing sees the island as part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to take it back to its fold. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but oppose the use of force to change the status quo.
Lu said the progress on the Fujian could suggest the PLA was stepping up its efforts to meet its short-term goal of becoming “a fully modernised military” by 2027, the centennial of its founding.
The other two goals are completing its military modernisation by 2035 and becoming a “world-class” military on a par with the US by mid-century.
The Fujian is the first of the PLA Navy’s Type 003 class, which is the only second carrier class – after the American Gerald R. Ford class – to use an electromagnetic catapult system to launch planes from the deck.
It is expected to form the core of China’s plans to become a blue-water navy force capable of operating in distant waters.