Chinese Supercarrier Fujian: A Threat To The Indian Waters? (Part-I)

Hello defence lovers! Recently the People’s Liberation Army Navy has launched its first type 003 “Fujian” aircraft carrier which can be categorized as a “supercarrier”. This article will discuss why we should be worried about this Chinese supercarrier.

What Is a Supercarrier?

The term supercarrier is used for those aircraft carriers with displacement greater than 80,000 tons. The first true supercarrier class was the Forrestal class of the US navy. Then came the Kitty Hawk class which displaced more than 80,000 tons under full load. Nuclear propulsion is a critical technology in the evolution of these Supercarriers. These aircraft carriers generally carry a huge number of aircraft. The airwing of these ships is bigger than the entire airforce of many small nations. As of now the United States navy only operates supercarriers. The US navy has 10 Nimitz-class carriers and 1 Gerald R Ford-class carrier. Now China will join this club soon.

The Chinese Aircraft Carrier Story

As of now, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) operates 2 aircraft carriers which are Type 001 Liaoning and Type 002 Shandong. The story of Liaoning is very interesting. When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, Admiral Kuznetsov’s sister ship was being built in Ukraine. Ukraine then did not have the resources to complete the aircraft carrier. So the Ukrainian authorities tried to sell it off. Chinese Navy was pretty interested in that deal. However, they used a clever tactic of buying the ship at a dirt-cheap price. The Chinese delegation visited Ukraine in 1992 but refused to buy the ship. Unable to find a customer, Ukraine left it to rot. Six years later Chinese officials disguised as Bussiness men purchased the ship for turning up into a hotel. Then it was brought to China and refitted and modernized.

The Type 002 Shandong was a result of a detailed study and modification of the Liaoning. Several changes were made to the Admiral Kuznetsov design. However, it inherited some of its problems which even today plague all Kuznetsov class carrier operators including the Russian Navy.

Fujian: A Super Carrier?

STOBAR vs CATOBAR

Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR): It is type of aircraft carrier in which a ski-jump is used for launching aircraft and arresting cables are used for stoping the aircraft while landing. These ships are easy and cheap to build and operate. However, these cannot launch heavy aircraft such as Naval AEWACs and fully loaded fighter jets.

Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested recovery (CATOBAR): It is a type of aircraft carrier in which a catapult is used to launch aircraft. The deck of these aircraft carriers are flat. These can launch heavy aircraft. However, these are expensive to build and operate.

China launched its Type 003 “Fujian” aircraft carrier on 17th June 2022. It is China’s first CATOBAR-type aircraft. The earlier aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy based on Admiral Kuznetsov were STOBAR type. It is estimated that Fujian will displace more than 80000 tons when fully loaded. It uses an EMALS for its catapult mechanism. This makes Fujian the only ship with EMALS after the USS Gerald R ford. However, it is very interesting that the ship is conventionally powered. Thus by displacement, we can call it a supercarrier. However, it lacks nuclear propulsion. Hence we cannot call it a true supercarrier. Let us discuss its various aspects in detail.

Conventionally Powered CATOBAR: An Odd Combination?

ElectroMagnetic Aircraft Launching System (EMALS)

EMALS is an alternative of aircraft launching system used in the aircraft carriers. Before EMALS, either steam catapults or ski jumps were used. EMALS uses a linear induction motor powered with Alternating Current for launching the aircraft.

The main advantage of EMALS is that it accelerates aircraft more smoothly, putting less stress on their airframes. Compared to steam catapults, the EMALS also weighs less, is expected to cost less and require less maintenance, and can launch both heavier and lighter aircraft than a steam piston-driven system.

Currently EMALS is operation on US Navy’s USS Gerald R Ford Supper carrier. It was planned for HMS Queen Elizbeth but a Ski jump was later preffered. Now the Chinese Type 003 Fujian and upcomming Type 004 will be using EMALS

In the past, we had many examples of conventionally powered CATOBAR aircraft carriers. INS Vikrant was one of many examples. However, INS Vikrant was later modified into STOBAR for the operation of Harrier Jump Jets. USS Kitty Hawk and its sister ships are examples of conventionally powered CATOBAR supercarriers. However, we see very few examples these days. There are several reasons which make this particular combination odd. Let us discuss these in detail.

CATOBAR uses a catapult to launch aircraft. The steam catapults were very popular until the invention of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System (EMALS). In steam catapults, the steam is sourced from the boilers which power the aircraft carrier. In Nuclear powered vessels, the fuel storage is theoretically unlimited which enables the boilers to work at full load all the time to launch aircraft. However, conventionally powered vessels face a slight disadvantage due to their limited fuel storage.

Now if we talk about EMALS, it’s a power-hungry system. It is designed to deliver up to 60 megajoules of electricity, and 60 megawatts at its peak in the 3 seconds it takes to launch a Navy aircraft. This amount of power could handle about 12,000 homes. Thus managing the electrical power in a conventionally powered ship is a difficult task and presents many design challenges. That was the primary reason why the STOVL design was chosen over the CATOBAR type in the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Class.

Even the US Navy which has been operating aircraft carriers since the second world war is facing lots of technical challenges in operating the EMALS onboard the USS Gerald R Ford. On the other hand, the Chinese have just commissioned Liaoning back in 2012. The EMALS technology has still reliability issues. The inventors are struggling to fix them. Nobody knows how the “technology thieves” will handle them on a steam-powered ship when the inventors are struggling despite having nuclear power.

Time will tell us whether the Chinese innovations will make Fujian a design success or a cursed ship like Admiral Kuznetsov only meant for a propaganda war.

To Be Continued…

In the next part of the article, we will discuss how Fujian solves the fighter problem of the Chinese Navy; what range and efficiency issues it will face, and how it is a threat to Indian waters.