The Chinese Navy (PLAN) is increasingly similar to its US counterpart. The service already has an aircraft carrier with an electromagnetic catapult system and is now preparing the fleet of carrier-based aircraft that will operate aboard the Fujian (formerly Type 003).
In addition to helicopters and the KJ-600, an Airborne Early Warning turboprop that is the face of the E-2 Hawkeye, the PLAN presented the J-35, a stealth fighter from Shenyang, at Airshow China 2024.
The variant seen, however, is for use by the PLAAF (the Chinese Air Force), but the naval variant has been undergoing testing for quite some time and will be part of the Fujian’s air wing.
But there are other aircraft and two of them also appeared at the exhibition.
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The first is the J-15T, based on the J-15 that is on board the aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong. The first variant, however, only takes off via a ramp, which reduces the maximum takeoff weight.
The J-15T, on the other hand, has a front landing gear with a coupling for launching by catapult.
Larger than the J-35, this variant is expected to be responsible for long-distance patrolling.
Electronic warfare
The other aircraft on board is the J-15D, which is nothing more than a two-seat fighter that carries several electronic warfare pods.
It is a take on the US Navy’s Boeing EA-18G Growler, which in turn is based on the F/A-18F fighter.
The Shenyang J-15D has the second occupant as the radar and weapons systems operator, coordinating the use of missiles and guided bombs on targets heavily protected by a defense with jammers.
And so China will soon replicate the military projection power that only the US Navy is capable of today.
It is true that the Fujian is not yet on par with the Nimitz and Gerald R. Ford classes, which are nuclear-powered, but in the near future this aspect will also be equaled.
China is already building the Type 004, an evolution of the Fujian, larger and possibly nuclear-powered.
