Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

*Fujian* (18)
	Photo of Fujian transiting the East China Sea, September 2025
Class overview
Name	Type 003
Builders	Jiangnan Shipyard
Operators	People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by	Type 002 Shandong
Succeeded by	Type 004
Completed	1
Active	1
History
China
Name	Fujian; (Chinese: 福建舰);
Namesake	Fujian province
Builder	Jiangnan Shipyard
Laid down	March 2015 – February 2016
Launched	17 June 2022
Commissioned	5 November 2025
Motto	(Simplified Chinese: 忠诚，精武，卓越，奋进)：Loyalty, Martial Proficiency, Excellence, Forging Ahead
Status	in active service
General characteristics
Class & type	Type 003 aircraft carrier
Displacement	Full load: 80,000–85,000 t (79,000–84,000 long tons)
Length	316 m (1,036 ft 9 in)
Beam	76 m (249 ft 4 in)
Propulsion	Steam turbines
Armament	Type 1130 gun-based CIWS; HHQ-10 missile-based CIWS;
Aircraft carried	50+ aircraft:; Fixed-wing:; Shenyang J-35 carrier-based stealth multirole fighter; Shenyang J-15T/DT carrier-based multirole fighter; Xi'an KJ-600 carrier-based airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) and cargo aircraft ; Helicopters:; Harbin Z-20 family helicopters;
Aviation facilities	Hangar deck; Electromagnetic catapults;

Fujian (18; Chinese: 福建舰; pinyin: Fújiàn Jiàn) is a Chinese conventionally powered aircraft carrier serving in the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). It is the third carrier of the Chinese aircraft carrier programme and the first of the Type 003 class (NATO/OSD Fujian class), succeeding the Type 002 Shandong. It is China's first indigenously designed carrier, and its first capable of catapult-assisted take-offs (CATOBAR); previous Chinese carriers used ski-jumps (STOBAR). It is the second carrier in the world (after the United States Navy's Gerald R. Ford) to have electromagnetic catapults (EMALS) for launching carrier-based aircraft. The EMALS of Fujian is powered by a Medium-Voltage Direct Current (MVDC) integrated power system—the first of its kind for an aircraft carrier, stated to be more reliable compared to the AC-based EMALS of the Gerald R. Ford-class. It is also the first aircraft carrier in the world to launch a fifth-generation fighter using the electromagnetic catapult system.

Fujian was built by the Jiangnan Shipyard, launched on 17 June 2022, and started sea trials in May 2024. In 2019, analyst Robert Farley from the U.S. Army War College believed that Fujian would be the "largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever built outside the United States".

On 22 September, 2025, Chinese state media released video footage of Fujian conducting electromagnetic catapult launch tests of the J-15T, J-35 and KJ-600 combat/support aircraft, when the carrier was returning from its ninth sea trial. The carrier was formally commissioned into PLAN service at a ceremony in Sanya, Hainan on 5 November 2025, with CCP general secretary and Central Military Commission chairman Xi Jinping in attendance.