China’s Fujian aircraft carrier may be nearing take-off tests after photos show tyre marks

Images from vessel’s latest sea trial point to aircraft landings, but successful take-offs with advanced catapult yet to be seen, experts say

Reading Time:3 minutes

Military enthusiasts have celebrated a first aircraft “take-off” after online images showed skid marks on the deck of China’s Fujian aircraft carrier, but experts caution they had yet to see any sign of a successful aircraft launch from the vessel. Photo: Sohu

Published: 3:21pm, 11 Dec 2024Updated: 7:17pm, 11 Dec 2024

China’s military appears to have practised landing warplanes on the flight deck of the country’s third aircraft carrier – the Fujian – for the first time, based on images that have circulated online showing tyre marks on the deck.

The pictures surfaced on Chinese and Western social media after the vessel’s fifth sea trial concluded last week. But analysts said there was no sign the ship’s advanced launch catapult at been used.

Ahead of the trial, at the biannual Zhuhai air show last month, China unveiled its new carrier-based J-15T and fifth-generation J-35 stealth fighters, signalling their readiness to operate on the 80,000-tonne carrier.

While military enthusiasts celebrated what they took to be a “first take-off” from the Fujian, analysts said the marks were probably the result of a “touch and go” or landing. The system needs time to master launching, even after it has proved functional, they said.

A J-15T carried-based fighter jet flies during the Zhuhai air show in south China’s Guangdong province in November. Photo: AFP

“The tyre marks on the flight deck are likely to be left by landing tests … when aircraft land and slide for some 80 metres (263 feet) until they are hooked by the arrester wires,” said Yue Gang, a retired colonel from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).