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Liu Zhen

China is working on a powerful 50-megawatt gas turbine to propel its next generation of warships and key facilities, according to state media.
The gas turbine – an advanced power generation unit – is being developed by state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Economic Daily reported on Monday.
It is part of a push by Beijing to establish a self-reliant supply chain for sectors it sees as crucial to national security and China’s industrial base.
Advanced gas turbine engines are on Washington’s list of critical and emerging technologies that are subject to export controls for “national security” reasons.
The CGT50 gas turbine is expected to power China’s next-generation aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships and destroyers. It could also be used in civilian applications – serving as industrial mechanical drives and in peaking power plants that run when there is high demand for electricity.
On Friday, China State Shipbuilding Corporation also unveiled a 3MW gas turbine, the CGT3. It launched two heavier units – the 33.5MW CGT30 and the 44MW CGT40 – in December 2024.
Liu Bingbing, a scientist at the company’s 703rd Research Institute that develops the gas turbines, said the latest progress was a milestone for the technology.
“[We] have achieved full self-sufficiency across the entire process, from design and manufacturing to testing and validation,” Liu said.




In a report on the CGT3 on Sunday, state-run tabloid Global Times called the development of gas turbine engines “a matter of national security and industrial core competitiveness”, given that they are crucial to power generation, aviation, maritime propulsion and general industry.
The CGT40 could significantly improve the power output and efficiency of the navy’s large warships compared to the 25MW gas turbine engines they currently use. They could also support advanced electric propulsion as well as new weapons like lasers or railguns.
Meanwhile, the new CGT3 is a compact, lightweight generator that can run on both liquid fuel and natural gas. It takes up only a fifth of the space of a diesel generator and one-tenth of a conventional steam turbine with equivalent power output, according to the company.
It said the turbine would have wide applications in distributed energy supply – meaning it could be used for homes, small facilities or as a mobile emergency power source.
The turbine – which has low noise levels and reduced carbon emissions – could also be installed on offshore platforms, remote islands and reefs, as well as vessels for a high-efficiency power supply.
Sun Peng, deputy director of the 703rd Research Institute, said the CGT3 met advanced international standards and had overcome key technical barriers. He said that suggested China had “moved from a follower phase to a stage of autonomous innovation in the field of small and medium-sized gas turbines”.
The Global Times report highlighted the significance of the technology, calling it a “crown jewel of manufacturing industries” that only a handful of developed countries possessed and which was “critical” for advancing China’s goal of becoming a manufacturing powerhouse.


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The advanced technology is part of Beijing’s push to establish a self-reliant supply chain for sectors deemed critical to national security


The advanced technology is part of Beijing’s push to establish a self-reliant supply chain for sectors deemed critical to national security.


China’s aircraft carriers

China State Shipbuilding Corporation

China’s next generation of warships will be propelled by a powerful 50MW gas turbine

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The advanced technology is part of Beijing’s push to establish a self-reliant supply chain for sectors deemed critical to national security

The advanced technology is part of Beijing’s push to establish a self-reliant supply chain for sectors deemed critical to national security