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Why it matters that China’s advanced fighters can use all its carriers

Recent People’s Liberation Army exercises showed that China’s older aircraft carriers could operate more closely in tandem with the more advanced Fujian than previously thought,…

By Samantha Johnson / July 2, 2026
Recent People’s Liberation Army exercises showed that China’s older aircraft carriers could operate more closely in tandem with the more advanced Fujian than previously thought, experts say, as fighter jets upgraded to use electromagnetic catapults were spotted on the older Liaoning carrier.
Images taken during a 40-day mission in the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean that ended on June 22 showed multiple J-15T jets taking off from, and landing on, the Liaoning.
China currently operates three aircraft carriers, which use two launch systems. The older Liaoning and Shandong both launch jets from an upwardly curved “ski jump” deck. The Fujian is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system – technology that allows planes to be launched more frequently and with heavier loads. Only China and the US have deployed this technology.
The J-15T, a variant of China’s first carrier-based fighter, can be launched from an electromagnetic catapult.

Military specialists said that the images suggested the J-15T can take off from and land on all of China’s aircraft carriers, which had implications for the country’s integrated combat capabilities.

Fu Qianshao, a military analyst and former PLA Air Force officer, said the J-15T being capable of both catapult-assisted and ski-jump take-offs was a “massive tactical advantage”.

China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, enters service

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