State media shows off the Fujian – China's brand new cutting-edge aircraft carrier

Chinese state media has released rare imagery of China's most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian.

The 80,000-tonne domestically designed and built carrier boasts a next-generation electromagnetic catapult, which can launch a wider range of aircraft than the conventional steam catapult.

Images of the Fujian, which is yet to undergo sea trials, clearly show off the three launch rails of its catapult system.

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The aircraft carrier is larger and technologically more advanced than the Shandong, which was commissioned in 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted domestically.

The Fujian is the only vessel other than the US Navy's Gerald R Ford-class carriers to feature a next-generation electromagnetic catapult.