The ship builder only confirms a full functional ship. Others are the business of PLAN.
CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
A fully functional ship (in this case, Fujian) includes fully functional EMCATs, of which as of today has no official confirmation that they've launched actual warplanes. That means EMCAT trials with actual warplanes WILL take place during at least one of the subsequent sea trials.
Dirt smudge on a blast deflector would seem to suggest this has already happened.
Great picture and thanks for sharing. That is to say, if everything goes well, she will be performed the final clean up. Then she will be put into service.
What about her air wing though, I'm guessing most of it should be ready before the ship enters service
Receiving planes for the entire wing, training and certifying all pilots, it will take 2-3 years.
lcloo
Captain
Fujian has been in sea trial for 9 months since May 2024. Shandong went through 16 months of sea trials.
Shandong was based on Liaoning thus some of the tests were already done on Liaoning before and repeating same tests on Shandong would save sea trial time because of previous experience, As for Fujian, she may need 1 1/2 to 2 years or more of sea trial before being accepted into PLAN service.
Do expect Fujian to enter service in H2 2026 or H1 2027. In our hearts, of course we want to see her in service ASAP, in time for 2025 X'mas.
is this the same picture posted before but in high res? or is this a different one, and we should take it as confirmation?A high-resolution image of Fujian back in dry dock.
