Type 004 aircraft carrier

Last updated
Class overview
OperatorsNaval ensign of China.svg  People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by Type 003 Fujian
Planned4 [1] (estimate)
Building1
General characteristics
Class & typeType 004
Type Aircraft carrier
DisplacementUp to 110,000 tons [2] [3]
Propulsion Nuclear marine propulsion
SpeedAt least 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) [4]
Aircraft carried70 to 100 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, [5] including J-15T multirole fighters, J-35 stealth fighters, Xian KJ-600 AWAC aircraft, ASW aircraft, and stealth attack drones. [6]
Aviation facilities Hangar deck

The Type 004 aircraft carrier is the lead ship of an upcoming class of supercarriers for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, currently in construction at the Dalian Shipyard since 2024. [7] It is the fourth aircraft carrier of the Chinese aircraft carrier programme and the third to be built indigenously by China.

Contents

Like the proceeding Type 003 aircraft carrier Fujian, the Type 004 will be capable of catapult-assisted takeoff but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) operations via an electromagnetic catapult system. Unlike the conventionally-powered Fujian, the Type 004 will be much larger and also likely the first Chinese surface warship to feature nuclear marine propulsion. [8] [9] China hoped to complete the carrier by the late 2020s, and indicated that up to four ships might be built. [1]

In October 2025, satellite imagery of the Dalian Shipyard showed the first stages of keel-laying and hull construction for the supposed Type 004 carrier. [10]

Design

Nuclear propulsion

In 2017, the Chinese Central Government was reportedly ready to spend RMB 22 billion (USD$3.3 billion) on the development of two prototype TMSR-LF1 thorium-based molten-salt reactors to be built at Wuwei, Gansu province in northwestern China, aiming to have the reactors operational by 2020. [11]

In December 2023, Jiangnan Shipyard has unveiled plans of KUN-24AP, a 24,000  TEU nuclear-powered container ship designed to use Gen IV molten-salt reactors. [12] The PLA Navy is interested in the same technology to power warships, including aircraft carriers. [13] [ needs update ]

Aircraft

The Type 004 carrier could carry a complement of catapult-ready J-15 and J-35 fighters, Xian KJ-600 AEW&C aircraft, HZ-20 utility/ASW helicopters and stealth attack drones such as the GJ-21. [6]

It was previously suggested that the aircraft carrier might carry J-20 stealth-fighter aircraft. [14] However, in a programme in 2017 on China Central Television, retired PLAN Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong dismissed the possibility that the J-20 aircraft would be used on aircraft carriers as the aircraft was not structurally designed to cope with carrier operations. [15] In addition, the plane does not have folding wings for compact storage, and its stealth coating would be susceptible to degradation while at sea. [15]

History

Construction

In November 2024, reports were published that China was in the process of building a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship. [16] According to Associated Press, and based on new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents, this was a clear sign that China was starting to produce its first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. [16] The Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California was reported to have said that a mountain site outside the city of Leshan in the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan was the place where the prototype reactor was being developed. [17]

On 13 February 2025, reports and images surfaced that showed construction work on a module consistent with an aircraft carrier being carried out at a shipyard in Dalian, in Liaoning province. [18] [19] The module apparently was a section of the flight deck and was seen in satellite imagery provided by Google Earth in May 2024. In early 2024, analysts observed, sections of the C3 and C4 catapults were also being built for testing near the dock in Dalian where the second Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong was built from 2013 to 2016. [20]

According to the South China Morning Post, commercial satellite photographs posted on Chinese social media at the end of September 2025 very probably showed new hull sections of the Type 004 aircraft carrier being built at the shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning. [21] The sections were not visible in satellite imagery from August 2025, making a start to the hull of the aircraft carrier in September 2025 convincing. [21]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The US Stunned by China's Leap": China's Revolutionary Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier Redefine Naval Supremacy with Futuristic Technology". 28 April 2025.
  2. ↑ Farley, Robert (5 May 2018). "China Building 'Nuclear' Aircraft Carriers: Could the Navy's Worst Nightmare Come True?". The National Interest . Center for the National Interest . Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  3. ↑ Hutchison, Harold C. (8 Jan 2018). "Communist China started building its third carrier". We Are The Mighty. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "Aircraft Carrier Project - People's Liberation Army Navy". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Pike, John. "Aircraft Carrier Project - People's Liberation Army Navy". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  6. 1 2 Lin, Jeffrey Lin; Singer, P.W. (6 March 2018). "A Chinese shipbuilder accidentally revealed its major navy plans". Popular Science . Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Amid Taiwan tensions, Beijing reveals it is building aircraft carrier No 4". South China Morning Post. 2024-03-06. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  8. ↑ Roblin, Sebastien (1 May 2017). "The Real Reason the World Needs to Pay Attention to China's Growing Aircraft Carrier Fleet". The National Interest . Center for the National Interest . Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  9. ↑ Mizokami, Kyle (7 September 2018). "Inside China's Plan to Build the Second-Biggest Aircraft Carrier Fleet in the World". Foxtrot Alpha. Jalopnik . Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  10. ↑ Liu, Zhen (2025-10-14). "Images of hull sections suggest progress on China's fourth aircraft carrier". South China Morning Post . Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  11. ↑ Chen, Stephen (5 December 2017). "China Hopes Cold War Nuclear Energy Tech Will Power Warships, Drones". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  12. ↑ Yang, Carol (6 December 2023). "China showcases nuclear ultra-large containership concept". Lloyd's List . Shanghai: Kuehne + Nagel . Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  13. ↑ Chen, Stephen (5 December 2017). "China hopes cold war nuclear energy tech will power warships, drones". South China Morning Post . Retrieved 19 June 2018. Chen Fu, a thermal physicist at the Harbin Institute of Technology involved in the development of new power generation systems for China's navy, said the heat generated by a thorium molten salt reactor could be perfect to help generate power on a warship.
  14. ↑ Lin, Jeffrey Lin; Singer, P.W. (16 August 2017). "China's making major progress with its aircraft carrier tech". Popular Science . Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  15. 1 2 "PLA admiral rejects talk of J-20 fighters on aircraft carriers". Asia Times . 24 November 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  16. 1 2 "China advances toward nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with new reactor prototype". Associated Press. 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  17. ↑ "China advances toward nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with new reactor prototype". Associated Press. 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  18. ↑ Newdick, Thomas (2025-02-13). "Structure At Chinese Shipyard May Point To China's Next Aircraft Carrier's Capabilities". The War Zone. Retrieved 2025-03-01.
  19. ↑ "China is working on an enormous aircraft carrier that rivals the biggest in the U.S. fleet, analysts say". NBC News. 2025-03-02. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  20. ↑ Brahy, Jérôme. "Analysis | Could China's future Type 004 replace the USS Gerald R. Ford as the world's most powerful aircraft carrier?". www.armyrecognition.com. Retrieved 2025-03-01.
  21. 1 2 "Images of hull sections suggest progress on China's fourth aircraft carrier". South China Morning Post. 2025-10-14. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
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