Only a select few People’s Liberation Army officers attended last week’s commissioning of the Fujian, but among them was Rear Admiral Ma Weiming – the man whose technological breakthrough put the aircraft carrier among the most advanced of its kind.
Known as the father of the Chinese electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), Ma also fundamentally altered naval warfare with a string of innovations that has put China “one generation ahead” in several critical areas.
There were no initial plans to equip the conventionally powered Fujian with the world’s most advanced catapult system – until Ma suggested it.
01:34
China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, enters service
China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, enters service
At the time, the only carrier equipped with the complex technology was the USS Gerald Ford, which entered service that year. Decades and billions of dollars later, the system has so far failed to launch its shipborne F-35C stealth fighters.
For the designers of the Fujian – China’s third aircraft carrier and the first to be indigenously designed – the steam catapult seemed a more pragmatic and safe option. It was a mature technology used on most of the US Navy’s active carriers, as well as the French carrier Charles de Gaulle and many other retired vessels from other countries.
Ma, a professor at the PLA Naval University of Engineering who had been working for two decades on ship power technologies based on direct current (DC), was confident that his approach could be used to power a similarly advanced launch system.
“If we are doing it, we go for the cutting-edge. If we want to lead, we overtake the Americans,” he told the state broadcaster. “We should never wait until foreigners make it and then follow.”
