Type 004 aircraft carrier

The Type 004 aircraft carrier is a planned supercarrier of the People's Liberation Army Navy's aircraft carrier programme. Like the Type 003 aircraft carrier (Fujian) it will feature an integrated electric propulsion system that will allow the operation of electromagnetic catapults.^[7]

Class overview
Operators	People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by	Type 003 aircraft carrier
Planned	4[1]
General characteristics
Class and type	Type 004
Type	Aircraft carrier
Displacement	Up to 110,000 tons[2][3]
Propulsion	Nuclear marine propulsion
Speed	30+ knots[4]
Aircraft carried	70 to 100 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft,[5] including J-15 and possibly J-35 fighters, Xian KJ-600 airborne early warning and control aircraft, anti-submarine warfare aircraft, and stealth attack drones.[6]
Aviation facilities	Hangar deck

Unlike the conventionally-powered Type 003, the Type 004 will be much larger and also the first Chinese carrier to feature nuclear marine propulsion.^[7][8] As of 2017^[update], China hoped to complete the carrier by the late 2020s, and indicated that up to four might be built.^[1]

The Army Recognition Group in February 2025 estimated that Type 004 would be the heaviest warship ever made.^[9] The analysts also added that Type 004 would, if the displacement between 110,000 and 120,000 tonnes was actually realised, become the largest aircraft carrier in the world, larger than the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest ever warship in spring 2025.^[9]

Design

Nuclear propulsion

In 2017, China's central government was reportedly ready to spend RMB 22 billion (US$3.3 billion) on the development of two prototype molten salt nuclear reactors to be built at Wuwei in Gansu province. The goal then was to have the reactors operational by 2020. The PLA Navy is interested in the technology to power warships including aircraft carriers.^{[10][needs update]}

Aircraft

The Type 004 carrier could carry a complement of carrier-ready J-15 and J-35 fighters, Xian KJ-600 airborne early warning and control aircraft, anti-submarine warfare aircraft, and stealth attack-drones.^[6]

It was previously suggested that the aircraft carrier might carry J-20 stealth-fighter aircraft.^[11] However, in a programme in 2017 on China Central Television, PLA Navy 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.^[12] In addition, the plane does not have folding wings for compact storage, and its stealth coating would be susceptible to degradation while at sea.^[12]

History

Construction

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.^[13] 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.^[9]

The nuclear reactor for the aircraft carrier was being developed at NPIC in Mucheng in early 2025, according to reports.^[9] These reports also stated that a prototype reactor had been built on land; they added that satellite pictures prove that NPIC’s Site No. 1, sometimes called Base 909, was the location of the reactor.^[9]

See also

• Chinese aircraft carrier programme