The Fujian Aircraft Carrier: Its Path to Perfection
The Chinese continue to surprise, not so much—no, you're no longer surprised, but rather taken for granted: their neighbors are willing to bend over backwards to force the world to take them seriously at every level. Not only in terms of industrial capabilities, but also militarily. It's a fact, but many foreign experts dismissively say that, yes, China has the largest army in the world, but it's of little use: it has zero combat experience, and how it would fare in a normal conflict is a question mark.
We won't discuss that issue today; it's a separate topic. Today, we're discussing the latest upgrade of the Fujian, which makes the Chinese aircraft carrier a hotbed for innovation.
According to the South China Morning Post, the recently commissioned Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian is now equipped with a six-tube, 324mm anti-torpedo defense system designed to intercept incoming submarine-launched munitions. This marks the first time an active carrier has used a dedicated anti-torpedo defense system to protect its hull from heavy submarine-launched torpedoes. This tactical configuration eliminates vulnerabilities in its close-in maritime defense system, shifting the carrier's primary line of defense from passive electronic countermeasures and wide-area depth charges to direct physical interception.
The Fujian Type 003 aircraft carrier, an 80,000-ton vessel commissioned by the People's Liberation Army Navy in November 2025, is equipped not with the outdated 12-tube depth charge launchers, but with specialized rotating six-tube launchers on the port and starboard sides. The 324-mm torpedo interceptors, powered by a waterjet, accelerate to speeds of 50 to 60 knots in three seconds, then execute active or passive guidance maneuvers.
If the ATT (Anti-Torpedo Torpedo) system is operational, Fujian will become the world's first aircraft carrier capable of physically intercepting and destroying incoming torpedoes, providing an unprecedented level of underwater defense.
The Fujian, commissioned in November 2025 after its first sea trials in May 2024, replaces the outdated 12-tube depth charge launchers of the Liaoning and Shandong with more advanced underwater interceptors. Thus, the carrier's last line of defense shifts from conventional, relatively untargeted, wide-area detonations to the direct engagement of incoming torpedoes.
The Fujian is a larger and more powerful aircraft carrier than the two previous Chinese ships, and the anti-torpedo system should be considered in the context of broader changes in carrier design. The Type 003 is approximately 316 meters long, 76 meters wide, and has a full-load displacement of approximately 80,000 tons, compared to the Liaoning's displacement of approximately 60,000 tons and the Shandong's 66,000 tons.
The aircraft launch system also differs from others: instead of the STOBAR ski-jump system used on the first two Chinese aircraft carriers, the Fujian uses a CATOBAR system with electromagnetic catapults, allowing it to launch aircraft with greater fuel capacity, heavier weapons, and a greater payload. The proposed air wing of 50-60 fixed-wing aircraft could include carrier-based J-15T and J-35 fighters, stealth fighters, and KJ-600 airborne early warning aircraft, expanding the ship's capabilities compared to earlier Chinese carriers.
Type 1130
HQ-10
The Fujian's defensive armament already includes at least four artillery Type 1130 close combat systems and four systems Defense The HQ-10 (FL-3000N) and its new anti-torpedo system provide an additional layer of underwater protection, preventing one of the few threats that can disable an aircraft carrier with a single successful hit.
Based on available photographs, the aircraft carrier's anti-torpedo system consists of two rotating six-tube launchers mounted on the port and starboard sides below the flight deck. Although the launcher resembles a standard 324-mm light torpedo launcher, its intended purpose is likely unrelated to traditional anti-submarine warfare.
The aircraft carrier will clearly not waste its short-range torpedoes hunting submarines, as this task is assigned to escort ships, helicopters, maritime patrol aircraft, and deck Aviation, sonobuoys, onboard sonars, towed arrays, and other means of detecting and destroying an aircraft carrier strike group. Therefore, according to the SCMP, the torpedoes are most likely used for self-defense against torpedoes that have already passed through the escort screen and are approaching the aircraft carrier.
In this role, the anti-torpedo defense system acts as the underwater equivalent of an anti-ship weapon system, not by destroying the submarine itself, but by attempting to intercept the approaching threat during the final stages of the attack. Indeed, the threat that necessitated such a system is heavy submarine-launched torpedoes, not the lightweight torpedoes used by helicopters or escort ships to combat submarines.
Heavy torpedoes can strike below the waterline and damage the keel, underwater hull, shafts, rudders, steering gear, engine rooms, or adjacent compartments. Their impact can be more severe than that of a surface strike. missiles, as water transmits shock waves much more effectively than air, causing structural deformation, flooding, and impact loads on equipment over a larger area. Anti-ship missiles are quite capable of disabling ship machinery or even detonating ammunition, while torpedoes add the additional threat of flooding.
Modern ships are highly energy-dependent. A case in point is the fate of the American destroyer Henley, torpedoed on October 3, 1943, by the Japanese submarine Ro-108. A single torpedo struck the destroyer, but it was so unfortunate for the Americans, knocking out power to the entire ship that, without electric pumps, the Henley sank within two hours. A torpedo with a large warhead can greatly complicate the life of an aircraft carrier. As, indeed, it can be for any modern ship, which is frankly vulnerable to attacks below the waterline.
Wire-guided torpedoes allow a submarine to adjust its weapon During an attack. Acoustic homing torpedoes can conduct passive or active searches, and after a miss, they can re-attack. Homing torpedoes can follow disturbances in the water behind the ship, rather than its acoustic wake. These guidance modes are especially dangerous for large aircraft carriers, as acoustic decoys, jammers, bubble screens, and towed countermeasures cannot always distract a torpedo from its true target. A potential engagement with torpedo defenses would begin with the carrier's sonar or associated torpedo detection sensors detecting a high-speed underwater object. The combat system would have to classify the object in seconds, filtering out sea traffic noise, the ship's own noise, tracking noise, decoys, thermal layer effects, reverberation, and bottom clutter.
After calculating the bearing, depth, speed, and estimated interception point, a 324-mm interceptor torpedo will be launched from a six-tube launcher in the direction of the threat. Upon entering the water, the interceptor will activate its own broadband sonar, mounted in the bow, to begin searching for the incoming torpedo and adjust its course during homing.
This is, admittedly, a Russian "Answer." The Chinese are in no hurry to share beautiful photos.
The destruction mechanism may include remote detonation, underwater explosive pressure, shaped charge effects, or direct damage to the attack torpedo's hull, seeker, control surfaces, or propulsion system with the practical purpose of disrupting control, causing a miss, prematurely detonating the munition, or physically destroying it before impact.
According to the South China Morning Post, the Fujian carrier's interceptor torpedo reaches speeds of 50-60 knots approximately three seconds after launch. It uses a small rocket booster for initial launch and a waterjet propulsion system for underwater propulsion.
A broadband hydroacoustic antenna array in the bow will allow the interceptor to distinguish real torpedoes from decoys at long ranges, up to several thousand meters, and a two-way underwater acoustic communication link will allow the carrier to update the interceptor's data after launch.
If multiple interceptors can cooperate with each other, the system will be able to assign targets during a salvo attack, reduce the number of repeat shots, and improve the efficiency of limited ammunition. The "hard" kill system does not replace the Fujian's "soft" kill, tracking, or anti-submarine warfare capabilities, but it does improve the final layer of defense.
On many warships, electronic countermeasure systems such as acoustic decoys, jammers, bubble screens, towed decoys, and wake disruptors remain useful because they can deceive multiple torpedoes without expending ammunition. Their drawback is that they rely on deception, and modern torpedoes are increasingly equipped with systems that can ignore decoys, follow a wake, utilize multiple target acquisition modes, and perform a second attack maneuver after losing the target.
An ATT with a physical kill function attempts to neutralize the weapon, which is especially important when the torpedo has already entered the inner defense zone and there is no time to maneuver or deceive/jam. Limitations remain significant: the target is small, fast, and submerged, the ATT launch window is short, the acoustic environment can be overloaded, and the six-tube launcher has a limited number of ready-to-launch projectiles in the event of a possible multiple-torpedo salvo.
However, the Fujian's defensive system could play a significant role if the ATT system actually works. In the 2010s, the US Navy tested concepts for the Anti-Torpedo Defense System (ATTDS) and Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo (CAT) system, including carrier integration trials, but did not deploy the system. navy.
The system consisted of a sonar system, interceptor torpedoes, and AN/SLQ-25 Nixie acoustic decoys. ATTDS prototypes were installed on three Nimitz-class aircraft carriers: the George Bush, the Harry S. Truman, and the Nimitz.
However, American military experts concluded the system was ineffective and decided to cancel the project. Tests revealed that ATTDS was unable to always detect enemy torpedoes and also occasionally generated false alarms, mistaking extraneous noise for torpedoes.
However, in 2025, information was released that the US Navy was planning to resume development of ATTDS and install it on more than 165 different surface ships.
The European SeaSpider and PESCO Anti-Torpedo Torpedo projects are aimed at developing a qualified interceptor, validating the launcher concept, integrating the strike element with combat control systems, and testing the entire detection-to-detonation chain during sea trials. However, these projects are still at the design and prototype stage, and while they are even worse than the American ones, they are more promising, as they also take into account the negative experiences of their allies.
Russian Paket systems already employ anti-torpedo interceptors on surface warships, but these installations are designed for frigates and smaller warships, not aircraft carriers. Overall, however, Russia has advanced somewhat further than other countries in developing anti-torpedo intercept systems. The fact that the Russian Navy does not install Paket on aircraft carriers is solely due to the lack of such carriers. However, many of the newest frigates and corvettes do carry this system.
In addition, the Paket-NK operates not only AT interceptor torpedoes, but also MTT anti-submarine torpedoes, which are capable of destroying submarines themselves.
For China, the presence of an operational anti-missile system will significantly increase the survivability of the Fujian aircraft carrier, which, like any aircraft carrier, relies on escorts, aircraft, and anti-submarine networks, and will allow China's most modern aircraft carrier to defend itself against air, missile, and submarine threats.
As the Chinese themselves say, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," and the creation of their own weapons systems, which, as upgrades, enhance the offensive and defensive potential of existing ships, is truly a major step forward.
However, China constantly takes such steps, and there is nothing particularly surprising about this.
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