According to analysts cited in the South China Morning Post, China, which just debuted its third aircraft carrier Fujian, is having difficulty filling positions for qualified ship-borne fighter jet pilots in its navy. An article about the crisis appeared in the Chinese military magazine Ordnance Industry Science Technology.
China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier started sea trials last week
“With Fujian, China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, having started sea trials last week, the PLA needed at least 200 qualified carrier-based fighter jet pilots to operate 130 ship-borne aircraft,” Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said in the article.
In June of this year, China put into service its first homegrown aircraft carrier, the new-generation Fujian (Type 003). This is the country’s first aircraft carrier to be fitted with electromagnetic catapults, a feature previously only found aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.
The new aircraft carrier’s aircraft launch and recovery system made it challenging to find a pilot who was proficient with the new mechanism, in contrast to China’s first two carriers, which had ski-jump designs. “It’s full of challenges, as aircraft design and pilot training are among the world’s most difficult and complicated core technology – which no one will share with you,” Li said.
Americans have developed a more advanced variant, the T-7A Red Hawk
The issue is that Chinese-built JL-9G single-engine twin-seat aircraft are used by PLA naval pilots as a carrier-trainer variant. However, due to problems such as being too light and slow, it cannot be used to replicate emergency landings on a flight deck, according to the study published in the magazine. Due to these shortcomings, it is only used for land-based carrier training simulations.
“In the past few decades, the US military was using the T-45 Goshawk carrier-qualified trainer to train its pilot cadets,” it said. “Now the Americans have developed a more advanced variant, the T-7A Red Hawk, which is equipped with a more powerful General Electric F404 afterburning turbofan engine that will make ship-borne fighter pilot training more efficient.”