According to South China Morning Post, which cited experts, China, which recently debuted its third aircraft carrier Fujian, is having difficulty filling ship-borne fighter jet pilot positions in its navy. An article in the Chinese military publication Ordnance Industry Science Technology highlighted the crisis. In spite of accelerating pilot training programmes over the previous ten years, it was said in the report that the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s advancement had been hampered by the absence of a fighter trainer specifically created for carrier-based missions.
According to Beijing-based navy analyst Li Jie, ‘with Fujian, China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, having commenced sea trials last week, the PLA needed at least 200 qualified carrier-based fighter jet pilots to operate 130 ship-borne aircraft’. 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 aircraft launch and recovery system on the new aircraft carrier made it challenging to find a pilot who was proficient with the new mechanism, in contrast to China’s first two carriers, which used ski-jump designs. It’s difficult and complex, and nobody will share it with you, Li added, so it’s full of challenges. ‘Aircraft design and pilot training are among the most challenging and intricate basic technologies in the world’.
The JL-9G, a Chinese-built single-engine twin-seater aircraft, is used by PLA naval pilots as a carrier-trainer variant, which is the root of the issue. Its shortcomings, such as being too light and slow, prevent it from being used to simulate emergency landings on a flight deck, according to the study published in the journal. Due to these weaknesses, it has only been used for carrier training simulations on land.
The T-45 Goshawk carrier-qualified trainer was used by the US Navy to train its pilot cadets over the course of a few decades, it added. ‘The Americans have now created a more sophisticated derivative, the T-7A Red Hawk, which is outfitted with a more potent General Electric F404 after burning turbofan engine and will improve the effectiveness of ship-borne fighter pilot training’.
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