CHINESE NAVY: Breakthrough to power most advanced jet launch system on China’s second home-grown aircraft carrier.

The development of the integrated propulsion system (IPS) would allow the vessel to be more efficient, allowing more power for an electromagnetic catapult, rather than a less technologically advanced steam-driven catapult launch system, the sources said.

China’s first two carriers, the Liaoning and its sister ship, the Type 001A, are conventionally powered vessels equipped with Soviet-designed ski-jump launch systems.

But an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) on the Type 002, China’s second home-grown aircraft carrier, would mean less wear and tear on the planes and allow more aircraft to be launched in a shorter time than the ski and steam-catapult systems.

According to a source close to the People’s Liberation Army, China’s Central Military Commission was keen to use EMALS on the Type 002.

“[But] the obstacle … was whether a conventionally powered carrier would be able to support EMALS, and now that problem has been solved,” the person, who is close to the PLA’s equipment department, told the South China Morning Post.

Beijing has been patiently developing the technologies, skills, and naval traditions required to become a first-rate seapower. Getting EMALS without nuclear propulsion is an impressive achievement, if it really works.