Trump, carriers, catapults ... and China
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2025 5:46 pm
See in Washington Post:
China’s new aircraft supercarrier challenges U.S. dominance in Pacific
The Fujian and its strike group represent a strategic game changer that will bring Beijing closer to its goal of eroding U.S. maritime primacy in its backyard.
Do you remember how Trump told everybody how bad it was to use electromagnetic catapults to launch planes from carriers? Because a glass of water stops magnets working? And he was going to make everybody use steam catapults instead? Well, the article says:
Any Trump supporter here want to say whether they think this man is qualified to be commander-in-chief? Should we feel safer knowing he is making the decisions?
China’s new aircraft supercarrier challenges U.S. dominance in Pacific
The Fujian and its strike group represent a strategic game changer that will bring Beijing closer to its goal of eroding U.S. maritime primacy in its backyard.
Do you remember how Trump told everybody how bad it was to use electromagnetic catapults to launch planes from carriers? Because a glass of water stops magnets working? And he was going to make everybody use steam catapults instead? Well, the article says:
What a pity that Xi Jinping does not have Trump's deep insight into the physics of magnetism! All that money wasted ... oh, wait ...Now, the launch of the Fujian will bring Beijing closer to its goal of eroding U.S. maritime primacy in its backyard, not least because the warship uses electromagnetic catapults to launch planes, making China the only the country, after United States, to have developed and built this technology.
“It’s not a small jump,” Goldstein said of the Fujian’s catapults. “It’s literally doubling or tripling — maybe even quadrupling — the combat lethality.”
[...]
Underscoring how central the Fujian is to this goal, state broadcaster CCTV last week reported that Xi “personally” made the decision to adopt electromagnetic catapult technology. During the launch ceremony on the southern military stronghold of Hainan, Xi — dressed in a green military shirt — pressed the catapult button and sent the launch shuttle forward “like an arrow leaving the string of a bow,” CCTV said.
Any Trump supporter here want to say whether they think this man is qualified to be commander-in-chief? Should we feel safer knowing he is making the decisions?