Opinion | China Is Expanding Its Carrier Programme, But Does It Have Enough People?

Updated: Aug 24, 2026 18:40 pm IST Published On Aug 24, 2026 18:39 pm IST Last Updated On Aug 24, 2026 18:40 pm IST

Published On Aug 24, 2026 18:39 pm IST

Last Updated On Aug 24, 2026 18:40 pm IST

China's naval transformation is increasingly becoming a story not merely of ships and aircraft, but of the human capital required to operate them. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has moved beyond its earlier dependence on a small pool of experienced pilots who could be converted for carrier operations. It is now constructing a permanent, multi-source recruitment and training system designed to generate carrier aviators at scale. This is an important indicator of the seriousness with which Beijing views carrier power.

The change is fundamentally about institutionalising carrier warfare. When China acquired Liaoning, its immediate challenge was learning how to operate a carrier. With Shandong, the emphasis shifted towards developing greater proficiency. The arrival of Fujian, with electromagnetic catapults and a much more sophisticated air wing, has altered the equation again. China now needs not just pilots who can land on a carrier, but sufficient numbers of experienced aviators, instructors, and specialist crews to sustain complex carrier operations.

The PLAN has developed a dual-track model. The earlier approach involved taking experienced naval aviators and retraining them for carrier operations. Alongside this, China has since 2019 increasingly recruited young people directly for carrier aviation, allowing them to be trained from the beginning for the demands of shipborne flying. Chinese officials have explicitly described this as a dual-track system combining experienced pilots with high-school recruits.

The recruitment pool has subsequently widened. It now includes high-school graduates, students from naval........

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