Defence magazine points to lightweight torpedo launcher in place of the 12-tube depth charge launchers on earlier carriers
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenLiu ZhenPublished: 6:00pm, 3 Jul 2026Updated: 6:02pm, 3 Jul 2026China’s Fujian aircraft carrier is likely to be the world’s first carrier equipped with an anti-torpedo torpedo (ATT) system, which would represent a world-leading hard-kill capability, a Chinese military magazine claims.Commissioned in November, the Fujian is the third carrier – and the first entirely designed in China – for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. One of its distinguishing features is a six-tube 324mm lightweight torpedo launcher in place of the 12-tube depth charge launchers on the Kuznetsov-class Liaoning and Shandong carriers.This is believed to be an ATT system, which would be the first of its kind in active service on an aircraft carrier globally, not only keeping pace with modern naval warfare but also standing as a response to the “severe threat” to China’s large surface combatants posed by the United States Navy’s Seawolf-class and SSN(X) submarines, according to an analysis in the June edition of Defence Review magazine.
01:34China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, enters service“Torpedoes present a real and significant threat to PLA Navy aircraft carriers that must not be underestimated,” the article said, explaining that heavy wire-guided torpedoes launched from attack submarines could cause more damage to a warship than anti-ship missiles.
After China demonstrated an earlier ATT system in 2016, the new ATT system on the Fujian should “reach a world-class level in detection accuracy, damage reliability and system integration”, the author said. The article noted that the US Navy’s anti-torpedo torpedo defence system (ATTDS) project in the 2010s had failed and its new hard-kill programme was still under way.
The analysis said the Chinese ATT torpedo was likely to be powered by a combined propulsion of a small rocket booster to provide a high initial velocity, and a rare-earth permanent magnet synchronous direct-drive pump-jet thruster, which could deliver torque and acceleration far greater than those of US counterparts of the same size.
It asserted that when intercepting an incoming torpedo, this propulsion system could accelerate the ATT torpedo to speeds of 50 to 60 knots within 3 seconds, with precise power regulation and minimal noise to ensure effective operation of its own sonar.
