The KJ-600 is China's carrier Hawkeye — the first fixed-wing airborne early-warning aircraft to fly from a Chinese carrier, catapult-launched off the Fujian's electromagnetic system. It finally gives PLAN carriers the organic radar picture US carriers have had for decades.
The JL-3 is China's third-generation submarine-launched ballistic missile — a ~10,000 km-class, likely MIRV-capable weapon now fielded on Jin-class submarines, which the Pentagon says ranges most of the continental US. First shown publicly at the September 2025 parade.
China's 40,000-ton amphibious "light carrier" — a helicopter assault ship that lands troops, vehicles and air assault forces over the horizon, built in numbers as the maritime spearhead of any future move on Taiwan. The PLAN's amphibious apex.
The People's Liberation Army Navy's most numerous modern surface combatant — a 4,000-tonne multi-role frigate with a 32-cell VLS, YJ-83 anti-ship missiles, and a global operational footprint built on Gulf of Aden anti-piracy deployments.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s most numerous modern destroyer — a multirole air-defence combatant with 64 universal VLS cells, an AESA radar, and over 35 hulls in service, forming the backbone of China’s carrier escort and blue-water surface force.
China's first indigenously designed CATOBAR carrier, the Type 003 Fujian, is conventionally powered yet launches aircraft via electromagnetic catapults—a first for any non-US navy.
China's primary conventional attack submarine with indigenous Stirling air-independent propulsion — a quiet, multi-week-endurance boat built for regional sea denial, and the platform behind Beijing's push into the submarine export market.
China's second-generation nuclear attack submarine, the Type 093 Shang family, from initial torpedo-armed boats to the VLS-equipped Type 093B, forms the backbone of the PLAN's undersea force.
China's largest and most powerful surface combatant — the Type 055 Renhai combines a 12,000-ton displacement with 112 universal VLS cells, serving as the PLAN's carrier-strike-group escort and flagship.
Satellite imagery has caught a previously unreported Chinese submarine with no conning tower, the newest entry in a build rate Western navies cannot match.