East Day, the large news site based in Shanghai, recently republished a Russian report on the successful completion of building the Electromagnetic Catapult System for Chinese aircraft carriers. The Chief Designer, Ma Weiming, received honorable recognition from the Central Military Commission. Ma got his Doctor’s degree at Tsinghua University in 1996 and was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2001. According to the report, the Carrier Electromagnetic Catapult System is more than 100 meters in length and has a sophisticated power supply and command system. Its key component is an energy storage system that can accumulate enough energy in 45 seconds. Each Catapult System may consume 4 MW of power. An aircraft carrier with 4 Catapult Systems may need 60 MW to power all systems. This suggests that China’s future aircraft carriers may have to employ nuclear power.
Source: East Day, April 28, 2012
http://mil.eastday.com/m/20120428/u1a6520067.html