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[global times reporter guo yuandan] with the approval of the central military commission, the political work department of the central military commission and other departments jointly produced the ideological interpretation integrated media film "quenching", which was recently launched on major online platforms. the film announced many "firsts" such as the first large-scale and high-intensity confrontation between chinese and foreign aircraft carrier formations, which attracted widespread attention from the outside world.

the j-20 stealth fighter appeared in the documentary "quenching".

rare display of the electromagnetic catapult of the fujian ship

according to the official website of the chinese ministry of national defense, "quenching" consists of 6 episodes, namely "the oath under the military flag", "training elite soldiers for war", "glory shines on the new journey", "moving forward in unison", "dare to take responsibility in the midst of the stream", and "working together to create excellence".

the documentary announced the new progress and achievements of a large number of heavyweight equipment, including aircraft carriers. on the 13th, the third episode of "quenching" released for the first time the interior of the fujian, china's first aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system. in the film, the ship's crew wearing uniforms with the word "ejection" are preparing for the simulated catapult test. as the command "final preparation" was issued, the screen showed a rare close-up of the electromagnetic catapult of the fujian.

the fujian ship just started sea trials on may 1 this year, and now the progress of the catapult test has been made public in the documentary. "observing the electromagnetic catapult through the details of the activity, especially some internal details, shows that the technology is mature." military expert du wenlong said on social media, "this public display shows that the fujian ship is progressing smoothly, and all kinds of infrastructure and key weapons tests have scored full marks. we look forward to the fujian ship putting on military uniforms and joining the navy's combat sequence as soon as possible."

in addition, the documentary also revealed that a new type of carrier-based aircraft has been launched on the liaoning. zhang naigang, the commander of the liaoning, once flew the j-15 for the first time on an aircraft carrier. now, in the final stage of his military career, he has launched a new fighter. "the new fighter is on board, it's very beautiful! the weather was very clear that day, basically the same as the weather when the j-15 first flew..." western media speculated that the "new fighter" on board may refer to the j-35 stealth carrier-based fighter rumored by the outside world.

military expert zhang junshe said in an interview with the global times on the 17th that the relevant reports in the documentary focused on china's more mature use of aircraft carriers and the continuous improvement of the combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers. "the new fighters on the liaoning show that the liaoning not only undertakes training and test tasks, but also accumulates experience for the shandong and fujian ships. its own combat effectiveness is also gradually improving." zhang junshe said, "the addition of new fighters has greatly increased the combat radius of the liaoning aircraft carrier formation, and its air defense and ground and sea assault capabilities have been continuously enhanced. it has also effectively expanded the combat range of the aircraft carrier formation. with the addition of new fighters, the combat capability of the liaoning system has been further enhanced."

zhang junshe commented that based on the liaoning and shandong, china has the first electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier, the fujian. the documentary shows that with rich experience, the fujian's sea trial period has been greatly shortened and progress has been smooth. "as the most critical electromagnetic catapult system on the fujian, according to convention, it has been drilled many times on land in the early stage. however, given the complexity of the electromagnetic catapult, at this stage, the fujian is conducting simulated electromagnetic catapults. the simulation test mainly focuses on two aspects. the first is the increase in instantaneous power, so the stability of the aircraft carrier's power supply system must be tested; secondly, the electromagnetic catapult system and the command and operation personnel must be tested. we have no experience to learn from, so we need to test and explore on our own, which requires a long process."

"this is a process worth waiting for." zhang junshe said that with the electromagnetic catapult system being put into use and the carrier-based early warning aircraft being deployed on board, the reconnaissance and early warning range of the aircraft carrier formation will be expanded, the air combat capability will be enhanced, and the combat capability of the aircraft carrier formation system will achieve a qualitative leap.

the first public release of footage of the confrontation between chinese and foreign aircraft carriers

on the 15th, the fifth episode of the documentary "striking the waters and taking responsibility" revealed a "past" of the liaoning aircraft carrier formation, which took place in a "certain sea area in the western pacific". the liaoning aircraft carrier formation sounded a combat alert, "a batch of four foreign fighters continued to approach the formation!" hou haipeng, a unit of the navy's carrier-based aviation force, said, "we took off with live ammunition, and the other side must have taken off with live ammunition." "when we arrived at the designated airspace, foreign aircraft continued to approach us." "we will also make corresponding actions to let them know that we have the ability. the other side did not expect us to make such a move. when the foreign aircraft saw that the situation was not right, they took the initiative to disengage." "for decades, they have been the only ones operating over this sea area (western pacific), and today we can compete with them."

the documentary also rarely reveals another confrontation between chinese and foreign warships. guo zhoujie, a member of the changsha ship of the navy, recalled that during the changsha ship's return voyage, it received an order to deal with an unexpected enemy situation and immediately rushed to the xisha sea. three foreign warships approached from three directions, attempting to force their way into china's 12-nautical-mile territorial waters. after 47 hours of tense confrontation, the other side could not find any flaws in china and had to leave. guo zhoujie said, "at sea, face-to-face confrontations with foreign ships have long been 'commonplace'. within the rules, sometimes it's a matter of technology, but more of a matter of will."

zhang junshe believes that the confrontation between chinese and foreign naval fleets in the documentary has become normal for the current chinese naval fleet. on the one hand, with the increasing development of chinese naval equipment and their increasingly long voyages, they have encountered more and more foreign troops in the process of going out, especially the normalization of arriving in waters where only the world's naval powers could stay before.

"this change in the chinese navy has caused some discomfort among western countries. in particular, when these countries conduct close reconnaissance of china under the banner of so-called 'freedom of navigation', they will be responded to by chinese military ships and aircraft. this makes them feel less and less 'free' and cannot do as they please as in the past. they will deliberately carry out provocative actions." zhang junshe said that on the high seas, both aircraft carrier formations and surface ships have encountered harassment from ships and aircraft of some countries. however, as the pla commanders and fighters have enhanced their ability to operate in the far seas in recent years and their ability to fight has been continuously improved, when faced with hostile and provocative actions by foreign parties, we fight in accordance with international law, take professional and effective response measures and fight back without mercy, effectively protecting the safety of the fleet.

j-20 pilot "saw the treasure island" and became popular

early warning aircraft + fighter jets + drones + bombers + tankers... rare footage of the air force's systematic long-distance and ocean training in 2024 was also made public for the first time in this documentary. the film mentions: "relying on the capabilities of drones, we can break into the enemy's firepower circle. in terms of survival rate, combat loss ratio, and cost-effectiveness, we can do things that manned aircraft cannot do!" in the air force's systematic long-distance and ocean training, the wz-7 drone pushes forward for search, and the h-6k launches anti-ship missiles after receiving coordinate information.

the footage of the wz-7 drone that appeared in the documentary "quenching".

the documentary also describes the story of dong jun, one of the first j-20 pilots. he said, "i will never forget the scene of flying the j-20 and seeing the treasure island." this sentence became popular because the outside world speculated that the j-20 participated in the taiwan strait patrol. so far, relevant parties in taiwan have never publicly stated that they have seen j-20 approaching taiwan.

a military expert told the global times on the 17th that generally speaking, when pla military aircraft cruise close to taiwan, taiwan will not miss the opportunity to hype it up. "we usually see relevant taiwanese departments report on the pla fighter models and arrival airspace to attract international public opinion, but no description of the j-20 fighter has been found in previous taiwan military reports. therefore, the outside world is more inclined to believe that taiwan has not found the j-20's track at all."

in addition, the documentary also mentioned when describing the j-20 that "the implementation of nighttime aerial refueling after a long flight is not only a technical challenge, but also a test of flying skills, psychological endurance, and the limits of formation cooperation". dong jun led the team to complete the j-20 nighttime aerial refueling verification, and the test data provided important support for the j-20's full-time and full-domain operations. the above-mentioned military expert also said that the "full-time and full-domain operations" mentioned here can show that the j-20's current combat airspace covering taiwan is completely no problem.