Electromagnetic catapult systemA satellite image shows the Type 076's top deck. CSIS/China Power/CNES 2024 Unlike traditional light aircraft carriers, the Sichuan is equipped with a catapult system and arresting gear for the launch and recovery of fixed-wing aircraft an operative capability typically reserved for aircraft carriers."This is not something that we've seen before," Matthew Funaiole, a senior fellow with the China Power Project at CSIS, told BI previously. "No other country has an LHA that has a catapult system on it."The electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) is likely similar in design to the catapult aboard the US Navy's advanced Ford-class supercarriers.The only warship in operational service that employs EMALS is the US Navy carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, which has been undergoing shake-down trials at sea, also features three EMALS-style catapults, but the Sichuan's catapult trench, which is over 425 feet long, is significantly longer by comparison.Earlier Chinese carriers had ski-jump-style ramps for launching aircraft without catapults, leaping past steam-power catapult technology to pursue the more advanced electromagnetic launch system.Operating for a little over a decade, China's relatively young carrier force could still face a"steep learning curve" in employing modern catapult technology, retired Adm. Raymond Spicer, the CEO and publisher at the US Naval Institute, previously told BI. But the installation of the technology aboard the Type 076 could indicate China's confidence in the design.