The United States has been operating aircraft carriers for about 100 years now, whereas China is a fairly new player.
The Fujian, also known as the Type 003 carrier, is China’s first supercarrier, expected to be commissioned in 2024. The Ford, on the other hand, obviously follows a long history of naval aviation in the US Navy.
The Fujian is about 316m in length at the deck level and has a beam of 76m. The Ford is slightly longer at 337m, with roughly the same width as the Chinese carrier.
The Ford class has a total complement of around 4,500, including the air crew, whereas for the Fujian, it is likely to be between 3,500 and 4,000 people.
Both carriers use electromagnetic catapults to launch aircrafts. This technology provides more benefit over the previous generation of steam catapults.
The Fujian carrier represents a second-generation electromagnetic catapult. It is more efficient and more advanced than the AC system on the Ford class.
The Fujian is conventionally powered, while Ford is nuclear powered. This may have a major impact on their respective war-fighting capabilities.
The deck area on both carriers appears to be similar with an angled flight deck, according to most sources, although the Chinese carrier is slightly smaller.
The Fujian supercarrier, and the US Navy’s Gerald R Ford are both world-leading warships from a technological perspective. The Fujian, despite being a conventional carrier, compares well with the Ford in many respects.