China recruits women to fly warplanes as navy faces pilot shortage

The Chinese navy plans to recruit women and recent university graduates to become aircraft carrier-based pilots as the country faces a shortage of qualified aviators to operate its ship-borne planes.

A recruitment notice posted on the navy’s official WeChat account on Monday called on young men and women to “devote their youth to building a world-class navy and contributing to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!”, South China Morning Post reports.

According to the notice, candidates must be recent graduates holding a bachelor’s degree in science, technology or engineering. They should not be over 24 years old and must have a clean political and criminal record.

After two screening rounds in March and April, successful candidates will head to China’s Naval Aviation University in Yantai, Shandong province, for three to four years of theoretical and flight training.

Training at the Naval Aviation University is required for all carrier-based pilots. Previously, the institution only recruited from high schools, typically those that provide specialised training in cooperation with the Chinese navy.

While the Chinese military has trained women to fly fighter jets such as the J-10, it did not previously recruit them to pilot carrier-based craft.

“After the 18th Communist Party congress, the Chinese navy’s missions and tasks have expanded, its transformation has been accelerated, and the demand for high-quality military personnel has become increasingly urgent,” the notice said, referring to a landmark political meeting in 2012 that marked the beginning of President Xi Jinping’s tenure.

While the Chinese navy boasts the world’s largest fleet, it has been confronted with a lack of trained naval pilots as the country commissions more warships.

China commissioned its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, in 2012, while the second, the Shandong, entered service in 2019. Its third and most advanced carrier, the Fujian, is expected to start sea trials this year.

Ni Lexiong, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said the relaxation of requirements was a sign China wanted to train more talent for its quickly modernising naval force.

“The Chinese navy is in need of young and talented personnel who understand how to operate sophisticated radar, fighter and warship systems that have been upgraded amid the modernisation processes,” Ni said.

Brad Martin, a retired US Navy officer and senior policy researcher at the US think tank Rand Corporation, said China’s carrier aviation had progressed rapidly, but it still had a long way to go before being a reliable source of combat capability.

He said observation of fleet exercises over the past two years revealed the carriers were launching relatively few sorties, and the operations were carried out with “lightly loaded aircraft”.

“The operations appear to have been mishap-free, but this is largely due to a very cautious approach to training. What the operations indicate is that Chinese carrier aviators are still in the process of learning how to operate the systems as opposed to using the aircraft in a combat environment.”

“China has really only begun operating such systems in the last generation. While China has the benefit of US experience for lessons learned, it still lacks significant experience of its own,” Martin said.

According to naval exercises conducted at the beginning of this year, the “sortie rate” – a measure of naval manoeuvres and flight operations – was around 20 per day. In contrast, US aircraft carriers are capable of sustaining up to 160 sorties per day.