Ma Weiming is the father of many naval technologies, including electronic catapults, helping China narrow the gap with the United States.
On November 5, China held a commissioning ceremony for the Fujian aircraft carrier at Sanya base in Hainan province. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the ceremony and then boarded the ship to inspect and meet pilots and technicians.
Rear Admiral Ma Weiming was one of the few high-ranking Chinese officers present at the event. He is the father of the electromagnetic launch system (EMALS), considered one of the technological breakthroughs in naval shipbuilding and the domestic defense industry.
A test aircraft takes off using EMALS on the Fujian aircraft carrier in a video released on September 22. Video: Xinhua
Ma Weiming was born in 1960 in a rural area in Jiangsu province. As a child, he used to think that the military environment was too rigid for a “free and rebellious” child like him.
Therefore, Ma had no intention of pursuing a military career when taking the university entrance exam in 1978. However, he was transferred to study at the Naval Academy of Engineering, now the China Naval Engineering University, even though he did not apply here.
“From the bottom of my heart, I never wanted to go to the military academy. But if I refuse, I will be banned from retaking the university entrance exam next year. To be creative and discover, you must have freedom, how can you do that when constrained by military discipline,” he recounted his thoughts at that time.
However, Ma’s talent and creativity were not lost but developed strongly. He is passionate about researching advanced technologies, as well as finding ways to solve world-class challenges.
Ma became famous in the 1990s, when a fault was discovered in generators imported from abroad for Chinese submarines. Despite having to work in a laboratory converted from an abandoned bathroom, Ma was able to fix a problem that could have caused millions of dollars in damage, at a cost of only $5,000.
This scientist’s most fundamental breakthrough was in the field of integrated power systems (IPS). He proposed the idea of a generator that integrates alternating current and direct current, is highly reliable, compact and more powerful than traditional equipment. Ma then designed a series of generators of this type for Chinese submarines.
This achievement helped him win many state awards in science and technology, and was elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering at the age of 41, becoming the youngest academician there.
Ma Vi Minh also developed a shaftless pump-jet propulsion system for submarines, which significantly reduces noise during operation.
Rear Admiral Ma Vi Minh (circled in red) at the commissioning ceremony of the Fujian aircraft carrier on November 5. Image: Sing Tao
His most important achievement was the design of a direct current-based IPS for large surface ships, integrating the entire energy production, distribution and consumption process into a single power grid, helping to avoid the problem of electromagnetic interference that occurs with alternating current.
In a scientific article published in 2024, Mr. Ma asserted that switching from alternating current technology, favored by Western navies, to direct current has helped China take the lead in the field of IPS on ships.
In addition to reducing noise, increasing stability, mobility and performance, Ma’s system also simplifies the integration process of high-power devices such as EMALS. “This technology brings many advantages, but the main purpose is still to solve the challenge of deploying high-power equipment on warships,” Ma said.
This is considered one of the driving forces for China to move straight to EMALS, instead of installing steam catapults for the Fujian aircraft carrier.
Chinese media said the country’s navy initially had no intention of equipping EMALS. At that time, the only aircraft carrier in the world equipped with this technology was the US USS Gerald R. Ford, but it also continuously encountered problems and caused the project to continuously fall behind schedule.
The Fujian warship development team believes that steam catapults are a more practical and less risky solution than EMALS. The reason is that this technology has been perfected and is used on 10 US Nimitz-class super aircraft carriers and the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the French navy.
EMALS possesses many advantages compared to steam catapults, but also has a series of technical and technological disadvantages, including requiring a large energy source for each launch and needing a large electrical storage system to maintain operating capabilities.
Ma Weiming proposed deploying EMALS on the Fujian ship and confirmed that there was a method to power this system.
“If you do, you must choose the most advanced technology. If you want to lead, you must surpass the Americans. We can never wait for foreign countries to do it before following. We need that technology and must continue to pursue it despite all difficulties,” he said about EMALS in an interview broadcast on national television.
Ma Weiming at Tsinghua University in 2019. Photo: Tsinghua University
Eight years after he made his proposal, China completed the design of the Fujian aircraft carrier. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said equipping Fujian with EMALS was a direct instruction from President Xi Jinping.
This is a giant leap that helps China catch up with the US, becoming the second country to successfully launch aircraft from an aircraft carrier using EMALS.
China is also the first country in the world to successfully launch a stealth fighter from EMALS on an aircraft carrier. The US Navy has staffed and deployed F-35C stealth fighters on Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, but has not done this with the USS Gerald R. Ford.
China also applies EMALS more widely than the US, installing this system on the Type-076 amphibious assault ship, opening up the possibility of converting it into an aircraft carrier carrying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His group also researched electromagnetic cannons, weapons with similar physical mechanisms to EMALS and has been tested in practice by China.
Ma Weiming was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2019. People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, at that time called Ma a “national treasure” and praised his breakthrough achievements in electromagnetic launch technology.
“In just a few years, Ma Weiming has promoted a revolution in weapons development in China, from relying on chemical energy to electromagnetic energy,” the newspaper commented.