Although there is no record of any courses with that exact name, in 2017 China Military Online, an official publication of the People’s Liberation Army, advertised for recruits to sign up for a new course in “electromagnetic launch engineering” at the Navy University of Engineering.

Some of its main elements include electrical machinery, power electronics, the principles of automatic control and the principles of electromagnetic launches.

After the advertisement appeared, state-run Global Times said it meant the technology was mature and showed China placed great emphasis on it, one of a number of pieces covering the topic that were published at the time.

The Fujian’s catapults mark a technological leap for the Chinese navy. Its two previous carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, based on Soviet-era technology, have ski-jump decks.