This is The DEFCON Warning System. Alert status for 1 PM UTC, Monday, 17th November 2025:
Condition Green – DEFCON 5.

There are currently no imminent nuclear threats at this time.

On 7 November 2025, Hainan-based state media announced the official commissioning of China’s new aircraft carrier Fujian (hull number 18) — the first carrier both designed and built by China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) with electromagnetic catapult launch capability.

Some key technical and strategic implications:

• The Fujian features an electromagnetic aircraft-launch system (EMALS) similar to that employed by the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class carriers.
• This permits heavier fixed-wing aircraft (such as the AEW&C platform KJ-600) and aims to improve sortie rates compared to China’s earlier ski-jump carriers.
• Analysts caution though that despite the step-up, the carrier still trails the U.S. in certain dimensions (nuclear propulsion, overseas basing, simultaneous launch/landing rate).

From a strategic-threat perspective:

1. China’s naval projection is rapidly advancing: this carrier allows the PLAN to conduct higher-sortie-rate operations beyond the first island chain, targeting the Second Island Chain and Pacific chokepoints.
2. The commissioning is not merely symbolic: it sends a message to regional states (Japan, Australia, Taiwan, U.S. allies) that China is closing in on “peer competitor” status in maritime force projection.
3. While no nuclear weapons are aboard (certainly none publicly acknowledged), the carrier expands the possible “envelope” for naval-air-strike operations, early-warning surveillance and aircraft-borne antisurface/antisubmarine warfare — all of which affect strategic deterrence and escalation calculus.
4. For the nuclear-monitoring community: although the carrier is conventionally powered, its presence strengthens a multi-domain PLA architecture (air, sea, cyber, missile) that may complicate U.S./allied responses in crisis scenarios.

Turning to the Korean Peninsula: On 7 November 2025, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a suspected short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) toward its eastern waters. The missile reportedly flew about 700 km from an inland launch site.

This launch followed closely ongoing U.S.–Republic of Korea (ROK) joint military drills and the arrival of a U.S. aircraft-carrier task group in the region — elements North Korea publicly cited as provocative.

Key dimensions:

• This is part of a pattern of frequent DPRK missile tests in 2025 aimed at applying domestic and regional pressure, signalling deterrence, and complicating arms-control efforts.
• The DPRK’s statements through defence minister No Kwang Chol declared “more aggressive actions” against what Pyongyang described as U.S. and ROK “hostile forces” in the region.
• Although the missile did not threaten U.S. territory or allied land bases (per U.S. Indo-Pacific Command), the launch increases regional alertness and complicates missile-defence force posture.

From the DEFCON perspective:

• While this is not a nuclear warhead launch, it underscores the low-threshold of escalation on the Peninsula. – The DPRK retains nuclear-capable missiles, and conventional launches in concert with rhetoric raise risk of miscalculation in a crisis.
• The U.S. and ROK are increasing subsurface, air and space monitoring of DPRK launches; any subsequent testing of long-range or submarine-launched missiles will be an uptick in the strategic threat profile.
• Allies must consider whether existing early-warning, command-control and missile-defence architectures remain resilient given the DPRK’s evolving capabilities and operational tempo.

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The next scheduled update is 1 PM, 24th November 2025. Additional updates will be made as the situation warrants, with more frequent updates at higher alert levels.

This concludes this report of the DEFCON Warning System.