China has launched its first next-generation amphibious assault ship, adding a powerful cutting-edge warship to the country’s fast-expanding navy as it races to rival the military power of the United States.
The Type 076 amphibious assault ship entered the water on Friday at a launch ceremony at a shipyard in Shanghai, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) said in a statement.
Named Sichuan after a southwestern Chinese province, the independently developed ship is hailed as a “key asset” for advancing the Navy’s transformation and enhancing its long-range operational capabilities, according to the statement.
China, which already boasts the largest naval force in the world, is building carriers and large warships at a staggering pace as it seeks to project power far beyond its shores and catch up to the military supremacy of the US.
With a full-load displacement of over 40,000 tons, the Type 076 ranks among the world’s largest amphibious assault ships, featuring a twin-island superstructure and a full-length flight deck, according to the PLAN.
Most notably, it adopts an electromagnetic catapult system, which allows it to carry fixed-wing aircraft along with helicopters and amphibious equipment usually found on this type of warship, the PLAN added.
The electromagnetic catapult system will enable the Type 076 to launch larger and heavier aircraft than it could without the technology. That means the aircraft can carry more fuel – expanding their range and that of the ship as a fighting platform – and more bombs or missiles, making the aircraft themselves more lethal.
Only one other warship in service worldwide, the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, employs the electromagnetic catapult system.
China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, which is in sea trials and has yet to be commissioned, also has an electromagnetic system.
The US Navy’s amphibious assault ships feature the F-35B, a short-takeoff and vertical landing variant of the stealth fighter jet used by the US Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.
As far as is known the PLA Navy doesn’t have a manned equivalent to the F-35B, so it may deploy the same fixed-wing aircraft as the Fujian.
But a report earlier this year from the Center for Strategic and International Studies says the Type 076 could be used as a massive drone platform.
“If it is limited to unmanned systems, the Type 076’s air wing will be highly capable. China boasts an advanced and growing arsenal of UAVs, including the GJ-11 stealth combat drone, the WZ-7 reconnaissance drone, and the CASC Rainbow strike UCAV, among others,” says the August report from the CSIS, which was based on satellite imagery of the ship under construction.
As for the Type 076’s other capabilities, the CSIS report says it’s expected to have complements of helicopters and amphibious landing craft, the latter capable of deploying more than 1,000 marines.
The CSIS report says that with the ship’s large size, it should be able to carry more of everything than China’s smaller Type 075 amphibious assault ships, the US Navy’s America-class amphibious assault ships and Japan’s Izumo-class helicopter carriers, which are being converted to carry the F-35B.
Carl Schuster, a military analyst and former US Navy captain, said size makes a big statement when it comes to the Type 076.
“That shows a PLA Navy commitment to expeditionary and amphibious warfare and an expanding capability to do so,” he said, adding that it says something about the competition between the world’s two biggest naval powers, China and the United States.
“It demonstrates China’s growing maritime power projection capability at a time when the US Navy’s commitment and capability for expeditionary, amphibious and humanitarian assistance missions has diminished significantly,” said Schuster, a former a director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center.