Chinese Type 075 Big Deck Amphib Preparing for Sea Trials - USNI News:
The Chinese Navy's newest amphibious warfare asset, the Type 075 LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock) is setting sail for the first time, according to ship spotter reports.
The vessel, which was built in Shanghai, has been fitting out since it was floated on September 26, 2019. Candid photos surfacing on the Chinese language internet show it being fueled, and tugs readied.
The Type-075 represents a step-change in the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) amphibious warfare capabilities. It will enable better over-the-horizon landing capabilities and improve air cover. And there are already rumors of the follow-on Type-076 LHD which is expected to include EMALS (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System) for unmanned combat aerial vehicles or crewed aircraft. At this stage, these rumors should be treated with caution. But they do give an indication of the direction PLAN amphibious capabilities are going.
In addition to the well-deck for Type 726 hovercraft (generally equivalent to the U.S. Navy's Landing Craft Air Cushion), the LHD will have a large rotor-wing component. This will include the Z-8 transport helicopter which is based on the French SA 321 Super Frelon. More modern types seen aboard, in mock-up form, include the naval variant of the Harbin Z-20 — an apparent copy of the Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk-Sea Hawk family.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Alfred on Thursday July 30 2020, @09:54PM (3 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @10:09PM
How Freudian of you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @10:10PM (1 child)
Amphibian envy - have you ever seen a whale mate?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @11:22PM
Naw mate, never been to sea.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @09:54PM (9 children)
If it's like most Chinese crap it'll stop working in 2-3 days, and when the captain tries to contact the manufacturer for warranty work he'll find they've changed their name.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @10:09PM
They'll soon find that the prop plans they stole from USA was altered for reverse thrust and massive cavitation.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 30 2020, @10:30PM (6 children)
I won't write them off so quickly, nor so easily.
To a large extent, every ship is just a big hunk of scrap. It's the men who make the ship what it is. Yeah, you can throw hi-tech around all day long, and American ingenuity, and whatever else you want to grasp at. It's the crew that makes the ship when all is said and done.
To date, there is little indication that the Chinese make good sailors. And, there is no way to learn how good they are, until you meet them face to face.
I, for one, hope we don't have to go up against them, but I really do think it is coming. They're going to test us, we're going to test them. If they weren't looking for the test, they wouldn't be building ships. But, that's what the Assassin's Mace was all about. They are actively looking to dominate the US, economically, politically, and MILITARILY. The CCCP stated those goals well over 20 years ago, and we've actively assisted them for those two decades and more.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @11:24PM (3 children)
> go up against them
Sure, I'll take cruise missiles at a several hundred mile range. It's not like we're going to pull along side and board them...or is that what you were thinking.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 30 2020, @11:59PM (1 child)
Yes, to all of the above. Guns, missiles, and aircraft might hammer on it for several hours - then a boarding party goes aboard to steal the damned thing from the Chinese. Most likely, the Chinese would scuttle it when the first US sailor stepped aboard, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't try. But, yes, there is still hand-to-hand fighting contemplated in the Navy. All they need, is a ship's crew with the balls for it.
Maybe we can set up a recruiting station in Portland?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2020, @01:43AM
Aaah, slaughtering humans. Warfare makes me so nostalgic.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2020, @02:32AM
There are only two types of ships. Submarines and Targets.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by driverless on Friday July 31 2020, @05:36AM (1 child)
The PLAN's strength is quantity, not quality. For quality they're still a bit of an unknown, but for quantity and diversity of gear they can't be beat.
Also, historically China has been a major naval power, Zheng He's fleet could have taken on any European or Ottoman fleet at the time, assuming the records are correct
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday July 31 2020, @10:35AM
Just to support your point, from TFA
> The first Type 075 was constructed in record time (this has become the norm nowadays, for Chinese shipbuilding: extremely fast construction pace that no one can match).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2020, @07:47PM
that's only the shit they sell us.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2020, @08:28AM (2 children)
Almost all the stuff that China exports all over the world goes through India ocean, which is under tight control of India. It is for this reason that China has kept itself on equal footing with Indian army it can easily dominate it. India is the only nation currently keeping China's expansion in check.
The steps taken by China to mitigate and dominate India without going to war have been, so far:
1. Propping up dictatorial leadership in Nepal, the same way it has propped North Korea.
2. Selling nuclear ballistic technology to Pakistan.
3. Heavily investing in infrastructure that is leased to itself in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan.
4. Selling weapons and funding Naxal insurgency in India [wikipedia.org].
5. Continuously bullying its sea-side neighbors, so they concede favoring India when the time comes.
And yes - the point 6 - increasing naval prowess.
Meanwhile, USA wants to decrease its influence in the world, and apparently immediate threat to Israel is so great from Iran that India must cut its historical and cultural ties with it. And if Iran gets cozy with China then it will be a lot less of a thread~
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday July 31 2020, @10:30AM
What of Russia? In 20th C Russia and China were rivals. What now?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 31 2020, @05:43PM
Those are interesting points.
India is quite encircled by China at the moment. There's a possibility that those two will go to war before China and the US do. If India doesn't hop to it they're probably going to lose. India had cordial relations with the Soviet Union, but who knows if Russia likes them well enough now to come to their aid.
Washington DC delenda est.