My guess is PLAN has decided to wait and see how UCAV will evolve. It is premature to build an EMALS based drone carrier when we're still exploring various paths of UCAV design. Build a drone carrier without drones and it may end up providing no near term combat power and only restrict your future drone design.
Rumoured Type 076 LHD/LHA discussion
- Thread starter banjex
- Start date
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
if Type 076 will have some sort of miniature EMALS it will be a huge technological challenge
if they add a ski jump much easier for drones
EMALS will take years to be tested on 003 and the lessons will be implement on the Type 076 we are talking post 2025
if on the other hand they have a UCAV which is powerful enough to get off without EMALS then we should see Type 076 soon
Type 071 LPD (armoured component) + Type 075 LHD (rotary wing/troops) + Type 076 LHA (Drones) would be a great Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)
I would make a formation of
2 x Type 071 LPD
1 x Type 075 LHD
1 x Type 076 LHA
escorts in the form of 1 x Type 055 + 1 x Type 052D/L + 1 x Type 095 SSN maybe even a fast FFG
very powerful formation
if they add a ski jump much easier for drones
EMALS will take years to be tested on 003 and the lessons will be implement on the Type 076 we are talking post 2025
if on the other hand they have a UCAV which is powerful enough to get off without EMALS then we should see Type 076 soon
Type 071 LPD (armoured component) + Type 075 LHD (rotary wing/troops) + Type 076 LHA (Drones) would be a great Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)
I would make a formation of
2 x Type 071 LPD
1 x Type 075 LHD
1 x Type 076 LHA
escorts in the form of 1 x Type 055 + 1 x Type 052D/L + 1 x Type 095 SSN maybe even a fast FFG
very powerful formation
Found this on FB: via @解放軍評論團
滬東中華造船廠的長興島新廠區模型，除了三艘075，還有一艘比075更大，但沒有斜角甲板的戰艦，可能是076.
Translated:
Additionally, to the three 075s, there is a model of the new Changxing Island factory area of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard. There is also a larger warship than the 075, but there is no angled deck. It may be a 076?!
Any thoughts?
滬東中華造船廠的長興島新廠區模型，除了三艘075，還有一艘比075更大，但沒有斜角甲板的戰艦，可能是076.
Translated:
Additionally, to the three 075s, there is a model of the new Changxing Island factory area of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard. There is also a larger warship than the 075, but there is no angled deck. It may be a 076?!
Any thoughts?
Assuming the bow of the ship is pointing towards the camera, if you squint your eyes really hard at that unknown model, it kind of looks like it has an island on the right side just like a CV or an LHD. The lack of an angled deck would suggest that it's not a CV. The only other kind of ship that has a flight deck and an island is... an LHD/LHA. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only project within the PLAN that's larger than a 075 but smaller than a 003 is the 076. It would seem to be the only possible explanation for what that is.
But still, it's certainly not what I would've expected a 076 to look like. With a passing glance it seems really... wide. Even for an LHD. Then would ironically be the lack of an angled deck. Even if you aren't planning on launching any manned aircraft, an angled deck would surely make the simultaneous launch and recovery of drones more efficient? Finally would be the antenna/mast looking things near the stern, right in the path of where aircraft would be expected to land.
Maybe it's a secret project for a comically large, 70,000 ton replenishment ship? For when you really need to bring an entire shopping mall along with you on your overseas deployment?
But still, it's certainly not what I would've expected a 076 to look like. With a passing glance it seems really... wide. Even for an LHD. Then would ironically be the lack of an angled deck. Even if you aren't planning on launching any manned aircraft, an angled deck would surely make the simultaneous launch and recovery of drones more efficient? Finally would be the antenna/mast looking things near the stern, right in the path of where aircraft would be expected to land.
Maybe it's a secret project for a comically large, 70,000 ton replenishment ship? For when you really need to bring an entire shopping mall along with you on your overseas deployment?
Maybe it’s a carrier that does launch only, no recovery. Sounds daft, I know, but imagine it carries 10,000 suicide/loitering drones and launches them on one way missions.
Regarding the ships in the ?? box - the three ships on the front left, front right and rear right (from cameraman's perspective) are definitely not flat-deck warships.
However, the ship on the rear left looks too bloaty(?) amidships to be a carrier or an LHA/LHD, I think? I couldn't really make out the construct and position of its superstructure, but they looks to be lined up along the centerline - which means that it is even less likely to be a flat-deck warship.
Anyways, just my personal observation.
Designing replenishment ships to be much larger and heavier than the ones we have now (70 thousand tonnes versus 45 thousand tonnes) would:
1. Complicate logistics, as the 70 thousand-ton replenishment ship would require much larger and deeper piers;
2. Consume more time and energy for maintenance;
3. Present fatter targets for the enemy; and
4. Make PLAN to have much more to lose in case one got destroyed.
Instead of having one extra-large replenishment ship, it would make more sense to have at least 2 or more Type 901 or Type 903/903A-class replenishment ships assigned per carrier strike group that would rotate their replenishment every few days.
More fuel and manpower required, yes, but you won't be handicapped in case any one of those replenishment ships got sunk by enemy action, or stuck due to traffic or logistics.
LPDs would be better suited for the job IMO.
The Type 071 LPDs are large enough to be modified to carry specialized containers/canisters that can launch suicide drones.
Besides, how big would suicide/loitering drones get anyway?
The Shahed 136 suicide drones that is now in service over Ukraine have ranges of up 1800-2500 kilometers, while only 3.5 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. Even if radical redesigns are made to make the drones supersonic and stealthy, I don't think those suicide drones would reach the sizes of GJ-11 or CH-7.
However, building ships to carry and launch large numbers of suicide drones to fly over vast ocean distances could proof to be more cumbersome and reduce space efficiency, logistically speaking. Might as well build modified versions of Type 071 LPDs to carry more VLS cells than Type 055 destroyers (and hence, AShMs). The ballistic missile defense (BMD) warship concept based on the San Antonio-class LPDs proposed by the US Navy should be a good blueprint for PLAN reference.
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I dunno man, I don't think the designers of the 076 included EMALs just so they could launch Shahed-136s off the flight deck at mach 3, however hilarious it might really be to see.
I was kind of hoping the "shopping mall on the sea" comment would have given the joke away...
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by78
General
It's very blurry, but I think I spot some kind of superstructure across the aft of the ship that resemble masts. If so, this could count against it being a LHD/LHA.
Yeah, and having seen the recent maglev videos it is clear they can launch heavy masses at much higher speeds than a steam catapult.
If a drone is launched at fast speeds, like near supersonic, it could have heavy payload and very long range.
I think China needs drones that have sufficient range to reach North America or Europe that can be launched from Carriers in Chinese home waters.
Lol why do they think that the "??" ship is a warship?
It looks just like a large container ship under construction to me, partly obscured by the gantry crane, and it's in a drydock with three other civilian ships as well.