Can China’s Modernized Amphibious Assault Ships Rival U.S. Navy Assault Ships?

Video Above: US Navy Attack Submarines Could Save Taiwan

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The People’s Liberation Army – Navy is taking new steps to prepare its new class of Type 075 amphibious assault ships for networked, multi-domain combat landings which integrate air, land and sea units.

The PLA-Navy focus on amphibious warfare continues to heighten amid growing tensions over Taiwan, as China has been conducting amphibious assault landing drills, surface-t0-helicopter-t0-aircraft connectivity and practicing maritime warfare maneuvers. 

Type 075 Hainan

China’s first of its new fleet of Type 075 amphibious assault ships, called the Hainan, is expanding its ability to conduct multi-domain operations, a move which clearly seems to parallel ongoing work by the Pentagon’s Army-Navy multi-domain task forces training in the Pacific.

The surface-to-air attack networking ability of these new Chinese amphibs is greatly strengthened by the addition of the Z-18J early warning helicopter, Z-9 anti-submarine helicopter and Z-8C transport helicopter, according to a Chinese Communist Party-backed newspaper called the Global Times.

This integrated air-surface, multi-domain tactical connectivity was recently put to the test in an end-of-the-year assessment of the new Chinese amphibious assault ship, the Chinese paper said. The emphasis of the exercise was to refine air-surface joint operations.