New Chinese Type 075 Amphibs “Copy” US Navy America-class With Expanded Air Power

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

China refers to its growing fleet of Type 075 Amphibious Assault Ships as “helicopter carriers” in an apparent effort to project air power in support of sea-land attack operations.

Not surprising that a Chinese-government-backed newspaper would emphasize its growing new amphibious assault fleet, which now includes two ships .. the Hainan and Guangxi. Chinese official refer to the new class of Type 075 amphibs as capable of “vertical” attack as well as “horizontal” attack, suggesting increased air attack power aligned with its amphibs.

“Often dubbed a helicopter carrier, the vessel can carry a large number of helicopters in addition to amphibious armored vehicles and tanks, and launch both horizontal and vertical landing missions on islands and reefs, and even land from the sea,” the PRC-backed Global Times states.

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.

“As we practiced more over the past few months and adjusted our approach, we have now achieved a significantly higher [helicopter] sortie rate,” Zhang Yupeng, commander of an aviation detachment on board the Hainan, was quoted by CCTV as saying, according to the Global Times.