During a commissioning ceremony on Friday last week at the Yulin Naval Base in China’s Hainan Province, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy unveiled three new vessels, coinciding with the 72nd anniversary of the navy’s founding.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who also heads the powerful Chinese Central Military Commission, attended the ceremony, presenting the navy’s ensign and formally naming the ships.
The vessels were a new Type 075 Yushen-class landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ship, a Type 055 Renhai-class guided-missile destroyer and a Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.
The Type 075 LHD heralds a root-and-branch change to the navy’s model for conducting landing operations.
With China’s intent to launch an invasion of Taiwan growing almost by the day, the Taiwanese military must remain vigilant and develop plans to address the enemy’s tactics.
Construction of the Type 075 LHD began in 2018 at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co, which has been commissioned to build two more vessels of the type and deliver a new boat every eight months.
The staggered manufacturing schedule means that as the second boat is undergoing sea trials, the third vessel would have left the dry dock and be undergoing a final fit-out.
Since 2018, the PLA’s Southern Theater Command has been carrying out annual “blue-water joint training formation” exercises.
This year’s exercise in March involved PLA Navy troops carrying out beach landing exercises at Pattle Island (Shanhu Island, 珊瑚島) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島).
Z-8 heavy transport helicopters took part in a 360° over-the-horizon amphibious assault, with marines rappelling from the helicopters and fast Type 726 air-cushioned landing craft simultaneously assaulting the beach by sea.
The Type 075 LHD is to further facilitate this kind of modern amphibious operation.
Its deck has landing spots for seven helicopters, aimed at enabling troops to carry out quick landing operations.
The landing spots are also equipped with a harpoon locking system to facilitate the takeoff and landing of helicopter drones.
The PLA’s intention to use naval helicopter drones and the “vertical insertion” of navy troops by helicopter shows that the Chinese military is changing its thinking and methodology regarding amphibious assaults.
In 2014, China completed the construction of a military heliport on Nanji Island off the coast of Wenzhou in China’s Zhejiang Province, 270km north of Taipei.
In 2019, it began the construction of the Zhangpu Air Base in Fujian Province’s Zhangpu County, 185km from Taiwan’s Penghu islands.
Major refurbishments and expansions of the Longtian and Huian air bases are also under way, both of which are less than 200km from Taiwan proper.
The heliport on Nanji Island has 10 helicopter landing pads, and the Zhangpu Air Base has 26 landing pads and a 600m runway suitable for helicopters. The purpose of these bases should not need spelling out.
If the PLA launches an invasion of Taiwan, multiple types of ballistic missile and cruise missile, as well as fighter jets and drones, would during the initial air war attack from high altitude, while recoverable attack drones and helicopters, attacking from lower altitude would require a seaborne platform to carry out rearmament and refueling.
Under such a scenario, the Type 075 LHD would come into its own.
Although China’s coastal air bases and airports are within range of Taiwan’s long-range precision missiles, the Longtian and Huian air bases are equipped with medium-range air defense missile systems, and the PLA last year conducted live ammunition drills to “consolidate its near-shore and South China Sea island air defense.”
The PLA wants to neuter the threat of “fountainhead strikes” by Taiwan on its coastal and island bases.
The Type 075 LHD is to be integrated with Type 055 Renhai-class and Type 052D Luyang III-class guided missile destroyers, modeled after a US Navy expeditionary strike group.
This would bolster the PLA’s air defense and missile defense capabilities.
US Navy Admiral Philip Davidson and US Admiral John Aquilino, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, have in the past few months warned that the threat of a Chinese annexation of Taiwan is imminent and greater than at any time since the founding of the PLA.
An air attack against Saudi Arabian oil production facilities in 2019 and Armenia’s rout during a war with Azerbaijan over disputed territory in the Caucasus Mountains last year provide a taste of the battlefields of the future, which would be characterized by the use of loitering munitions, pitted against defending drones.
In Taiwan, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology is believed to be developing an extended-range variant of the Tien Kung III missile, which is designed to intercept PLA missiles.
A series of secretive missile tests off Taiwan’s east coast last month with an unlimited height ceiling are believed to have been for the updated Tien Kung III.
In addition to this positive development, building capability to paralyze the PLA’s coastal air bases and its Type 075 LHDs is a matter of the upmost urgency for Taiwan’s defense planners.
Lu Li-shih is a former instructor at the Republic of China Naval Academy and former captain of the ROCS Hsin Chiang.
Translated by Edward Jones
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