Here is the official photo of Adm Shen Jinlong looking out at the dock clearly something important ship to see. Next to him is the Chief of CSSC
From Henri K
The existence of the project has been known for at least four years, and most of the rumors have been false about it in recent years, but it is now almost certain that China recently launched the construction of its first Class of helicopter carriers,
Type 075 .
The first time the Type 075 project was unofficially mentioned was in 2012 - a former technical officer of the Chinese Navy revealed the launch of the development project, which took place in 2011.
In 2012, some Western media have "invented" its reference - the famous Type 081 - which is totally false. And for good reason, journalists specialized in the subject based their invention on some images called fan-art, in which the helicopter carrier displays as hull number "081".
The Type 081 is, in reality, a Chinese hunter class of a few hundred tons.
The model of an LHD dedicated to export, proposed by the CSIC group.
Many also took the 20,000-ton LHD model that one of the Chinese shipbuilders, the CSIC group, presented at the Defense & Securitt 2012 in Bangkok as the export version of the Type 075.
Of course, this information is again erroneous, because, first of all, the Type 075 is a project developed by another Chinese shipbuilder, the CSSC (not the CSIC). And the helicopter carrier designed for the Chinese Navy is also almost twice as large as the LHD offered to export in terms of displacement.
So what do we know today about this new class of Chinese amphibious assault ship?
After crossing information from two independent sources that are close to the records of the Chinese navy, it is thought that the Type 075 development project was officially launched in 2012.
The published R & D documents show that the pre-studies have been carried out at least since 2008 by several research offices and research institutes, including the CSSC 708 Institute and the Chinese Naval Equipment Department.
The situation of the flow disturbance above the islet of an LHD, dating from 2008.
In July 2016, the technical proposal was submitted to the reviews of the committee composed by industry, academic and naval experts. The cutting of the first sheet would have taken place at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai at the end of 2016.
It is therefore not without reason that the new commander-in-chief of the Chinese Navy visited this shipyard on Sunday, March 26, accompanied by the CEO and the main directors of the CSSC group.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and the Naval Group CSSC leaders visited the Hudong Shipyard on March 26 (Photo: CSSC)
In its original configuration, the Chinese helicopter carrier displaced 48,000 tons and was capable of transporting up to 38 helicopters, ie close to the US Navy's
Wasp class .
But for unknown reasons - probably because of budget, propulsion, or changing operational requirements - the solution chosen is a 36,000 tonne vessel with a capacity of 28 helicopters.
Note that the diesel engine
16PC2-6B of 9 000 kW will be part of the propulsion of the Type 075, according to an article published in June 2015 on the site of the mayor of Shanghai, quoting the statement of the CEO of Hudong Heavy Machinery Co., LTD, a CSSC subsidiary specializing in marine diesel engines. The same family of diesel engines is also used by the 40,000 tonne tanker
Type 901 and the amphibious assault ship
Type 071 by 20,000 tons.
Details of the on-board equipment are missing at the moment, but the ship will be a priori equipped with two CIWS
H / PJ-11 guns and two CIWS
HQ-10 missiles for its self-protection.
We should hopefully see the first modules of this Type 075 before the end of the year. Our sources converge towards a first order on three copies, but the final number could vary depending on the geopolitical situation around China.
To be continued.
Henri K.