New class PLAN Assault Vessel. Designation?

Chinese forums have been keeping track of it for months.

It is not 5000tons, much smaller, and it is not an assault ship. Look at that bulbous bow, this is not a beach assault ship. It is really not that exciting. The new army RoRo ship will probably just fulfill some mundane logistics role.

lcloo said:

This ship will most likely be used for transfer of army personnel and equipment in Bo Hai Bay area, as seen in the attached mao of Bo Hai, the shortest route to sent reinforcement to areas near North Korea will be through the Bo Hai Bay.

Also remember just not too long ago there were pictures on PLA armoured vehicles and personnel using civilian RO-RO ships in their drills in North East China, I can't post these photo since I crashed my original hard disc and lost them. PLA rather have their own RO-RO ship than depending on the civilian ships.

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It's cheaper to contract civilian RO-RO ships for ferry duty than building and running them. Also in times of emergency, PLA could draft civilian ships anyway.

Blackstone said:

It's cheaper to contract civilian RO-RO ships for ferry duty than building and running them. Also in times of emergency, PLA could draft civilian ships anyway.

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In similar fashion on PLA using their own trains to move troops and equipment on rails, they must have prefered to have their own transport ships, though I do agree that using civilian RO-RO ships is much cheaper.

Jeff Head said:

Apparently it was constructed at Dalian Songliao Shipyard and has both the stern ramp, and a smaller bow ramp for roll-on/roll-off operations. The front ramp does not allow for beach deployment. The aft landing pad is for helicopter or vertical unmanned aerial vehicle (VUAV) operations with no hangar. It has four turrets for twin 23 mm cannon.

Will keep looking.

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Lezt said:

Whats the front ramp for exp if he bulge does not allow it to beach?

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If the bow ramp can be extended out, couldn't it still make certain beach deployments?

lcloo said:

This ship will most likely be used for transfer of army personnel and equipment in Bo Hai Bay area, as seen in the attached mao of Bo Hai, the shortest route to sent reinforcement to areas near North Korea will be through the Bo Hai Bay.

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That's a possibility. Maybe even transport the army directly to Dandong like a rapid reaction force if a situation unfolds with NK?

shen said:

Chinese forums have been keeping track of it for months.

It is not 5000tons, much smaller, and it is not an assault ship. Look at that bulbous bow, this is not a beach assault ship. It is really not that exciting. The new army RoRo ship will probably just fulfill some mundane logistics role.

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Agreed, I think the term assault ship isn't the right one for this vessel. It appears to be 2000 tons and doesn't have anything but a few cannons for basic defense. Sounds like a mundane water transport for the army as you've mentioned. In addition to maybe transporting the army to near NK, I think it will be used to transport up and down the coast as well as inland via China's various rivers, the smaller size of this vessel would suit rivers better. Probably also between Hainan and Guangdong. Train transport moves the army across the country but I think water transport is always cheaper.

As for ocean going capability, I wonder how capable is it really? Would it be useful in transporting any Chinese force deployed on UN missions like Mali for instance? Or Haiti?

Nice vessal but isn't it a bit small might need a couple of hundred of these

joshuatree said:

If the bow ramp can be extended out, couldn't it still make certain beach deployments?

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Not really, a lot of beaches have hidden sand banks and rocks; a shallow draft is really required for it to go up to a beach.

The second thing is, you would normally want to back away from the beach once the goods are delivered, ramming the bulge into the sand is not a good idea for that. this is more important as for the load departing the front ramp will exert more load at the front of the boat/ship, with a bulge design, the bow will be deeply impressed downwards, which is why traditional landing crafts have a flanges round bottom design which if the bow is depressed, it displaces more water than linearity so that the buoyancy of the bow will increase.

The third is angle, if you have a MBT with a long gun, it can only go down a ramp of a certain angle before digging the gun into the sand; the other is, for the vehicle to be able to climb the sand dunes after it disembark will limit the angle which it can be offloaded.