PLA Navy news, pics and videos

no_name said:

What sort of research role will this ship be used for as it seems she doesn't have cat, bow ramp, arresting wires or even elevators?

Is all that deck space just for rotary/small propeller drones to take-off and land?

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The stipulated width of the runway on the platform ship is 25 meters, meaning that even the Wing Loong-2 can easily fit within. The WL-2 certainly isn't a "small propeller drone".

As for the method of launch and recovery - Strapping small rockets onto the UAVs for RATO operations could be feasible if required. Otherwise - If China has STOL-capable UAVs like the Mojave, then it would be able to takeoff from the platform ship per usual.

In the meantime, landings could be accomplished by either having parachutes and/or more speed brakes installed on the UAVs that would enable slowing and stopping them immediately prior to and upon touchdown, or by setting up some kind of barrier on the flight deck that would catch the UAV during touchdown.

Both takeoffs and landings can also be assisted by sailing the platform ship into the wind during said procedures (when available), of course.

As for the elevators - There are few on Weibo who suggested that there are spaces provisioned onboard the platform ship, which would permit further modifications to install elevators onboard in the future if needed. Although admittedly, it's not exactly a must have for such a platform ship, as her roles are expect to differ significantly from proper flat-deck warships (i.e. as a research and test platform instead of a war-fighting platform).

I've made two tables with the rectified figures regarding the VLS count of PLAN surface combatants.

Table 1 - Present, as of December 2024:



Table 2 - Prospective 2030, based on visually confirmed units as of December 2024:



Needless to say, the figures in Table 2 are certain to rise in the coming years as more new units are visually confirmed.

Some updates on some of China's non-combatant vessels.

Per @水雷屋 on Weibo and @sugar_wsnbn on Twitter:
- 3x Type 927 integrated rescue ship spotted, with two of them having pennant numbers (#830 for the SSF and #841 for the NSF).
- 3x Type 923(?) integrated rescue ship spotted, with two of them having pennant numbers (#822 for the ESF and #840 for the NSF).
- 3x Type 920 hospital ship commissioned/fitting out, with 1x more said to be under construction.

The increase in the number of integrated rescue ships can be correlated with China's ongoing rapid expansion of her underwater fleet. Speaking of which, the Type 927 is also larger than the Type 923.