These look to be perfect enough to shut up the "only a few beaches the PLA can land on" copers
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These barges are not meant to seize bridgeheads.
For that, you will still be relying on dedicated amphibious landing crafts (LCU,LST/LCAC analogues).
As such, the "few" beaches that the PLAN can land on, are still limited what can be handled by the lowest common demonitor - whichever element that might be.
The biggest difference between specialised amphibious landing assets capable of assault operations are the speed at which they can disgorge their load. By contrast, these barges will probably take hours to set up.
As per the article, they are meant to act as a interface for non-specialised landing ships to utilise beachheads to unload follow on waves - NOT the assault wave. The historical example given is that of the Mulberry harbours used in Normandy. These are for much later in the operational phase when the beachhead has not only been seized but expanded.
You don't even necessarily need the barges themselves to have it -- the nature of the distances involved means low draft escort ships with their own SAMs and CIWS could do the job.
I could even see them building relatively light displacement, low draft "escort barges" that are only a few hundred tons but are installed with SR SAMs or gun based CIWS to act as closer in last ditch defenses.
This is ignoring of course how such an operation would have substantial air and naval escort and overwatch in general, not to mention it would be preceded overall by a large scale bombardment of the immediate beach, and having secured air and sea control with requisite interdiction of identified adversary artillery and fires groups and C4I, to overall reduce the ability of an adversary to resist a landing with either maneuver forces or residual artillery forces.
The biggest danger for this area is the threat of artillery, given the range/accuracy of modern MLRS and lack of operational depth to push a bridgehead perimeter past such risks. CRAM assets will need to be close to the actual beach which means the best employment of CRAM defence will be landed assets.
Air defence umbrella will otoh be, as you mentioned, capably provided by the amphib fleet itself and land air.
