PLAN Zubr Large Air Cushion Landing Craft
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
A brand new LCAC has appeared somewhere along the eastern seaboard of China, with the vessel number 3260.
Posted by on Weibo.
More information from his post:
1. First Zubr-class LCAC to be equipped by the Eastern Theater Command Navy.
2. First ever purely domestically-produced Zubr LCAC.
3. Name - Type 728-class LCAC.
Notable differences/improvements of the Type 728 LCAC from the original Zubr LCACs:
1. The positions of the two H/PJ-13 6-tube 30mm AA guns were moved forward.
2. An integrated photoelectric fire control instrument on the top of the bridge was replaced by an H/LJP-347G fire control radar (the foreign trade model is MR35).
3. H/PJ-13 finally doesn't rely on simple photoelectric aiming anymore.
Seems like China has fully mastered the technical requirements and knowhow to produce 728 LCACs completely on their own.
Now it's only the matter of entering serial production - Because of a certain couple of islands in the southeastern direction...
Posted by on Weibo.
More information from his post:
1. First Zubr-class LCAC to be equipped by the Eastern Theater Command Navy.
2. First ever purely domestically-produced Zubr LCAC.
3. Name - Type 728-class LCAC.
Notable differences/improvements of the Type 728 LCAC from the original Zubr LCACs:
1. The positions of the two H/PJ-13 6-tube 30mm AA guns were moved forward.
2. An integrated photoelectric fire control instrument on the top of the bridge was replaced by an H/LJP-347G fire control radar (the foreign trade model is MR35).
3. H/PJ-13 finally doesn't rely on simple photoelectric aiming anymore.
Seems like China has fully mastered the technical requirements and knowhow to produce 728 LCACs completely on their own.
Now it's only the matter of entering serial production - Because of a certain couple of islands in the southeastern direction...
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I guess after the crisis in Ukraine escalated around 2019 and AR became a real possibility around that time, they finally decided to take the Zubr indigenization seriously.
Does the Chinese version no longer use the MLRS? Since the new CIWS positions seem to occupy where they would be. Has China changed the AA systems (strelas) for their Zubrs?
kwaigonegin
Colonel
Zubr class in large numbers will give a massive new amphibious capability that do not currently exist for PLAN on any beach landings within a couple hundred miles from the mainland staging areas.
Will need a top-down view of the 728 to confirm.
(Might as well reply to both at once)
Indeed. Zubr/728 are very useful for cross-strait ferrying of troops and equipment during Taiwan AR.
Even so, there are obvious operational limitations to Zubr/728, even for the cross-strait Taiwan AR scenario.
In order for the Zubr/728 to cross the strait, offload troops and equipment before returning to the mainland - All within one round-trip journey - The only locations and regions where landing and deployment locations for the Zubr/728 can be considered feasible are:
1. Islands - Within the Taiwan Strait only, i.e. Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu; and
2. Mainland Taiwan - From Keelung to the north until the northern shores of Tainan to the south.
Anywhere further than the aforementioned locations and regions (e.g. Tainan, Kaohsiung, eastern coastlines of Taiwan, Lanyu Island and the Ryukyu Islands) will require Zubr/728s to conduct at least one underway refueling throughout the entire to-and-back journey. Otherwise, larger ships with longer endurances (072-series LSTs, 071 LPDs, 075 LHDs) are required.
antiterror13
Brigadier
How many Type 728 LCAC the PLAN is planning to purchase ?
backwindow
New Member
Chinese version never had those even the first 4.
Seriously don't see any point to have MLRS.
Would make more sense for most of the way towards landing be made by a semi submersible transport ship, a capability which was showcased last year.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
The obvious mistake is assuming the Zubrs need to be going at full speed the entire time.
Dropping the speed a little can yield significant, and often disproportionately bigger fuel savings, which can correspond to significantly greatly range.