The PLAN LCAC Type 726 Yuyi Class

chuck731 said:

Greece, being part of both EU and NATO, will find it tough going to sell actual military equipment to China.

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Well, I do not think it is even an issue.

Thay have announced themselves that they intend to cannabilize the older/least maintained two in order to keep the other two operating.

It would seem that that intention would preclude any sale to me in any case.

The first Zubr from Feodosiya is now pennant number 3325, still at Longxue Island.

And here it is

franco-russe said:

The first Zubr from Feodosiya is not pennant number 3325, still at Longxue Island.

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Does this tell us anything about the LCAC that the Type 071 LPD holds, they are 3320 and 3321 if this unit is 3325 does this mean they will only build 3320-3324 Type 726 LCAC

chuck731 said:

Greece, being part of both EU and NATO, will find it tough going to sell actual military equipment to China.

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Why would China want to buy a second hand poorly maintained ZUBR from Greece anyway ? Perhaps China can produce it faster, cheaper, improved and brand new. Please someone can explain it to me?

antiterror13 said:

Why would China want to buy a second hand poorly maintained ZUBR from Greece anyway ? Perhaps China can produce it faster, cheaper, improved and brand new. Please someone can explain it to me?

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The scenario put forth is that the used, non functioning Greek ZUBR would be in decent shape and be sold cheaply with parts that were cannibalized for its other unit where the Chinese shipyard can easily replicate the missing parts. Therefore, another ZUBR can be added to the Chinese fleet relatively quickly. For the Greeks, that's some quick cash and ridding themselves of a non functioning vessel. That scenario has slim odds.

asif iqbal said:

Does this tell us anything about the LCAC that the Type 071 LPD holds, they are 3320 and 3321 if this unit is 3325 does this mean they will only build 3320-3324 Type 726 LCAC

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For PLAN's sake, I hope it does mean just that. They might, however, have more Type 726 following the four Zubr's. And we do not know which numbers the Huangpu-built Zubr's will have, that might change the picture again.

franco-russe said:

For PLAN's sake, I hope it does mean just that. They might, however, have more Type 726 following the four Zubr's. And we do not know which numbers the Huangpu-built Zubr's will have, that might change the picture again.

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LCAC programme is a bit confusing, 3320 was built which we thought was a experiential design and we were expecting a serial production run after it and we did see something of that order and 3321 was also commissioned but then the 3rd has just sat there and did nothing

On trials 3320 has been seen lifting a armoured vehicle maybe easily 50-60 tons some don't think there is any lift or engine issues

Even the latest pics suggest the third Type 726 is still at JNCX this comes after 3321 was commissioned a while ago so what's going on who knows

Why the PLAN is being so laid back with Type 071 LPD capacity is bit strange, just two operational LCAC between three LPD when each one can carry four each

Hope the third one is seen soon with its pennant number 3322 and all three can serve and we see a restart of the building of the rest, they need atleast 12-16 for all Three LPDs even more if LHD and LPD construction continues

A few years back when the first pics of 2nd and 3rd came out I was hoping that was the start of the production run oh well

Type 726 carrying a ZTZ96

Btw Type 726 is a huge LCAC with massive carrying capacity I reckon they could load 15 Humvee style vehicles in 5 rows of 3 columns

franco-russe said:

For PLAN's sake, I hope it does mean just that. They might, however, have more Type 726 following the four Zubr's. And we do not know which numbers the Huangpu-built Zubr's will have, that might change the picture again.

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Well, given the way they are churning out the Type 056 vessels, and they way they have churned out the Type 054A vessels, not to mention the later Type 052C and now the Type 052D, it is clear that they could build enough Type 726 LCACs for their Three Type 071 LPDs in very quick order if they wanted to.

The question is...why have they not done so? Why have they no wanted to?

I can only think of a couple of reasons.

1) There are issues with the design and they are not comfortable with it. However, there has now been more than enough time pass, if this is the case, for them to fix such issues and produce ones they are comfortable with.

2) They have decided that having 3-4 LCACs per LPD is not what they want to do. Perhaps they intend to only have one for each LPD. Who knows? But they clearly built the Type 071 to accommodate four, so I have to believe that they put a lot of thought into that decision and would not change it easily.

Who knows? As with all things, we can but wait and allow time to tell us what will transpire.