Made the comment before, that since the PLA ground forces are increasingly incorporating drones of various types and sizes into their operations and doctrine. The 076 may simply be to provide the landing ground forces the similar level of drone aerial support that they would have enjoyed at home turf. And do this without having to burden the actual fleet carriers so they can focus on stuff like CAP.
Type 076 LHD/LHA discussion
- Thread starter banjex
- Start date
Yep, had the same idea that it's a "carrier" through and thorough.
i.e. not just carrier as aircraft carrier, but anything that needs delivery really.
What kind of ships will be part of a Type 076 LHD led Expedition Strike Group (ESG)? Would the Type 075 LHD be part of it as well? It would require at least 2x Type 052D right? or would it also use the Type 054B?
Are there any rumors or talk of additional ships in the Type 076 class?
lcloo
Captain
This depends on the strength of the enemy, location, the type of missions and what ships are available. You can imagine dozens of different combinations.
Basically, you would want a strong escort to protect your fleet, i.e. defense against air, surface, under water, electronic counter measure, enemy shore based anti-ship missiles, sea mines etc etc.
So the fleet combination could include aircraft carrier, all kinds of landing ships/craft, DDG, FFG and submarine. If the enemy is is, say a certain nation south of Taiwan, you may not required aircraft carrier and submarine, and can have smaller number of DDG and FFG.
Example of aircraft carrier with type 075 LHA training together.
USN tried the ESG model and decided it didn't work, switching back to ARG model (amphibs only).
Have seen a few claims here and there that this would be a two-ship batch, but then nothing yet come up as of now after Sichuan.
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
I would say that PLAN will follow its normal routine
build one test it out and decide on improvements and then build more
I don't expect to see any more Type 076 LHA for a few years because it is a lot more advanced than the Type 075 LHD
plus the twin islands will create local wind dynamics and cross winds will create new operating procedures for the rotary wing pilots and UCAVS
this is a totally new style of warship and will take a good few years to work out for maximum optimisation
having said that we never know and maybe in 2025 we can see 2nd x Type 076 LHA + 004 Carrier hopefully
The Italians have built the closest analogy to the Type 76 with their LHD Trieste
which may even have been the inspiration for the Type 76 given how the Italian ship began building in 2018, well before the Type 76. These dates show just how quickly the Chinese can build warships these days.
which may even have been the inspiration for the Type 76 given how the Italian ship began building in 2018, well before the Type 76. These dates show just how quickly the Chinese can build warships these days.
Doubtful -- the twin island configuration is not anything exotic from a naval architecture point of view, and is preceded by the QE class as well, if one wants to look at ships starting construction that had a a dual island configuration.
I would argue that if anything, dual island configurations are no longer particularly exotic, but 076's defining features of EM catapult and arresting gear most certainly is different from any other amphibious assault ship that came before it.