China ... does not intend to use its amphibious and naval forces as "police patrols" in foreign seas like the US Marines do, as many on this forum and in more Western-leaning circles think they will.
The
47th Escort Task Group just departed to patrol the Gulf of Aden. 6,500km away from Chinese shores.
This is a 11+ year unbroken string of anti-piracy patrols, each approx. 3 months in duration, since 2009.
"Does not intend" is not the same as "Does not need".
Carrying a drone and being able to launch it would be useful to increase loitering time over a target beach. If the target is Taiwan or Okinawa, or an island in the South China Sea, the drone can cut out the time it would take to cruise to the target beach, but when fuel runs low can simply fly back to the mainland or an SCS outpost. Increased loiter time would be beneficial in a landing operation.
A heavy ISR drone that requires a cat launch will typically be a MALE UAV. These platforms have 30+ hours endurance and are strategic/theatre level assets. Within the scope of Taiwan (300km) you are proposing complicating an already complicated Amphib platform to save 1 hour of transit (5% of endurance). All the while, adding a micro amount of ISR capability to a theatre that is well covered and saturated by land-based air.
Okinawa?! Why are we even entertaining the idea of a Okinawa landing? Yes, I'm aware drawer plans probably exist for a landing on Okinawa but within the scale of "probable" (Taiwan) to "hell freezes over" (Okinawa or any Japanese territory), isn't it a bit of a reach to ascribe platform design and procurement to a a situation that has a powerball level of probability?
[aside: Yes, in a Taiwan AR, a shooting war might also occur between Japan and China - because US bases being used. But to actually land troops on Japanese soil is magnitudes of escalation above just targeting US bases and infrastructure supporting them. Yes, JSDF forces might be further drawn in but again, there are differing levels of participation, escalation and responses - and landing troops on Japanese territory is quite high up there.]
If anything, you are more likely to see the EMCAT on the Type 76 earning their keep providing ISR in remote places like Gulf of Aden or C3I for HADR ops in the Greater Pacific and even further. ie. The design
could be more of a peace time "need" than a war time "need".
[Edit to add]
A CATOBAR LHA brings nothing to the table within the scope of any AMPHIBOPS within the 1IC as this area is very well covered by Land Air. Not unless PLAN/PLAGF is entertaining the thought of integrated TACAIR ala something similar to a USMC MEU.
