Type 076 LHD/LHA discussion
- Thread starter banjex
- Start date
It will not have helicopters, but fixed wing unmanned aircraft GJ-11
No offense but it's a bit of an awkward question.
Are they producing enough helicopters now? Well probably not because they are producing helicopters for the army and air force as well.
If you're asking whether they will build enough helicopters to properly outfit them in time? Then that should be a definite yes, but given limitations of industry capacity and overall military demand it means chances are the ships won't likely enter service with full airwings immediately.
But they're not building these ships with the goal of having them perpetually operate at half capacity.
076 is still an LHD, a large fraction (if not a majority) of its normal airwing will be helicopters during normal operations.
UAVs will make up the rest but I expect it to be a minority.
For certain specific missions it might have a more UCAV heavy airwing, but it likely won't be it's normal loadout.
If we were to believe those idiots who say the Type 076 won't operate manned fighters such as the J-35 and instead it will operate only drones and helicopters then that means the Type 076 will be a big flop because even though it may be larger than the LHA-8 and have the latest and greatest catapults it still wouldn't be able to operate manned fighters while America's LHA-8 will be able to do so.
So my only question is.. to any potential idiot who thinks the Type 076 won't operate any manned fighters even though it will have catapults and arresting wires, just what kind of high quality pot are you smoking?
So my only question is.. to any potential idiot who thinks the Type 076 won't operate any manned fighters even though it will have catapults and arresting wires, just what kind of high quality pot are you smoking?
by78
General
Please take your politics elsewhere.
The presence of a well deck is not necessarily just for amphibious operations.
Suppose the well deck is used to launch and recover Unmanned Submarine Drones?
Yes, that's true, but it's also an LHD which means they need helicopters.
No offence taken! Thank you for helping me understand better. That sounds accurate. I hope they flesh out the air wings as soon as possible after the ships are commissioned. I am assuming they are looking to build at least two of these...
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Wow just Wow
But China will not build the Type 076 LHA for UCAV alone unless it has a naval fighter in the pipeline
so question is where is J35 Naval version ?
so basically this is a pocket carrier
But China will not build the Type 076 LHA for UCAV alone unless it has a naval fighter in the pipeline
so question is where is J35 Naval version ?
so basically this is a pocket carrier
First of all, relax.
Okay, now as for the topic of whether 076 can operate fixed wing aircraft like J-XY.... that is a potential yes, but is dependent on 076 having a few key characteristics, e.g.:
- if 076 has a flight deck rated for the same kind of fixed wing operations as a full sized carrier (particularly I'm thinking about the recovery and the force of the recovery of a manned fighter like J-35/J-XY versus a flying wing UCAV)
- if 076's EM catapult is the same as what is fielded on full sized carriers like 003 (e.g.: length) and not a "UCAV optimized variant"
- if 076's arresting gear is also the same as what is fielded on full sized carriers like 003 and also not a "UCAV optimized variant"
If those key characteristics/subsystems are present, then sure, in theory a fixed wing fighter like J-XY can operate from this ship.
... but whether J-XY would operate from it as part of normal operations is another matter.
At the end of the day, this ship is still being described primarily as an amphibious assault ship, with a CATOBAR function secondary.
As far as airborne persistence, range and endurance goes, would operating a complement of manned fighters be better or worse than operating a complement of UCAVs instead? This is all keeping in mind that during normal operations the complement of fixed wing aircraft (UCAVs or manned) would be only a small fraction of the overall airwing which would mostly still be made up of helicopters.
At this stage we have no reason to expect 076 to be a large 60k ton carrier sized ship either -- there will be limits imposed on its flight ops tempo as a virtue of its size, but also of the fact that it will be operating a large airwing of helicopters routinely as well.
However, the PLAN will also be fielding a fleet of proper CATOBAR carriers which whose primary airwing will be made up of J-XYs, and will have the flight deck size and configuration to support a higher ops tempo as well.
So, all that considered, to answer your question as to whether 076 will or won't operate manned fighters like J-XY, my answer is:
We don't know if 076 can operate proper manned fighters like J-XY. I.e.: we don't know if its flight deck, catapults and arresting gear will be rated for manned fighters as well as UCAVs or if they will only be rated for UCAVs.
IF 076's flight deck, catapults and arresting gear allows it to operate proper manned fighters like J-XY, only at that point can we ask "will/won't" 076 operate them. For that answer, I offer a cautious maybe, in the sense that 076 will have the provisions to do so but where during normal operations and deployments, operating a dedicated complement of J-XY might be a suboptimal use of 076's limited flight deck and allocation of J-XY fleet numbers as well, where the J-XY's characteristics is much better suited for a larger proper carrier capable of higher tempo flight ops.
As long as it can launch AWACS, it will be a game changer. And I have no reason to think that it cannot.