This is the Type 075 LHA! Super cool. Super sexy!
Not that it carries any weight at all, but I don't like the Marines' dependence on swimming amphibious vehicles for most of its off shore vehicle and personnel sea to land transfer. Most footage from exercises are the PLAN amphibious (LHD and LPDs) disembarking amphibious armor within sight of the target landing area.
It's just not a survivable tactic in a modern contested landing.
Most of the equipment tranfer to beach heads from Type 071 and 075s in exercises are mechanised in the form of are ZBD08 variants.
Little footage is available of artillery and vehicle tranfer at longer langes via helicopter. This is obviously because the PLAN does not have heavy vertical lift capability as yet. At most we've seen Z8/18 variants from the PLA with sling loads of 6×6 atvs, not real light infantry vehicles.
But even the PLA is not transporting tactical vehicle weight classes via helicopter yet. Its a deficiency that needs to be closed in both services, but I don't think that will be available till the heavy vertical lift programme with Russia delivers capability at scale to the army and PLAN.
I see why the close shore operations are needed for the PLA Marines just now, but the Navy's amphibious ships would not be survivable assets in the scenarios we're seeing here... in a conflict with Taiwan or Japan I mean.
Small scale operations to retake small islands in the SCS or strait perhaps, but large scale amphibious landings, not so much.
Moskva proved how vulnerable ships off moderately defended coasts can be. Especially in adverse weather; which occurs often in coastal water in the East and South China Seas.
Anything within 50kms to the shore is too close.
Random musings
