Next to the carrier debate, the “how many amphibious ships” debate is just as old, and just as repetitive. The parallel declaration that, “there will never be another amphibious landing” always rings true as long as you stick to a bespoke set of vignettes and avoid all the other discussions about the uses of amphibious ships across the broad set of mission sets – but it doesn’t survive the follow-on questions very well.
What would we do if we were building a fleet from scratch? What mix of amphibious ships would we have?
We don’t have to wonder – such a process was happening in front of our eyes for decades. Another rising power with global ambitions is building a modern, capable amphibious fleet. Are they just mimicking what the USN did, or have they done their own analysis and come to the same conclusion that brought us our fleet today? That I can’t answer, but let’s see what the PLAN is investing their growing budget in.
China’s shipyards have launched the PLA Navy’s first two Type 075 amphibious assault ships, which will form the spearhead of an expeditionary force to play a role similar to that of the U.S. Marine Corps. And like the Marines, the new force will be self-contained – able to deploy solo with all its supporting weapons to fight in distant conflicts or demonstrate Chinese military power.
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The 40,000-tonne Type 075 ships are a kind of small aircraft carrier with accommodation for up to 900 troops and space for heavy equipment and landing craft, according to Western military experts who have studied satellite images and photographs of the new vessels. They will carry up to 30 helicopters at first; later they could carry fighter jets, if China can build short take off and vertical landing aircraft like the U.S. F-35B.
The first Type 075 was launched last September and the second in April, according to reports in China’s official military media. A third is under construction, according to the May edition of a Congressional Research Service report. Eventually, the PLA Navy could have seven or more of these ships, according to reports in China’s official military press.
They clearly see a utility and capability they want.
As shipyards churn out amphibious vessels, China is expanding its force of marines under the command of the PLA Navy. These troops are being trained and equipped to make landings and fight their way ashore. China now has between 25,000 and 35,000 marines, according to U.S. and Japanese military estimates. That’s a sharp increase from about 10,000 in 2017.
Small compared to the USMC? Of course, but draw that growth line out to 2030.
“We are currently only seeing the tip of the iceberg,” said Ian Easton, the senior director of the Project 2049 Institute, an Arlington, Virginia-based security research group. “Ten years from now, China is almost certainly going to have marine units deployed at locations all over the world. The Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions are global. Its interests are global. It plans to send military units wherever its global strategic interests require.”
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Since 2005, China has also built a fleet of six Type 071 amphibious ships, according to a 2019 report from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. These vessels can carry up to four air-cushion landing craft, similar to the hovercraft carried on U.S. amphibious landing ships, as well as four or more helicopters, armored vehicles and troops on long-distance deployments, the report said. A seventh Type 071 is under construction, according to Western military analysts.
At some point, at some location, China will demonstrate her new found power. She isn’t building these to buy votes – they are to do things.
