Taiwan’s Nightmare: China Building Fleet of Type 076 Amphibious Landers
The Americans—and the Taiwanese, for that matter—are not ready for the hammer (and sickle) that is about to fall upon them. The Type 076 is a symbol of just how unprepared we all are.
The People’s Republic of China is making all the rounds on international media recently. That’s because China has made a series of, frankly, shocking announcements about its growing military technological capabilities. Most recently, the Chinese unveiled their Type 076 “Sichuan” amphibious assault ship. And, boy, does it have Western military analysts sweating bullets.
That’s because amphibious landers (they basically look like mini aircraft carriers) are a telltale sign of China’s growing capacity to seriously threaten its U.S.-backed, democratic neighbors in Taiwan.
Until recently, most Western military analysts simply shrugged at the prospects of a Chinese invasion of the tiny island democracy because, as they so often—mockingly—said of China: The Chinese military lacks a requisite number of amphibious landing craft.
While the Chinese still technically lack a sufficient number of these mission-critical warships, the launching of the Type 076 Sichuan has just given China an added capability. From there, one can anticipate that the superior manufacturing infrastructure in China will churn these warships out at a breakneck pace, meaning that the Chinese invasion threat will multiply significantly.
Although, it must be stressed that China today already possesses this ability since it has spent the last decade building its civilian Roll-On-Roll-Off (RoRo) ferries to be military grade (and China currently has the largest RoRo ferry fleet in the world).
Capabilities
The Type 076 boasts an impressive array of capabilities, too. The Sichuan is comparable in size to American amphibious assault carriers (specifically, the Wasp-class or America-classes). Of course, the Americans have a finite number of these warships and, with the defense industrial base in the United States basically broken, there is no real hope that the number of amphibious assault ships the Americans possess will grow anytime soon.
But, that is another matter for another article.
Anyway, it has been speculated that the Type 076 actually has a flight deck that is larger than any other amphibious assault ship in the world while the ship is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult.
This is a next-generation catapult system used to launch aircraft from the flight deck that the Americans first innovated for their new Ford-class aircraft carriers (and that Washington accuses Beijing’s spies of having stolen). The Sichuan has a unique twin-island design that improves visibility, maximizes the deck space onboard, and allows for greater air traffic control. Which, during an invasion of Taiwan, would be a key feature for an amphibious lander.
It is believed that the Type 076 can launch and recover a medley of aircraft—including large numbers of drones, prompting many analysts to dub the Type 076 as a “drone mothership.” Technically, that is true.
The Type 076 has a 21-megawatt gas turbine and diesel-fuel powerplants along with a medium-voltage direct-current integrated power system.
What’s China Up To?
As for weapons, the Sichuan has an arsenal that Naval News describes as “robust.” For instance, it carries “three 24 round-HQ-10 missile launchers and three 11 barrel H/PJ-11 30mm [Close-In Weapon System] of similar configuration found on [China’s aircraft carrier, the Fujian].” There are also four Type 726 series 24-round decoy launchers onboard. A dual-band rotating AESA radar provides greater situational awareness for the crew.
China is building the capabilities to effectively invade Taiwan. At the rate at which the People’s Republic of China is producing increasingly sophisticated systems (of the kind needed to take Taiwan), should Beijing decide to invade, China will be able to do so sooner than anyone in the West thinks. Heck, China could probably pull off an invasion well before the Pentagon’s 2027 timeframe. In fact, it could hit Taiwan as early as this upcoming spring.
The Americans—and the Taiwanese, for that matter—are not ready for the hammer (and sickle) that is about to fall upon them. The Type 076 is a symbol of just how unprepared we all are.
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the National Interest, and a contributor at Popular Mechanics, consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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