For research or military? Mysterious China ship breaks cover. Details here

Development comes even as China nears completion of world's largest amphibious assault ship

China is reportedly building a mysterious new ship that appears to have some features of both an amphibious assault craft and a civilian ocean research vessel, with its flight deck prompting speculation that it could be used as an assault ship or small carrier.

 

Pictures taken by Planet Earth last week and published by US military news portal, The Warzone, on Monday indicate that the mysterious ship, being built by Guangzhou Shipyard International, has a large open flight deck.

 

Citing Tom Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security, a Washington-based security think tank, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) explained that the vessel's configuration resembles either a light aircraft carrier or an amphibious assault ship, similar to China's Type 075 landing helicopter dock and Japan's Hyuga class helicopter destroyer.

 

Shugart, who published images of the ship on social media platform X, reportedly posted that the vessel appears to be 200 metres long, with a beam of approximately 40 metres. Shugart also speculated whether the vessel was a new aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship, or perhaps even a "research carrier".      The Warzone report also noted the possibility that the new vessel has been designed to deploy military aircraft, saying that China has a "long history" of fielding "new maritime scientific research capabilities with clear potential military applicability". 

 

But this mysterious vessel is not the only under-construction ship captured in the satellite images.

 

Shugart also highlighted a 60-metre long uncrewed trimaran being built nearby by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation. The SCMP report said that Beijing has not commented on either ship or their purpose.

 

However, the shipbuilder has reportedly provided some details on the trimaran. It possesses a "long-endurance" and "fully domestically developed" propulsion system and can "independently carry out missions" under different scenarios. For its part, The Warzone report noted the similarities between the Chinese trimaran and the US Navy's Seahunter drone ship that is designed for anti-submarine warfare.

 

The development comes after reports from earlier in October indicated that China's first large-deck amphibious assault ship of its new class, the Type 076 landing helicopter dock ship, was rapidly taking shape, and that it has been designed to make a wider range of air operations easier.

 

The Type 076 will be the largest amphibious assault ship in the world, according to Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American think tank based in Washington, DC.

 

Beijing blurring the line between military and civilian technology

 

The SCMP report noted that China has been bolstering both its naval and civilian research vessel fleet in recent years. At present, China has 64 civilian research vessels in use, according to a recent CSIS report.

 

However, as Beijing looks to expand its scientific research fleet, it has also been accused of blurring the line between military and civilian technology, which has led to various parties raising alarm over the voyages of China's civilian ocean research ships in recent years, noted the SCMP report.

 

As an example, China's Xiang Yang Hong class of ocean survey ships were originally built for military purposes, before being moved to the civilian fleet. Amid India accusing Chinese research ships of snooping on its military, Sri Lanka in February refused to allow a Chinese research ship of this class to dock at its port, reportedly under pressure from New Delhi.