The Type 075 LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock), China’s first domestically built amphibious warfare ship departed the Hudong Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai. on 5 August to conduct sea trials. China has already launched two Type 075 amphibious assault ships, one in September 2019 and the other in April 2020. They are undergoing outfitting work at the Shanghai-based Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard. In term of size and tonnage, Type 075 class is estimated to be larger than the Australian Canberra class or French Mistral-class and second only to the U.S. Navy’s Wasp-class and America class on the world stage.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 075 LHD (NATO reporting name Yushen-class landing helicopter assault) will have a displacement of 36,000 tons, a capacity of 30 helicopters, diesel engine with the 9,000 kW 16PC2-6B and four CIWS including two HHQ-10 and two H/PJ-11. The Type 075 helicopter dock is a new generation of amphibious assault vessel and far larger than similar ships previously constructed for the PLA Navy. The Type 075 would give the Chinese navy the ability to launch various types of helicopters to attack naval vessels, enemy ground forces or submarines. The vessels will also be able to deploy landing craft and troops, plus house command and control operations.
Type 075 could be armed with four close-in weapon systems including two HHQ-10 surface-to-air defense missile systems and two H/PJ-11/Type 730 seven-barreled 30 mm Gatling gun. The HHQ-10 is a rocked based system developed for the protection of ships against inbound anti-ship missiles. It uses launchers with a capacity of 8 to 24 missiles. Each missile uses imaging infrared guidance and has a proximity fuse. Missiles with dual-mode seeker feature additional passive radar homing. The solid-propellant rocket motor allows for a maximum speed of over Mach 2. Against non-maneuvering subsonic targets, the maximum range is 9 km. The maximum altitude is estimated up to 6 km. The practical maximum range against anti-ship missiles is 5 km.
On September 25, 2019 the PLAN officially launched the first Type 075. A second Type 075 is being simultaneously built in the same dry dock as the first Type 075 and is likely that the third planned Type 075 will be built in the same location.T he development work on the Type 075 officially started in 2011. The image of construction was revealed in March 2019, and the first ship in class was launched on September 25, 2019. The second ship in class was launched on April 22, 2020. On 11 April 2020, a fire broke out inside the hull of the first Type 075 during fitting-out, but was reportedly quickly extinguished. Outward burn marks were repainted within a day. The first vessel started sea trails on August 5 2020.
