The official English-language website for China’s Ministry of National Defense reported that several ZTD-05 amphibious assault vehicle steer on and off Chinese PLAN Songshan (946) landing ship during the several-week-long realistic combat training jointly conducted by a naval landing ship flotilla under the PLA Southern Theater Command and a combined arms brigade under the PLA 74th Group Army in mid-May, 2021.
The Songshan (946) landing ship is a Type 073 Yunshu-class landing ship developed and operated by the People’s Liberation Army Navy, it consists of several models. This article details the development of this class that begun in the 1960s. The most recent and modern model of the class is the Type 073A (Type 073IIY Yunshu-class landing ship), which were built and commissioned in the 2000s.
After the completion of the first unit (pennant # 990), it takes a decade for more units to follow, and 10 Type 073A (Type 073IIY Yunshu-class landing ship) more entered service between 2001 through 2002. These later units are slightly larger in displacement at 2,000 tons, and more advanced equipment, mainly in electronics and on board machinery. She can carry 250 tons of military equipment or five medium tanks or ten amphibious light tanks or 500 fully equipped troops.
The ZTD-05 assault vehicle is an amphibious tracked assault gun (amphibious light tank) variant seveloped by Norinco for the People’s Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps. The assault vehicle is armed with a 105mm low-recoil rifled gun, a 7.62mm coaxial machinegun, and QJC-88 12.7mm anti-aircraft machinegun. The ZTD-05 could be launched at sea from an amphibious assault ship over the horizon.
