Chinese Navy Practice Shipborne Hovercraft Deployment
China’s People’s Liberation Army (Navy) (PLAN) released pictures of the Type-071 amphibious dock landing ship Yimengshan (Hull 988) launching a Type-726 landing hovercraft while at sea.
The Type-726 Wild Horse Class landing hovercraft has been in service with the PLAN since 2007, with probably more than 40 now in service. The 150-ton hovercraft can move either a single Type 96 or Type 99 main battle tank or, as can be seen in the photos of the exercise published by the PLAN, four small wheeled armored vehicles. The configuration, capability, and its developmental timeline suggest that the Type-726 design was strongly influenced by the Bell Aerospace LCAC, in service with the US Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force since the late 1980s.
Unfortunately, no video of the operation was published. But the East Sea Fleet exercise was carried out in late September on a flat calm sea, and the ship Yimengshan appears to be stationary whilst the exercise was carried out. From the pictorial evidence, it also appears that the ship Yimengshan is equipped with an azimuth positioning system to help keep the landing ship steady and stable as the launch operation proceeds, but it also suggests that such an operation could be a challenge to mount in a heavy swell.
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It also appears that the ship Yimengshan may have launched a second hovercraft, which is visible in other pictures speeding away from the mother ship. The Type-071 landing ships are believed to be able to hold four Type-726 hovercraft. The ship also has a hangar capable of housing up to four Z-8 helicopters, a licensed production variant of the French SA 321 Super Frelon capable of airlifting 25 troops. Taken together, the Yimengshan appears capable of landing a force sufficient in size to seize a reef, for example, or a small island.
The Type-071 amphibious ship fleet, with associated Type-726 hovercraft, is split between the East and South Seas Fleets, with most exercise activity involving these craft being noted in the South Seas Fleet area adjacent to the South China Sea and the Chinese-claimed Land of Nanhai Zhudao.
