China has Launched its First Type 075 Amphibious Helicopter Carrier

China’s first amphibious assault ship, a Landing Helicopter Dock known as Type 075, was launched in Shanghai on Thursday.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy), the customer of the vessel, said in a statement that after a brief ceremony starting at 9:20 am at a CSSC’s Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard, waters began to be pumped into a dry dock in which the ship’s hull was built.

Participants at the ceremony – officials from the central and Shanghai governments, officers from the Central Military Commission’s Equipment Development Department and the PLA Navy, executives of the State-owned conglomerate China State Shipbuilding Corp as well as the vessel’s designers and construction workers – applauded as they watched the launch process, the statement said, without providing more details about the event.

According to the PLAN, the new class of ship was domestically developed and constructed. It will have a strong capability to carry out amphibious combat and other tasks.

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As for its specifications, rumors speak of “36,000 tons of displacement”, “capacity of 28 helicopters”, “diesel engine with the 9,000 kW 16PC2-6B” and “four CIWS including two HQ-10 and two H/PJ-11”.

While the Type 075 appears to slightly smaller than the U.S. Navy’s LHA, it is larger compared to French or Spanish/Australian LHD equivalents. It is actually pretty close in size to Italy’s future Trieste LHD.

The first Type 075 was constructed in record time (this has become the norm nowadays, for Chinese shipbuilding: extremely fast construction pace that no one can match). A second vessel of the class is already under construction while a larger version is rumored to be planned.

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Republic of Korea Marine Corps Wants More Aircraft Carrying Ships

The Marine Corps is considering introducing a large transport ship capable of carrying warplanes, and mobilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to enhance its amphibious operations and surveillance capabilities, its chief said Wednesday.

During his keynote speech at a security seminar, Lt. Gen. Jun Jin-goo also expressed his desire to capitalize on robotics and other cutting-edge technologies to enhance the marines' maritime power projection capabilities.

"We are considering building the LPX (large platform experimental)-type ship capable of carrying aircraft in close cooperation with the Navy," Jun said.

He did not specify what aircraft will be carried by the envisioned ship. But observers say that the commander might have in mind the F-35B, a short takeoff and vertical landing variant of the U.S.-made radar-evading fighter.

The Marine Corps appears to want to secure its own LPX ship apart from the 14,000-ton Dokdo amphibious landing ship and the Marado warship, which are currently in operation and under construction, respectively.

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A Russian Destroyer Shadowed an Amphibious Assault Ship USS America

A Russian destroyer shadowed the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) on July 16 and 17 during the Rim of the Pacific 2016 exercise, generally staying about one or two nautical miles away but at times coming as close as about 1,000 yards, USNI News observed.

The Udaloy-class destroyer Admiral Vinogradov (DD-572) approached America around 5 p.m. local time on July 16 and shadowed the warship all night and well into the next day.

The destroyer appeared at one point to peel away and sail toward USS San Diego (LPD-22) an amphibious transport dock sailing in the same amphibious readiness group (ARG) but then turned back to America.

At the time, America was sailing in international waters, San Diego was closer to U.S. territorial waters.

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Russian Aircraft Carrier Kuznetsov to act as Ersatz Amphibious Ship

The Ka-52K Katran attack helicopters will soon be deployed aboard the Russian aircraft cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov, in what will allow the warship to have characteristics similar to those of the Mistral assault ships France had originally promised to build for Russia, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

The deployment of 30 Ka-52K Katran attack helicopters on board the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov will make it possible to significantly improve its characteristics, which are expected to be tantamount to those of the Mistral assault ships, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported.

It quoted former Russian Defense Ministry spokesman as saying that the KA-52K's deployment will enable the Admiral Kuznetsov to perform a spate of coastal missions, something that is typically performed by Mistral amphibious ships.

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Taiwan Wants "Jeep" Aircraft Carrier, Aegis Destroyers

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Taiwan’s Deputy Defense Minister Pai Hunghui brief[ed] legislators on the Republic of China Navy’s ship building plans for the long-term on Jun. 20. He was questioned by lawmakers in the morning after the local media reported in advance the previous day on what the Navy plans to reveal at a press event later that afternoon.

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Lockheed Wants to Place Aegis System on LX(R) Amphibious Ship

LPD-28, the 12th ship in the San Antonio class line, may serve as somewhat of a bridge to the upcoming class of amphibious transport docks, currently dubbed the LX(R). As part of this transitional vessel, Lockheed wants to install its vaunted Aegis Combat System aboard it, giving the ship a much higher level of defensive capabilities, independence and situational awareness.

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Another step towards the San Antonio class being the basis of the US Navy's next cruiser.

The Changes Coming to the US Marine/US Navy Amphibious Fleet

The Navy and Marine Corps amphibious fleet is on the cusp of two major changes – the introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter and the growth of the fleet from 30 to 33 ships – that will change the way the fleet trains and fights, the director of expeditionary warfare told USNI News.

Maj. Gen. Chris Owens, who took over the expeditionary warfare directorate (OPNAV N95) four months ago, said in a Dec. 10 interview that his biggest priority in this new job is amphibious fleet readiness – having the maximum amount of ships deployed or ready to deploy, and ensuring those ships are maintained and modernized to stay relevant throughout their entire service lives.

To that end, the fleet stands to make some important gains in the coming years. F-35B integration efforts will bring greater capability to existing ships, helping them leverage the fifth-generation fighter capability and operate more effectively with the rest of the Navy’s surface fleet. And the larger number of ships in the amphibious fleet open up opportunities for single-ship deployments, taking on more missions in the Pacific and providing better training to sailors and Marines.

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US Navy Orders 12th LPD 17 San Antonio Class Amphibious Ship, new Burke Class Destroyer

Gulf shipbuilders gained a new amphibious ship late Friday, and the US Navy has agreed to add a destroyer at a key Maine shipyard. The moves reflect the resolution of a long-standing “hull swap agreement” involving the ships and the Navy’s two biggest shipbuilders.

Huntington Ingalls Industries received a $200 million not-to-exceed undefinitized contract action (or UCA) to order long-lead time material and perform design work on LPD 28, a yet-to-be-named 12th ship in the LPD 17 San Antonio class of amphibious transport dock ships. The ship, which the Navy did not request, was added by Congress to increase the fleet’s amphibious fleet and better meet US Marine Corps requirements.

The total cost of a “fully-scoped” LPD 28 is expected to be around $2.023 billion, the Navy said last year.

As a result of the award, General Dynamics will receive another DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer beyond the batch already on order.

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Australian Jeep Carrier HMAS Adelaide Commissioned

Australia's amphibious capability has been boosted by the commissioning in Sydney on 3 December of HMAS Adelaide : the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) second 27,800-tonne landing helicopter dock (LHD).

Based on the design of the Spanish Navy strategic projection ship Juan Carlos , the 231 m Adelaide joins first-of-class HMAS Canberra , which was commissioned in November 2014.

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HMS Ocean Helicopter Carrier to Decommission in 2018

Britain’s Royal Navy is to decommission its only helicopter assault carrier and hand the task over to one of the new aircraft carriers being built by BAE Systems.

Plans to scrap HMS Ocean in 2018 were part of the strategic defence and security review (SDSR) unveiled Nov 23. The decision to axe the Royal Navy’s flagship only became known when it was briefly mentioned by defence minister Earl Howe in the House of Lords.

The ship, currently the largest in the Royal Navy, only completed a £65 million (US$97.8 million) refit last year.

The Royal Navy denied the warship was being axed earlier than planned.

“HMS Ocean will not decommission early and will continue in service as planned well into this Parliament. As part of the SDSR process, the decision was taken not to extend her and to decommission her in 2018, in line with her 20-year life span,” the navy said in a statement.

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Brazilian Navy Purchasing French LPD, ex FS Siroco

The Brazilian Navy will commission the French Foudre-class FS Siroco (L 9012) landing platform dock (LPD) by 31 December, the service told IHS Jane's on 18 November.

The exact date for commissioning is yet to be finalised, the service added, but necessary documentation for the ship's transfer of property is expected to be signed by 31 December.

Brazil plans to soon commission the French Navy's LPD Siroco, pictured here in Toulon, after Portugal dropped interest in July. (Victor Barreira)

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USS Kearsarge Acts as Jeep Carrier, AV-8B Harriers Conduct Airstrikes on Daesh/Islamic State

Naval Aviation rejoined the fight against ISIL Nov. 19 when AV-8B Harriers from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM)162(Reinforced)launched from the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) to conduct their first missions over Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).

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US Marine Corps Aviation Needs to be More Flexible, be Tailored to Missions

The Navy and Marine Corps should explore ways to make Marine aircraft a more useful part of the naval battle force – using alternate mixes of aircraft types on amphibious ship flight decks, finding additional missions for those aircraft, and pursuing increased connectivity to the rest of the naval fleet, the deputy commandant for aviation told USNI News.

In recent memory, the aviation combat element (ACE) in the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has served to support the MEU’s ground combat element. The ACE brought Marines and their weapons ashore in combat situations and helped bring materiel ashore in humanitarian assistance missions.

But Lt. Gen. Jon Davis argues the MEU, and particularly the ACE – which already includes the game-changing MV-22 Osprey and will soon include the equally transformative F-35B Joint Strike Fighter – can and should do more.

“We have the finest aircraft carriers in the world, we have the finest submarines in the world, we have the finest amphibious ships – we might need those amphibious ships to be doing something a little bit different than we’ve asked of them in the past to be value-added to the subs and the cruisers and the carriers, to be more value-added episodically before we reconfigure to the traditional mission and force contribution you expect an amphibious ship to be able to do,” Davis said in a Nov. 16 sit-down interview in his office.

“At the end of the day, we need them to power project Marine ground forces, a MAGTF (Marine Air-Ground Task Force), ashore, and they need to be able to do that. But is there more that we can get out of those ships, and what do we have to do to those ships to get more out of them?”

First, Davis argued, the Marines need to rethink what should constitute the ACE onboard amphibious ships.

“You in your brain, and all of us in our brains, have, this is a MEU: six Harriers or six F-35s, 12 V-22s, three or four CH-53s, seven skids [light attack helicopters], some VMU [Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadrons],” Davis said.

But what if that combination, which includes a little bit of everything, means that the ACE is not optimized for anything?

“There are many scenarios where we would want to have the L-class carrier loaded with F-35Bs – the full squadron, 16 airplanes or more, plus four to six V-22s with a tanker package,” Davis said.

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Spanish Navy Embarks US Marine Corps V-22 Squadron

The Spanish Navy (Armada Española) has claimed to be the first non-US naval service to embark a squadron of the US Marine Corps' (USMC's) Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft on board one of its ships. The embarkation took place during Exercise 'Trident Juncture 2015' that started in early October 2015 and jointly hosted by Spain, Portugal and Italy.

The four Osprey transports, which combine the vertical lift-off capability of a helicopter with the higher speed and payload flight of a turbo-prop aircraft, are stationed at the Morón de la Frontera Air Base in southern Spain.

For 'Trident Juncture 2015' the aircraft were embarked with six of the Armada's AV-8B Harrier and an AB-212 helicopter from the 27,000-tonne landing helicopter dock (LHD) Juan Carlos I .

"This event is a historic achievement both for the Marines and the Armada Española," said the Spanish Navy. "Never before has an American [Osprey] squadron formed part of an air unit embarked on a ship that does not belong to the US Navy."

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How the US Marine Corps Wants to Use the EPF/JHSV for Operations

The Auxiliary Platforms and Payloads Council at the Pentagon has focused its efforts on using the Expeditionary Fast Transport for Marines’ afloat command and control requirements, as well as looking at technical enablers to allow Marines to operate from the Littoral Combat Ship, the head of the amphibious warfare branch said last week.

Capt. Bryon Johnson said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Expeditionary Warfare Conference in Portsmouth, Va., that the council was not considering a formal Marine Corps mission package for the LCS but instead was looking at more ad hoc adaptive force packages for LCS and the Expeditionary Fast Transport ship (EPF), formerly called the Joint High Speed Vessel.

A particular interest is putting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets and unmanned vehicles on the EPF, he said.

“We are looking at ways to put adaptive force packages on [EPF], particularly for command and control … using the [EPF] maybe as an afloat command center” in humanitarian assistance missions, for example.

On LCS, he said the council is examining what enablers the Marines would need to operate from the platform – with extra berthing being a top concern, he said.

However, he made clear that these efforts were not meant to replace amphibious warships, but rather to help reduce the high demand on the amphibs.

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The LX(R) Amphibious Ship Will be Cheaper, but More Capable due to Basing Design on San Antonio Class

The Navy and Marine Corps were able to design an LX(R) dock landing ship replacement with greater capability for less money by starting with the higher-end San Antonio-class LPD-17 design, stripping away unneeded features and adding back in desired ones, service officials said last week.

The Navy is still working through the process, having approved the capability design document – which includes key performance parameters and key system attributes – three weeks ago and forwarded it to the Joint Staff for approval, Marianne Lyons, deputy program manager for LPD and LX(R), said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Expeditionary Warfare Conference in Portsmouth, Va., last week.

The program is in the preliminary design phase now, she said, and will move to contract design in the spring and then detail design and construction in Fiscal Year 2020.

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USNS Brunswick, the 6th Expeditionary Fast Transport/Joint High Speed Vessel Finishes Last Trials

The Navy’s 6th Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) has completed its last set of trials ahead of delivery to Military Sealift Command, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) annouced on Monday.

Now the Austal USA-built Brunswick (EPF-6) — of the class formerly known as the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) — is expected to deliver to the service later this year.

“Conducting acceptance trials is a major milestone for the shipyard and the program office,” said Capt. Henry Stevens, Strategic and Theater Sealift Program Manager, Program Executive Office, Ships.

“We are very proud of our contractor and government team’s commitment to delivering affordable, quality ships and look forward to the delivery of EPF 6 later this year.”

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What Happens now that Egypt Bought the two exRussian Mistrals Amphibious Ships?

The protracted “What happens to France’s two unwanted Mistrals” saga has seemingly drawn to a close with the agreement by Egypt late last month to acquire the highly capable amphibious assault ships (LHDs) for a total of €950 million. A number of commentators have argued that the rationale behind this eyebrow-raising decision is for Egypt to attain a maritime power-projection capability so as to hedge against rising Islamist violence in the region and a resurgent Iran. Indeed, one prominent defense journalist wrote of Egypt using the French-made Mistrals to quell trouble in neighboring hot-spots. In the same vein, another commentator spoke of the vessels giving their owners the ability to conduct expeditionary missions with significant ground and aerial assets.

That being said, the aforementioned statements are based on the assumption that Cairo would be able to effectively deploy the two ships in the first place. This is highly contentious, at least in the near term, for a number of reasons. They include Egypt’s dearth of experience in large amphibious-vessel and naval aviation operations, among others.

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Egypt Buys Ex-Russian French Built Mistral Amhibious Warfare Ships

France has agreed to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt after their sale to Russia was cancelled in August and will not incur a financial loss in the transaction, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said.

Cairo has sought to boost its military power in the face of a two-year insurgency based across the Suez Canal in the Sinai peninsula and fears the conflict in neighbouring Libya could spill over. Egypt's allies are also keen to burnish its image in a region beset by turmoil.

"They agreed on the principle and the terms of the acquisition by Egypt" of the two Mistral warships, President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement after he spoke to his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

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Canada was in Talks to buy French Mistrals Prior to Election

anada was actively pursuing -- at the political level -- the possible acquisition of the controversial French-built Mistral-class helicopter carriers, several defence, diplomatic and military industry sources have told The Canadian Press.

The effort has ground to halt, however, largely because of the federal election campaign -- and it may slip away entirely because the French are now in a position to entertain bids from other countries for the 22,000-tonne ships, originally built for Russia.

The original deal was cancelled because of Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its ongoing support of anti-government forces in eastern Ukraine, but it was only last month that the French government concluded a US $1.01 billion refund agreement, a plan that was approved Thursday by the lower house of the French National Assembly.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly, say Defence Minister Jason Kenney was -- until the election call --"actively engaged" in sounding out the French, including a face-to-face exchange at the most recent NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels last June.

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