China’s Type 075 amphibious assault ships Hainan and Guangxi have recently completed full-course training tests including an evaluation on the use of weaponry, enhancing the vessels’ amphibious operational capabilities, which analysts said is of great significance for China to safeguard its national territorial integrity and national sovereignty in the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea.
The two vessels carried out the training test recently in a training center of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. During the training program, a formation of the two vessels intercepted missiles from enemy aircraft and became qualified in tests of air defense, a video PLA Navy released on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo platform showed on Sunday.
Since the training program started, the Guangxi has completed all the subjects of training and built up overall operational capability as an amphibious assault platform, Captain Xu Ce, skipper of the Guangxi, was quoted by China Central Television as saying.
During the program, the Hainan and the Guangxi focused on training on core capacities including multidimensional troop delivery and self-defense, and completed full-course qualification test scenarios which effectively enhanced their core operational capacities, the video showed.
Photo: A screenshot from the Weibo account of the PLA Navy
The Hainan and the Guangxi are the PLA Navy’s first and second Type 075 amphibious assault ships with hull numbers 31 and 32.
As the PLA’s first two amphibious assault ships, the two vessels’ success in fulfilling the evaluation indicates that they had built up their operational capacities. This will serve as vital experience for the PLA to deliver more amphibious assault ships and train their crews and enhance their operational capacities, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Such experience will help the PLA to significantly shorten the period between the delivery of an amphibious assault ship and building up its operational capacity, according to Song. He noted that in order to safeguard national territorial integrity and national sovereignty in the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea, the PLA Navy needs a large number of amphibious assault ships.
The Hainan was commissioned on April 23, 2021, and the Guangxi made its first public appearance in April this year after its commissioning.
The Anhui, the country’s third Type 075 amphibious assault ship with hull number 33, conducted realistic combat-oriented training earlier this month, which analysts said indicated that the vessel has entered active service.
Delivering three amphibious assault ships into active service and forming their combat capacities in less than two years indicated the PLA’s determination and its urgency to develop advanced weapons, military analysts pointed out.
With more Type 075s readying for combat, the PLA Navy will become more confident in far sea and amphibious operations, as the ships have significant advantages in amphibious landings, they noted.
