China expands naval fleet with first dedicated ‘drone-craft carrier’
‘Drones may be changing the face of modern warfare, but you still have to get them to the battlefield’
‘This appears to be a “bare bones” platform, without hangars or arresting gear’
CHINA may have quietly built the world’s first dedicated drone carrier to add to its expanding naval fleet, according to new satellite images from a Chinese shipyard.
The images of the ship, whose design is approximately one third the length and half the width of a US Navy or Chinese Navy (Plan) super carrier, were first reported by Naval News and analysed by J Michael Dahm, a senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Their analysis pointed to a form of aircraft carrier with a marked runway and a flight deck wide enough to operate aircraft or drones with a wingspan of around 20 metres (65 ft) such as Chinese equivalents of the Predator drone.
The new ship has not been publicised by Beijing but, if verified, experts say it could underscore China’s aims to advance the use of drones in naval warfare and would put the Chinese military at the forefront of the global race to develop such drone carriers.
A number of countries have announced designs for drone carriers, including Peru, the Netherlands and Iran, said Jennifer Parker, an Australian National University defence expert and former naval officer, but no one has yet done it.
“If this is confirmed to be a vessel dedicated only to drones, this is significant as it is the first thought to have been built,” she said.
“To determine its potential effectiveness, you would need to have an understanding of what UAV capabilities it will be operating, and how it will be fitted into the wider joint force.”
The initial analysis of the vessel notes that its hull is a widely spaced catamaran with a very low flight deck. It does not appear designed to support high tempo or prolonged flight operations.
Mr Dahm concludes that while it has been built at the Jiangsu Dayang Marine, a shipyard that has previously been contracted by the PLAN, it is unclear whether the ship is a speculative commercial project or part of an official naval programme.
If verified as a UAV carrier for the PLAN it would show an “impressive appetite to innovate, at scale, assuming all the development risks that come along with such experiments,” said Dr Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Stategic Policy Institute.
Other navies would learn by China’s example and “that’s an important shift in its own right,” he said.
It would also signal the navy had been instructed to press ahead with power projection over potentially long distances, Dr Graham added.
“Drones may be changing the face of modern warfare, but you still have to get them to the battlefield. And in the Pacific, that means projection over vast distances. And that brings vulnerabilities in common with conventional aircraft carriers,” he said.
“The fact that this appears to be a ‘bare bones’ platform, without visible hangars or arresting gear, suggests it might be seen as more risk-worthy than the PLA’s existing carriers for crewed aircraft.”
Although it remains unknown what UAVs China could operate from the vessel, they could potentially be launched one-way to strike ships or land targets, he said.
Given the rapid pace at which China is expanding its naval capabilities to match its growing global maritime ambitions, analysts say it is to be expected that it would strive to develop new innovations like drone carriers.
China has already built the world’s largest naval fleet, with more than 370 warships, and this month conducted the first sea trial of its third and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian.
“I would expect that drones are being integrated into conventional vessels’ operations,” said Drew Thompson, a former US defence official and now senior visiting research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.
“It is unsurprising that the PLA Navy is developing dedicated drone carriers that could conduct unmanned vehicle missions at larger scale,” he said.