China is finishing construction of the world’s first dedicated drone carrier. At Naval News, maritime affairs expert HI Sutton explains how the new ship is different in form and asks questions about its function.
The hull is a widely spaced catamaran. While catamarans are often featured in aircraft carrier concepts because they allow a large deck area, no one has actually built one before. Additionally, analysis of satellite imagery shows that the flight deck is very low. It appears unlikely there is a hangar deck below the flight deck. If there is, its ceiling is very low. Therefore, it does not appear designed to support high tempo or prolonged flight operations.
The flight deck is wide enough to comfortably operate aircraft or drones with a wingspan of around 20 meters (65 feet) such as Chinese equivalents of the Predator drone.
However, the mere existence of a flight deck suggests that aircraft intend to land on it. A catapult or launch rail of some form would be sufficient for launch if recovery wasn’t necessary.
As I explained almost 19 months ago, this project is aimed at building an “Electronic Blue Force.” The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), which is the ‘red force’ in communist-designed wargames, wants to train against a drone threat like the one they expect the United States, Taiwan, or their Pacific partners (the ‘blue force’) to use against China.
Sutton notes that the new design “is not mimicking any known Western ship. Such drones could be operated more cheaply from shore,” but from the Chinese perspective, having a simulation drone swarm ‘attack’ from the sea makes sense for a training platform.
“A second possibility is that it is some type of experimental platform that will test and develop drone operations at sea,” Sutton suggests. Why not both? From the PLAN’s ideal perspective, the sea trials crew will learn, and then institutionalize, lessons about drone carrier warfare during fleet exercises. Functionally, a drone carrier simulator at sea is going to also be an experimental drone carrier.
Here is a concept model that someone spotted at a trade show in 2021. Note that, per Hutton’s question, it appears to possibly have elevators and a very shallow hangar deck. The major differences I see are the island (control tower), which is smaller than the concept model and more traditionally arranged on the right side of the flight deck, and the tall mast, which is missing from the test ship.
I was dubious about that mast for two reasons. First, it would raise the metacentric height of the ship, potentially increasing her instability and degrading her seakeeping characteristics. Second, the US Navy tried out cage masts on their early battleships and found them dangerously flimsy. Being able to see to a farther horizon is wonderful, but that is a mission for aircraft, anyway.
It appears there are no elevators of any kind on the flight deck, however, which suggests that the new ship may consist of a series of compromises with the original design concept. Seeing the high-attrition drone war in Ukraine, the PLAN may have decided to make every drone a kamikaze.
For example, the red and white seaplane drones on and alongside the model appear to simulate or replace radar control aircraft, and may be intended to land and serve as sonar bouys. However, their design is likely far more complex than the ship’s, and consequently they will probably not be ready for production before she goes to sea. The same is true for the helicopter drones on the model’s forward deck. Who even knows if either aerial design will ever get farther than the proverbial drawing board. If they are too expensive, then they cannot be economical as kamikaze drones.
Like I pointed out in 2022, the most important parts of this particular naval revolution are unseen. They do not go zoom or boom or pew pew pew. Radar and radio telemetry are silent, but deadly, weapons of war. Seeing the enemy first, and hitting them with remote-controlled drones from a safe distance without being detected and destroyed yourself, requires comprehensive management of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Just as automation and microprocessors have made ships more efficient, allowing smaller crews to operate and fight in them, cognitive AI, software-defined radios, cyberweaponry, and a host of other emerging technologies will enable this revolution. Directed energy weapons are emerging as responsive technologies to the problem of the drone swarm. Aside from the lasers, none of it is flashy tech.