The launch of China’s Type 076 amphibious assault carrier, the Sichuan, on December 29, 2024, at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard is a pivotal moment in Chinese naval history. It signals China’s intent to redefine the scope of amphibious and naval warfare. As the first amphibious carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults, the Sichuan represents a hybrid platform that blurs the line between traditional amphibious assault ships and aircraft carriers. Its advanced capabilities, strategic potential, and rapid development reflect China’s ambition to establish itself as a dominant maritime power.
This milestone has significant implications for the Indo-Pacific region. It demands reconsideration of operational level approaches by the United States and its allies on the potential employment of the Sichuan in Taiwan assault scenarios, regional power projection, and disruptive operations beyond the second island chain. More broadly, the Sichuan raises critical questions about China’s maritime goals and their impact on the delicate balance of power at sea in the Indo-Pacific.
Redefining PLAN Amphibious Warfare
The Sichuan builds on the foundations of the Type 075, China’s first large amphibious assault ship, but pushes the boundaries of naval design and capability. Like China’s conventional aircraft carriers – the Liaoning, Fujian, and Shandong – and earlier Type 075 amphibious ships – the Hainan, Guangxi, and Anhui – the Sichuan follows the tradition of being named after a Chinese major province or administrative region. But that is where the similarities end.
The inclusion of electromagnetic catapults, a feature previously reserved for China’s conventional carriers (and also found on the United States’ Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier class), makes the Type 076 the first amphibious carrier capable of launching fixed-wing aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). This leap elevates the ship from an amphibious support platform to a quasi-light carrier capable of more sophisticated and expeditionary maritime operations.
Technologically, the Sichuan is a marvel of Chinese naval modernization, according to state media. With a displacement of over 40,000 tons, it features a hybrid propulsion system combining gas turbines and electric power. This configuration provides higher speeds and greater operational efficiency, enabling the carrier to operate effectively in extended missions. Its modular design allows for flexibility in deployment, accommodating helicopters, drones, and amphibious landing craft. Pundits also emphasize the Sichuan’s advanced AI-driven systems, which enable seamless multiplatform integration and intelligent combat operations. Leveraging big data analysis and rapid decision-making capabilities, the Sichuan is designed to adapt swiftly to complex battlefield environments and effectively counter diverse threats.
Conceptually, the Sichuan revolutionizes amphibious assault ships by merging traditional troop deployment roles with carrier-like capabilities. Its integration of electromagnetic catapults and the ability to launch fixed-wing UAVs and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft significantly extend its operational range and versatility. These advancements extend the ship’s operational reach to perform over-the-horizon operations, striking targets or conducting reconnaissance while minimizing the risk and proximity of shore-based defenses. In the traditional sense, this makes the Sichuan a critical asset in contested waters within the first and second island chains, as well as “far sea” power projection deployments where expeditionary capabilities create adversary operational dilemmas.
Chinese military experts argue that the Sichuan transforms traditional flat-plane amphibious assaults into three-dimensional operations. UAVs and helicopters can strike enemy positions and provide real-time intelligence, paving the way for troops and amphibious vehicles to land with reduced resistance and pace. This approach not only disrupts defenses but also enables rapid and precise engagements across multiple points of attack, enhancing the effectiveness and speed of amphibious campaigns.
By supporting long-range operations, the Sichuan can also deploy drones and aircraft to secure strategic objectives without directly exposing itself to enemy fire. In potential scenarios such as retaking fortified islands or securing maritime trade routes, as highlighted by Chinese experts, this capability potentially allows the ship to act as a persistent and flexible threat, projecting power beyond traditional amphibious ranges.
It is designed to switch between roles, from amphibious assaults and UAV operations to humanitarian missions and disaster relief. This versatility positions the Sichuan as a multipurpose tool in China’s naval arsenal, capable of responding to diverse challenges while maintaining its core combat readiness.
The Sichuan aligns with China’s broader ambitions to dominate contested waters and safeguard its interests along critical sea routes. In the Taiwan Strait, it could be instrumental in multidomain operations that integrate aerial, naval, and amphibious assets to overwhelm defenses. Similarly, in the South China Sea, its over-the-horizon capabilities enable China to assert territorial claims while countering U.S. or allied naval activity.
The Sichuan in Context: A Comparative Analysis of Naval Power and Strategic Potential
The launch of the Sichuan comes at a pivotal moment in Indo-Pacific geopolitics, marking a significant step forward in China’s naval capabilities. While it falls short of the sheer size of U.S. supercarriers like the USS Gerald R. Ford (over 100,000 tons) or the older USS Theodore Roosevelt (approximately 90,000 tons), the Sichuan’s 40,000-ton displacement puts it on par with France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and comparable to the U.S. America-class LHAs and Wasp-class LHDs. This makes it a robust, versatile platform for power projection and amphibious operations, even if it does not rival the scale of the largest carriers.
Globally, only a handful of nations – the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Japan, South Korea, and China – possess the industrial capacity to build advanced amphibious assault ships. The Sichuan, as an evolution of the Type 075, enhances China’s position in this elite group while introducing a marquis approach to fuse amphibious assault and aircraft carrier capability
Just a month before the launch of the Sichuan, China unveiled the Jiutian heavy UAV at the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition. Dubbed a “drone mothership,” the Jiutian can carry up to 6 tons of payload, including swarm drones, and perform a variety of missions such as transport, electronic warfare, and precision strikes. With its modular design and versatility, the Jiutian could potentially integrate with the Sichuan, further enhancing its capabilities across different theaters and military operations. This combination underscores China’s push for multidomain, high-tech warfare platforms and the potential to emulate Turkiye’s approach with the TCG Anadolu, the alleged world’s first drone carrier, launched in 2023.
Concept Design versus Operational Realities
While the Sichuan demonstrates the PLAN’s ambitions and modernized capabilities, the wartime performance of such vessels remains untested. But there is precedent, albeit with key distinctions.
Sichuan’s ability to launch fixed wing aircraft and heavy UAVs via its catapult system resembles light carrier capability employed by the United States in World War II and the Korean War. Against these backdrops, light carriers exemplified their utility in providing dispersed, multiaxis, air power in addition to “main van” carrier battlegroups. Across the vastness of the Pacific and the need for quick strike options within naval campaigns, the versatility of light carriers afforded commanders the element of surprise and multiprong attack options – at range. The Sichuan could very well fill this role.
Yet, the multirole attributes of the Sichuan can be both a strength and a liability across two fronts: operational simultaneity and ship design.
Purpose-built, multimission capable destroyers, for instance, offer a lethal and non-lethal range of capabilities across integrated air and missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, strike, electronic warfare, and intelligence. Despite this potent suite of employment options, no destroyer can do all of these missions simultaneously. Limitations and restraints posed by resources, people, and the exigencies of the operational environment (offense, defense, supporting and supported relationships, higher headquarters) drive operational and mission priorities in execution. Specifically, organically launching and recovering fixed wing aircraft require operational (wind and seaspace) envelopes that are incompatible with well-deck operations and station keeping required to persistently and effectively execute amphibious ship-to-shore operations within an amphibious objective area. Technology may mitigate some of the personnel and mission deconfliction requirements, but the reality is that mission focus, physics, and nature will always have the upper hand.
Evolving the Type 075 amphibious assault ship into a Type 076 light carrier buttresses its operational flexibility but, correspondingly, introduces survivability limitations. To accommodate combat cargo, amphibious vehicle storage and positioning, and the rapid flow of combat-laden personnel to egress through the well deck, amphibious ships are built to moderate levels of survivability (level 2, according to the U.S. Navy’s classification system). Simply, by design, they possess diminished ability to compartmentalize the free communication of flooding in crisis situations.
Conversely, carriers are designed to higher levels of survivability (level 3) due to reinforced flight decks, water-tight compartmentation below the hangar deck, and structural enhancements and strategic placement of vital spaces to support a lower center of gravity and higher resiliency in combat. Combining light carrier capabilities via the adjunct electromagnetic catapult with an amphibious hull form raises survivability questions about the Sichuan.
Further, amphibious assault ships depend on escorts for local area screening defense (air, surface, subsurface) so the Sichuan levies additional mission support from the PLAN surface community. What remains unclear is where, and how, organic Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft would be employed to fully realize the potential of the Sichuan’s fixed wing, over-the-horizon-capable air component. This would be vital in any combat application that the Sichuan is tasked with, and especially vital to “blue water” designs that may situate the Sichuan as an extension of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) schemes in the Pacific.
Historically, the PLA has been a power focused on land-based operations, with the PLAN having only limited experience in remote and amphibious warfare. Large-scale amphibious assaults, like those potentially envisioned in a Taiwan conflict, are complex and resource-intensive, as well as areas where the PLAN has little operational history. Furthermore, amphibious operations against Taiwan present unique challenges, as the island boasts one of the world’s most intense anti-amphibious missile defense systems, capable of targeting and neutralizing large ships such as the Sichuan in the constrained and heavily surveilled Taiwan Strait.
Moreover, the PLA has long struggled with systemic issues such as corruption, which may undermine readiness, innovation, and logistics in high-stakes conflicts. Large, high-value platforms like the Sichuan could become symbolic but vulnerable assets, serving as easy targets in a modern battlefield dominated by precision-guided weapons and A2/AD systems. Success in such a scenario would require a coordinated, multi-domain campaign, and observing a single ship’s capabilities does not offer a definitive measure of China’s ability to succeed in such operations.
Conclusion
The launch of the Sichuan marks a turning point in naval warfare, directly challenging the maritime dominance of the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific. With its advanced aviation capabilities, hybrid propulsion system, and potential synergy with platforms like the Jiutian drone mothership and J-35 aircraft, the Sichuan narrows the technological advantage long held by U.S. platforms such as the Wasp- and America-class amphibious ships. Additionally, China’s accelerated shipbuilding efforts underscore its determination to reshape the maritime balance of power. This development demands a strategic response to address the evolving security dynamics in the region.
To effectively counter this challenge, the United States and its allies must focus on modernizing their naval fleets. This includes developing next-generation amphibious platforms that incorporate advanced propulsion technologies, autonomous systems, and directed-energy weapons, ensuring they remain competitive in an era of rapid technological advancements. Greater emphasis should also be placed on fostering deeper military cooperation among Indo-Pacific allies, such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia. By expanding interoperability and conducting joint exercises, these nations can build a cohesive and effective regional defense framework.
Innovation will play a critical role in maintaining a competitive edge. The growing prominence of unmanned systems, as demonstrated by China’s Jiutian, highlights the need for the United States and its allies to invest heavily in developing their own UAV capabilities and integrating them seamlessly into existing naval and amphibious operations.
As the Indo-Pacific becomes the central theater for global competition, the world must ensure that the evolution of naval capabilities serves to reinforce stability rather than foment conflict, shaping a future where security and cooperation prevail in the maritime domain.