China Constructs The World's First Dedicated Drone Carrier

According to Naval News, the Chinese navy has secretly built what could emerge as the world’s first-ever dedicated drone carrier vessel.

The squat vessel appears to be a mini-aircraft carrier.

The outlet used satellite imagery dated 6 May, with input from J. Michael Dahm, an aerospace and China studies senior resident fellow with the Mitchell Institute.

Per the inputs, this vessel is the world’s first-ever dedicated fixed-wing drone carrier.

Other specialists, however, warned that only time could suggest its purpose.

The report showed the flight deck’s length, which was about a third and a half the width of a Chinese or US Navy aircraft carrier.

It is also about half the length of China’s amphibious assault vessels, which launch manned helicopters, indicating that the new ship’s flight deck is exclusively designed for smaller aircraft like drones or helicopters.

Warships’ flight decks have served as the bases for drones such as the US’s MQ-8B Fire Scout helicopter or the comparatively lightweight ScanEagle drone.

What appears to be new is that the Chinese vessel’s entire function may be to launch and land drones, although future observations of its testing and operations will confirm its purpose.

The report has estimated that the flight deck was sufficiently wide to allow aircraft or drones with a wingspan of roughly 65 feet, like the Chinese equivalents of the Reaper drone, to function from it.

Highlighting satellite imagery, the report further stated that the flight deck seems “very” low, suggesting there is no hangar below for aircraft storage and maintenance, as is typically found in assault ships and carriers.

As can be seen, the secretly built ship is well under the length of a usual Chinese frigate.

Alessio Patalano, a seasoned professor specialising in war and strategy in East Asia associated with King’s College London’s Department of War Studies, backed up this assessment.

He reported to BI that the platform’s flattop, as well as compact deck and the catamaran-like hull, indicate that it’ll be used for drones; the US has experimented with launching drones from catamaran ferries, but the ship’s flight deck is much smaller.

Patalano said that it would make more sense for China’s navy to keep the trials mostly hidden from the eyes of international scrutiny.

However, Lyle Goldstein, the Director of Asia Engagement at the think tank Defense Priorities, mentioned that he’d be hesitant to call it a drone carrier based on one satellite image.

Strategically, he said that it would make much sense.

Goldstein informed Business Insider that drones have a relatively small range, restricting their deployment away from the coastline; thus, having a carrier would provide China’s navy with a “robust” network and permit drones of various kinds to attack.

He explained that he spends a significant amount of time looking at Taiwan’s scenarios and thinks that China would be looking to deploy substantial amounts of such exploding drones as its primary weapon.

The drone mothership was seen weeks after the Chinese third carrier started its sea trials.

Reference: Business Insider

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