The Chinese Type 055 destroyer Nanchang carried out an anti-submarine exercise for four consecutive days and nights in a certain area of the Yellow Sea. After receiving a notification on the activities of the “enemy” submarine, the ship’s helicopter flew to the designated sea area to search; the Nanchang ship used the underwater acoustic data processing application system to accurately distinguish the submarine noise and lock the surface navigation submarine, according to China CCTV Military Channel on December 6th.
The exercise mainly focused on actual combat subjects such as ship-to-aircraft joint anti-submarine, formation transportation and escort, and channel blockade. The performance of weapons and equipment was tested and the actual combat capability was further strengthened.
The captain of the Nanchang ship introduced that the anti-submarine exercise tested the destroyer’s combat capabilities in the anti-submarine combat system, such as identifying targets, commanding anti-submarine combat, and coordinating firepower, and successfully explored the methods for the Type 055 destroyer to perform anti-submarine combat.
On the same day, the South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness Program, a Chinese think tank, cited satellite images that a U.S. Navy P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft took off from its base in Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, on Dec. 6 and entered the Yellow Sea for about 1.5 hours of reconnaissance before moving to the East China Sea to continue reconnaissance.
In addition, the Chinese Type 075 amphibious assault ship, known as the “small aircraft carrier”, appeared in the eastern theater naval base, is expected to be deployed in the future in the theater.
According to the report, the Type 075 can carry about 30 attack helicopters, nearly 1,000 marines, as well as several amphibious hovercraft, main battle tanks and armored vehicles. The PLA’s eastern theater has three Type 071 ships, as well as other smaller amphibious ships, and the addition of Type 075 ships will boost the theater’s combat power.
Some military expert on the island of Taiwan believes that the PLA’s second Type 075 amphibious assault ship is a so-called “major threat” to Taiwan’s defense, perhaps even greater than the aircraft carrier.
