Taiwan's "Central News Agency" solemnly announced on the 4th that the "new amphibious transport dock transport ship" Yushan, which the Taiwan military has high hopes for, is about to undergo sea testing. If the results meet the standards, the ship can be delivered as soon as September.
You must know that this is the largest tonnage warship made by the Taiwan military, with a displacement of "up to" 10,000 tons. It is known as a milestone in "national shipbuilding" and is also claimed to allow the Taiwan military to expand from amphibious to amphibious operations such as air raids. Woolen cloth.
reported that the Yushan ship was launched at the Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard on April 13 last year. The launch ceremony was personally presided over by Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen, who named it the "Yushan ship" after Taiwan's highest peak, with the hull number LPD-1401. .
The Yushan ship is currently undergoing static dock testing and will continue sea testing in the near future. "If the results meet the standards, it will be delivered to the Taiwan Navy as soon as September."
Taiwan's "United Daily News" said that the Yushan ship is 153 meters long, 23 meters wide, and has a full load of 10,600 tons. It is equipped with two "Haijian-2" air defense missiles, one MK-75 76mm main gun, and two MK -15 "Phalanx" close defense system, the deck can park two helicopters, and load landing craft , AAV-7 amphibious assault vehicles and heavy vehicles, or carry 673 soldiers. In peacetime, it provides supplies and personnel transportation to outlying islands, and can perform disaster relief missions when disasters occur; in wartime, it is organized into an amphibious task force to perform amphibious operations tasks, and perform reinforcements, rescue operations, and island seizure operations.
Judging from the performance indicators alone, the overall capabilities of the Yushan ship can only be regarded as barely adequate. Considering that the construction of the amphibious dock landing ship is not difficult, a large number of civilian ship standards can be adopted, and the limited technical reserves of Taiwanese ships should be sufficient. use. However, the outside world has obviously overestimated the capabilities of the Taiwan ship - when the Yushan ship was tested at the Taiwan Shipyard in May last year, a large amount of water entered the rear section of the cabin, which aroused ridicule from the people on the island.
However, the Taiwan military still has great expectations for the Yushan ship - "the first sea, land and air amphibious combat ship."
As early as the construction stage, Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" clearly stated that the Yushan ship must be able to allow various types of helicopters from Taiwan's army, navy and air force to take off and land on the ship. Analysts on the island said that the main purpose of the dock landing ship is to transport the Marine Corps for landing operations. Requiring the dock landing ship to operate various types of helicopters is tantamount to requiring the Taiwan Marine Corps to further expand from amphibious to land and amphibious operations. Amphibious operations to aerial assault.
In other words, in the eyes of the Taiwan military, although the Yushan ship is small, it is the most powerful amphibious assault ship of the U.S. Navy. It must have land, sea and air amphibious combat capabilities at the same time,
Taiwan's "New Head Shell" website said, The U.S. Marine Corps is equipped with F-35B vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, MV-22B tilt-rotor transport aircraft, various transport helicopters, and armed helicopters, which can directly airborne to occupy target islands. The U.S. Navy has nine amphibious assault ships equipped with full flight decks, "making the U.S. Marine Corps the most elite amphibious force in the world."
reported that the two "Yushan" class dock landing ships built under Taiwan's "Hongyun Plan" are not equipped with a full flight deck like the US amphibious assault ship , but they have two hangars and a large rear flight deck. Can take off and land large helicopters. According to information released by the Taiwan military, the two hangars can park two S-70C anti-submarine helicopters or UH-60M "Black Hawk" transport helicopters or AH-1W "Super Cobra" armed helicopters. On the rear flight deck, It can park a larger CH-47SD transport helicopter.
According to Taiwan's assessment, the most important combat scenarios for the Yushan ship in the future may be concentrated on Dongsha Island and Taiping Island, which are occupied by the Taiwan authorities.They are all small coral reef islands. "In such a small combat environment, the size of the landing force will not be too large. The six helicopters that can be carried by the two 'Yushan' class dock landing ships are very important for competing for such a Small coral reef islands can already be of great help."
The Taiwan military has introduced the AH-64E "Apache" armed helicopter
Some experts on the island even believe that due to the lack of aerial tankers in the Taiwan military, the combat radius of the fighter aircraft cannot cover Taiping Island, and support for Dongsha Island is also limited by fuel. . The Yushan ship can carry armed helicopters. For example, the AH-1W has the ability to launch "Sidewinder" air-to-air missiles, and the AH-64E "Apache" armed helicopter can launch "Stinger" missiles. Although these two short-range missiles It is difficult for to compete with the People's Liberation Army's main fighter aircraft, but at least it is "better than nothing".
However, comparing the People's Liberation Army's 071 dock landing ship and 075 amphibious assault ship, we can find that the Taiwan military is too petty. It is already very difficult for a mere 10,000-ton dock landing ship to have qualified amphibious landing capabilities. It also has to carry helicopters to perform vertical airborne missions. The only result is "two dependences."
It’s easy to think about it. If it can achieve amphibious attack capability so easily, why is the U.S. Navy still struggling to develop professional large-scale amphibious ships?
In fact, Taiwan’s “Ministry of Defense” officials also admitted that landing on ships at sea is a training for helicopters. The most difficult subject in the course, and helicopter pilots of the three armed forces have their own flying specialties. Landing on a ship is limited by factors such as the speed of the warship, waves, wind direction and speed, training level, courage and other factors. It is not as simple as landing on the school playground and requires long-term training. Therefore, it is too "challenging" to require the helicopters of the three armed forces to complete the landing training of the Yushan ship and must be "carefully evaluated." In addition, Taiwan’s military helicopter units rarely cooperate in operations, and the Taiwan Marine Corps rarely cooperates with the Taiwan Army’s aviation brigade to practice how to coordinate with each other for beach landings. “That is not to mention the AH-1W helicopters of the Taiwan Army’s aviation brigade. Deployed on the Yushan ship."
