China Builds World’s First Dedicated Drone Carrier

 Thanks to Moebius2249 for the link!

*Small correction for my friends at Naval News.  If memory serves me correct the Turks turned their LHDs (while entering service) into dedicated drone carriers.  That's a first because to be honest anything with a flight deck can carry drones and land helicopters. Still its a rather dramatic statement, a warning to plans for warfare in the Pacific and an indictment to the rigidity that we have in our warship designs.  Example.  LSDs and how they're being used is passe especially in light of Force Design 2030.  Even that concept is aviation centric.  A French Mistral type platform that is lighter than a San Antonio class would fit that role perfectly and probably cost the same or less while giving more space for aviation.  Enough of that.  Onto the story from Naval News.

Mysterious Drone Carrier

The world knows about China’s first three carriers; the largest and most capable, the Type-003 Fujian, is currently undergoing sea trials. This new carrier is very different. Its claim to fame will not be that it is larger. Instead, we are confident that this ship is the world’s first dedicated fixed-wing drone carrier.

The design is smaller than the regular aircraft carriers, with a flight deck approximately one third the length and half the width of a U.S. Navy or Chinese Navy (PLAN) super carrier. For comparison, it is slightly shorter but wider than a World War Two escort carriers. It would be possible to operate fixed wing aircraft from it, but its straight deck arrangement would be anachronistic, not allowing aircraft to take off and land at the same time. Additionally there doesn’t appear to be space for a typical aircraft hangar, so the number of aircraft would be greatly limited. It does make sense as a drone carrier however.

Drones are an increasing part of naval warfare. Leading navies are already trialing them from regular aircraft carriers. And some navies, notably Iran and Turkey, are working on plans for ‘drone carriers’. But this space is still in its infancy.

Analysis of the ship

It is immediately apparent that it is, in general arrangement, an aircraft carrier of some sort. It has a marked runaway running along the port (left side) with an island superstructure on the starboard (right) side. 

Beyond this, it is unusual in every respect. 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.

 Make sure to read it all here