Type 076 landing helicopter dock
The Type 076 landing helicopter dock, also known as the Type 076 amphibious assault ship in its native China, is an upcoming class of amphibious assault ship serving the People's Liberation Army Navy. Compared to the preceding Type 075, the Type 076 is significantly larger in both displacement and flight deck dimensions.
It features a twin-superstructure design, a stern well dock, a CATOBAR system of electromagnetic catapult, and arresting gears for operating light fixed-wing aircraft — likely unmanned combat aerial vehicles such as the GJ-21, making it both a landing helicopter dock and a drone carrier.
Development
In mid-2020, official request for proposals associated with the Type 076 were published on the Internet. Specifications from the RFPs were for a 21 MW gas turbine and diesel powerplants, a medium-voltage direct current integrated power system, and a well deck. The specified aviation equipment included a UAV deck, a munition elevator, a 30-ton flight deck elevator, an electromagnetic CATOBAR system for light aircraft.The lead ship of this class was constructed at Shanghai-based Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard and was initially expected to be launched in early 2025. In December 2024, the lead ship was launched, with pennant number 51 and name Sichuan. In November 2025, Sichuan started sea trials.
Design
The Type 076 has a full-length flight deck, an internal hangar, two large aircraft elevators on both sides and one small elevator at the front deck section. The ship is intended to operate naval helicopters and UAVs, or possibly manned fixed-wing aircraft such as the J-35. Fixed-wing UAVs such as WZ-7 and GJ-11 can be launched via an electromagnetic catapult similar in size to the one mounted on the Type 003 aircraft carrier. An arresting gear is fitted on the aft-deck to facilitate the fixed-wing aircraft landing. A floodable well deck is located at its stern, capable of launching amphibious vehicles for landing operations.The main propulsion of the class appears to employ a gas turbine setup. For this reason, the ship has a "twin-island" superstructure configuration that allows one superstructure dedicated to navigation while the other one focusing on flight operations. Multiple air defense and countermeasure systems are mounted around the ship, including three Type 1130 close-in weapon system turrets, three HHQ-10 short-range surface-to-air missile batteries, and four countermeasure launchers loaded with flares, chaff and sonar decoys.
Type 076 is larger than the preceding Type 075 amphibious assault ship. The overall tonnage of the ship was estimated as at full displacement by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Chinese state media states that the ship has a displacement of "above ".