Watch: Chinese Navy’s Type 075 Assault Ship Hainan Conducts High-Intensity South China Sea Drills

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has carried out a high-intensity combat training exercise involving its Type 075 amphibious assault ship Hainan in the South China Sea.

The exercise, conducted by the PLA Southern Theater Command Navy, included Z-20 helicopters operating from the ship.

Newly released footage showed the helicopters carrying out coordinated take-offs, landings and assault operations from the vessel’s flight deck.

According to the PLA Navy, the training focused on sea-air coordination and air and missile defence, with the aim of testing and improving the force’s ability to conduct coordinated combat operations in the far seas.

Hainan (Hull 31), China’s first domestically developed Type 075 amphibious assault ship, entered service on April 23, 2021. It is the lead ship of the PLA Navy’s Type 075 landing helicopter dock class.

The Type 075 is the largest amphibious warship operated by the PLA Navy. It has a full-length flight deck and a hangar that can accommodate nearly 30 helicopters of different types, allowing several helicopters to take off and land at the same time.

The ship also has a well dock that can launch amphibious vehicles, landing craft and air-cushioned landing craft (LCACs). It is designed to transport troops, infantry fighting vehicles and tanks for amphibious landing operations.

Work on the Type 075 programme began in 2011, with the full development project approved around 2013. Hainan was laid down in 2018 at Hudong Shipyard in Shanghai and launched on September 25, 2019.

The ship suffered a minor fire during fitting out on April 11, 2020. The fire was quickly brought under control, reportedly caused only limited damage and did not delay construction. Hainan was commissioned into the PLA Navy’s South Sea Fleet on April 23, 2021.

In late January 2023, Hainan took part in its first publicly reported far-sea training deployment. It sailed from Zhanjiang in Guangdong with the Type 052D destroyer Hohhot, the guided missile frigate Liuzhou, and the fast combat support ship Chaganhu.

The deployment lasted 30 days and covered more than 9,000 nautical miles across the South China Sea, the Western Pacific and other waters.

The vessel later made a five-day visit to Hong Kong beginning on November 21, 2024, alongside the destroyer Changsha. During the visit, two men were arrested for flying drones near the naval ships.

References: CGTN, chinamil