China now has the largest fleet of warships in the world. The country has three doordoor-aircraft and the very latest is the imposing Type-003 Fujian which is currently in the testing phase. Hidden in a Shanghai shipyard, another mysterious aircraft carrier has been discovered. The aircraft analyzed by the Naval News site is smaller than those of the three other aircraft carriers. Its platform is also half the size.
Everything therefore suggests that the ship will be dedicated to the transport of fixed-wing drones. It would then be the very first drone carrier in the world. The hull takes the shape of a catamaran, which is unprecedented for an aircraft carrier. With this architecture, it seems unlikely that there will be hangars under the platform. THE aircraftaircraft will therefore be parked on the flight deck. This suggests that the ship is not intended to carry out intensive combat missions in the long term.
A ship that remains mysterious
The bridge is sized to be able to take off and land drones, such as the Chinese version largely inspired by the American MQ-1Predator which has a wingspan of around twenty meters. But, according to experts, such drones could simply be deployed from the coast given their autonomy. Other hypotheses are therefore considered.
This drone carrier could also serve as an experimental platform to test drones on specific missions in the open sea. Despite these speculations and the clues noted, the mystery still hovers over the objective of such a ship. While there is no such device in other navies around the world, several other countries are considering creating drone carriers. For example, Turkey had built an aircraft carrier, the TCG Anadolu, originally designed to carry F-35Bs. In the absence of an agreement to obtain these planes, the country decided to use it as a drone carrier and helicoptershelicopters.
