China's reunification is the trend of the times. With the improvement of China's comprehensive national strength and national defense strength, perhaps at some point in the future, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will start a military operation to reunify Taiwan. Moreover, in the comparison of military strength between the two sides, the Taiwan army is far weaker than the PLA, so there is no suspense about the defeat of the Taiwan army.
However, after all, with the assistance of external anti-China forces, the Taiwan independence separatist forces have carried out the coastal defense construction of Taiwan Island for 70 years, especially the Taiwan Strait, which is separated by more than 100 kilometers between Taiwan and Chinese mainland, and coupled with the possible military intervention of the US military, how the PLA can safely and quickly deliver a million-strong division to the island is an important military issue.
The picture shows the PLA's joint naval and air landing training on the island
Large landing ships
About 20 years ago, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) organized several large-scale military exercises to attack Taiwan in Taiwan. At that time, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had just begun to build the 072 series and 073 series tank landing ships, and the landing force mainly relied on tank landing ships with a displacement of several thousand tons and some rented civilian ships to form a huge landing formation. Even in order to provide fire support for the landing fleet, the army's field guns were fixed on the decks of civilian ships, which shows the rudimentary equipment of the Chinese amphibious landing force at that time.
Later, the Chinese Navy turned to the development of the Type 071 dock landing ship, a large amphibious ship that surpasses the world's first-class level in terms of design positioning and loading capacity. Compared with the previous tank landing ships, the Type 071 ship can not only carry personnel and vehicles, but also carry 2-3 landing craft, which can be loaded with tanks and armored vehicles for rapid landing. The stern of the ship is equipped with a helicopter deck, which can accommodate two medium-sized helicopters to take off and land at the same time, and quickly project mobile forces to land locations, and the projection capacity can basically project a reinforced battalion of 800 people.
The picture shows the formation of Type 071 landing ships
In parallel with the construction of the Type 071 dock landing ship, China's shipbuilding department is also developing the Type 075 amphibious assault ship, a multipurpose offshore platform that combines plane and vertical landing, as well as close air support. The first Type 075 Hainan ship entered service three years ago, and at present, four ships of the same type have been built. According to external analysis, China may build an improved Type 076 ship in the next step, and the flight deck may be changed.
The picture shows the Type 075 amphibious assault ship
The Type 075 ship adopts an all-through deck, that is, the flight deck runs through from the bow to the stern, and the carrier-based aircraft can take off, land and move from the front and rear, and the deck is wider than the dock landing ship, in short, it is more suitable for operating carrier-based aircraft. However, China does not yet have the same model of short-range/vertical take-off and landing fighters carried on amphibious assault ships of the United States and other countries, so the 075 ship can only carry helicopters at present. But it is believed that in time, China will have similar fighter jets on board.
With eight Type 071 dock landing ships and four Type 075 amphibious assault ships, the PLA basically has the world's second-strongest transoceanic expeditionary capability comparable to that of the United States. Of course, the PLA still regards the reunification of Taiwan as its primary goal, and these 12 large amphibious warships can form two amphibious task forces to launch landing campaigns from the distant waters in the east and west of Taiwan respectively, so that the Taiwan military will be unable to defend against it.
Small and medium-sized landing craft
In addition to large amphibious ships, the People's Liberation Army has also built a lot of small and medium-sized air-cushion landing craft in recent years, compared with the traditional propeller thruster for ordinary displacement landing craft, can only obtain a speed of about 20 knots, the speed of the hovercraft is usually easy to exceed 50 knots, even in the full load state, the maximum speed can easily exceed 40 knots. The faster speed shortens the landing time cycle, thereby increasing the survivability of the landing force.
The picture shows the Type 724 air-cushion landing craft
In the early 1990s, the first air-cushion landing craft in mass service of the People's Liberation Army was the Type 724, which weighed only more than 6 tons, had a total length of 12 meters, a maximum speed of 40 knots, and could carry up to 9 people. Obviously, the Type 724 air-cushion landing craft can only carry out small-scale light infantry assault landing operations, and because it cannot be loaded with heavy equipment such as tanks and armored vehicles, it cannot assume the main role of the PLA in the stage operation.
At the beginning of the 21st century, China began to focus on the development of air-cushion landing craft in a two-step way, on the one hand, it developed its own Type 726 hovercraft, and on the other hand, through contact with Ukraine, it bought the "European Bison"-class large hovercraft designed by the former Soviet Union.
The picture shows the Type 726 air-cushion landing craft
The structure of the Type 726 air-cushion landing craft is similar to that of the US Navy LCAC air-cushion landing craft, its cockpit and two sets of power systems are distributed on both sides of the hull, and there is just a vehicle passage in the middle, and the vehicle can board from the rear and disembark from the front, which is more convenient than the traditional landing craft. What's more, the Type 726 air-cushion landing craft are very compact in size, and the Type 071 amphibious ship can carry 3 units.
As for the "European Bison" air-cushion landing ship, it fully inherits the tradition of the huge size of Soviet weapons and equipment. The ship can not only carry 360 soldiers, more than any Type 072 tank landing ship, but also can carry 3 tanks or 10 armored vehicles, and also has 2 sets of small-caliber cannons, 2 sets of rocket launchers and 1 portable anti-aircraft missile on the top deck, which is as good as a medium-sized gunboat.
The picture shows the Type 728 air-cushion landing craft
In recent years, China has imported a total of two "European Bison" from Ukraine and assembled two more Type 728 air-cushion landing ships in the military. It is precisely because of its relatively comprehensive mixed transportation, offensive and defensive weapons, that it is expected that the Type 728 air-cushion landing ship will become the first echelon of the PLA's first landing force on the island, while the Type 726 boat will mainly transport heavy equipment and baggage, forming the second echelon of landing on the island.
Other means of landing
In addition to the large landing ships and small and medium-sized air-cushion landing craft listed above, the Chinese Marine Corps is equipped with thousands of Type 63A amphibious tanks and ZBD-05 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles, which are the main fire support and mobile platforms for the landing force after landing on the island. Although the Type 63A amphibious tank was in service earlier, and its firepower and protection power cannot be compared with modern main battle tanks, the Type 63A still has a chance of winning against the older M41, M48 and M60 tanks of the Taiwan army.
The picture shows the PLA landing training
In terms of air troop transport capabilities, the Chinese Air Force's Y-20 and Y-8 transport aircraft, and the Army's Z-8 and Z-20 series of medium-sized helicopters can play a great role. Among them, the Air Force's large and medium-sized transport planes can parachute airborne troops and drop them into areas where the Taiwan military is weakly defended. However, before the transport aircraft unit is dispatched, the PLA must first completely eliminate the air defense forces of the Taiwan army, otherwise it will suffer the defeat of the Russian airborne forces in Kiev after the bitter battle in February 2022.
In contrast, helicopter units that take low-altitude ultra-low-altitude assaults should have a lot to offer. After the landing war is launched, the PLA helicopter group can take off from a large amphibious ship and carry out an over-the-horizon landing, which is likely to make the Taiwan army, which has an incomplete air defense system, have no time to defend.
The picture shows the Y-20
According to Taiwan media sources, in recent years, the Taiwan military has repeatedly practiced the PLA assault on the island from Taiwan's Tamsui River during the "Han Kuang" military exercise. Therefore, the PLA can form a Tamsui River assault cluster with ultra-low-altitude helicopters and air-cushion landing craft to quickly penetrate the deep hinterland of Taiwan Island.
In short, although the coastal defense facilities that the Taiwan military has been operating for 70 years seem to be impregnable, they will collapse in a matter of days in the face of the PLA's devastating three-dimensional landing forces and equipment.
Part of the content of the article comes from: A certain brigade of the army and a certain department of the navy organized the training of landing ships up and down the People's Liberation Army Daily