Video | Ejectable Large High-Stealth Drone Revealed: The "Fist" Power of the Sichuan Ship

The Navy's Sichuan ship, hull number 51, is a new generation amphibious assault ship of the People's Navy.

With a twin-island design, it allows the forward and aft islands to perform their respective functions.

The forward island is primarily responsible for navigation command, focusing on coordination with other vessels' routes and the overall formation.

The aft island is responsible for air control, effectively directing drones, helicopters, and friendly aircraft, significantly improving operational command efficiency.

The Sichuan ship weighs over 40,000 tons, making it one of the leading amphibious assault ships in the world by tonnage. A larger tonnage means the Sichuan ship has a longer range and can carry more advanced weaponry.

Traditional amphibious assault ships have limited deck length and area, so the onboard aircraft typically need to have vertical and short takeoff capabilities. The Sichuan ship uses a full-length flight deck combined with electromagnetic catapult and arrestor technology. It can not only carry various fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and large drones but also utilize electromagnetic catapults to launch them, achieving higher launch efficiency and faster takeoff speeds.

The Sichuan ship explores new paths for electromagnetic catapult applications

Military expert Cao Weidong: The electromagnetic catapult technology of the Sichuan ship can be said to originate from the Fujian ship, with only minor changes in power or specific designs. The biggest difference between the Sichuan ship and the Fujian ship is that the Fujian ship is designed to launch fixed-wing early warning aircraft and heavy aircraft fully loaded with fuel and munitions; whereas the Sichuan ship is an amphibious combat vessel. Since the electromagnetic catapult can adjust the relevant forces, it can launch more drones for reconnaissance and surveillance against the enemy, as well as assist in transport and other areas.

The Sichuan ship not only has significantly enhanced capabilities in amphibious operations but also explores new paths for whether other vessels should be equipped with small electromagnetic catapults in the future.

Expert: High-stealth drones will become the "main force" of the Sichuan ship

Since its launch, the Sichuan ship has successfully completed mooring tests and equipment debugging, verifying the reliability and stability of the ship's power, electrical, and other systems, achieving the expected results. Subsequent test projects will be gradually carried out according to the overall construction plan of the equipment.

Military commentator Zhang Xuefeng: The Sichuan ship is the world's first amphibious assault ship to use an electromagnetic catapult, which can be said to have pioneered a new technical genre for amphibious assault ships. The Sichuan ship can launch large, high-stealth drones to strike enemy ground and maritime targets. Moreover, the subsonic cruising efficiency of this type of flying-wing stealth drone is very high, so although its "size" is smaller compared to fighter jets, its operational radius is not small.

In wartime, the Sichuan ship can be integrated into an aircraft carrier group as a "deputy aircraft carrier" to carry out strike missions, or it can serve as the flagship to form a large formation, undertaking land and sea attack or amphibious operation tasks.

(Source: China Central Television's Defense Military Channel program "Li Jian")