Video | How Difficult is Drone Landing at Sea? A Detailed Explanation of the "Attack-21" Landing Process on the Sichuan Ship

On November 5, 2025, the Fujian aircraft carrier was officially commissioned at a military port in Sanya, Hainan. Shortly after its commissioning, the Fujian carrier quickly conducted its first live military training at sea. Also attracting significant attention is China's first electromagnetic catapult amphibious assault ship, the Sichuan, which has recently made new progress.

The manned carrier-based aircraft has taken shape, and the unmanned carrier-based aircraft is following closely behind. Just recently, the stealth drone "Attack-21" successfully took off and landed for the first time on the amphibious assault ship Sichuan.

In late October, our military's first carrier-based reconnaissance-strike stealth drone "Attack-21" successfully took off and landed for the first time on the 076-type amphibious assault ship Sichuan. This marks another breakthrough in the development of China's amphibious assault ships, indicating that the People's Navy has the capability for fixed-wing stealth drones to take off and land on large maritime combat platforms.

The "Attack-21" stealth drone features a tailless flying wing and a blended wing-body layout, with an internal weapon bay and fuel space, making its public debut during the 2025 National Day military parade.

The platform carrying it, the Sichuan, hull number 51, is the first ship of the 076-type amphibious assault ship independently designed, developed, and built by China. It has a full-load displacement of over 40,000 tons. Launched and named on December 27, 2024, it innovatively applies a fully automated landing guidance system, a new integrated power system, electromagnetic catapult, and arresting technology, capable of carrying fixed-wing drones, helicopters, amphibious equipment, and more.

The joint training of aircraft carrier formations and amphibious assault ship formations has become an important training subject for the Chinese Navy in recent years as it explores systematic operations and achieves complementary advantages. Recently, during training in the Western Pacific, the Liaoning carrier group met with the 075-type amphibious assault ship Anhui group after crossing the Miyako Strait, conducting integrated training in a certain area of the Western Pacific, effectively honing the operational effectiveness of the aircraft carrier group in conjunction with the amphibious assault ship group in distant seas, accumulating key experience for future joint multidimensional landing operations in distant waters.

What are the challenges of precise drone landings at sea?

Military observer Wei Dongxu: The technical difficulty of carrier-based aircraft landing is quite high because the aircraft carrier itself is a moving target at sea. The pilots of carrier-based aircraft must continuously adjust the flight altitude, flight angle, and flight speed of the aircraft, while also ensuring that the tailhook of the aircraft catches the arrestor wire on the carrier's flight deck. However, the "Attack-21" does not have a pilot; it is an unmanned, intelligent combat platform. Therefore, it is highly likely that the "Attack-21" and the 076-type amphibious assault ship Sichuan will utilize intelligent and automated auxiliary systems, such as using signals to allow the "Attack-21" to autonomously perceive the Sichuan's navigation conditions to a certain extent, and then self-adjust and adapt, ultimately completing the entire landing process efficiently, quickly, and accurately.