China's Liaoning aircraft carrier strike group concluded a 40-day far-sea combat training in the South China Sea and western Pacific, demonstrating enhanced combat capability through new tactics, including coordination with an amphibious assault ship and land-based tanker aircraft.
China's Liaoning carrier group and Anhui amphibious assault ship sailed into the Western Pacific for drills, signaling an accelerated build-up of "blue-water joint operational capability" and "area denial/anti-access" strategies. The exercises, timed near Taiwan's presidential inauguration anniversary and following high-level international meetings, aim to exert political pressure and demonstrate a shift from "near-sea defense" to "blue-water offense and defense."
China's first Type 076 amphibious assault ship Sichuan has set sail from Shanghai for sea trials in the South China Sea, the PLA Navy announced. The vessel, viewed as a key asset for potential Taiwan operations, will test multiple on-board systems. The trials occur in the same waters where the US, Philippines and Japan are conducting large-scale joint military exercises, and where the aircraft carrier Liaoning is also heading after transiting the Taiwan Strait.
China’s next-generation “drone-carrier” amphibious assault ship is en route to the South China Sea for critical sea trials, China’s military announced Tuesday, in the same waters where the US, the Philippines and Japan are conducting large-scale joint military exercises and the aircraft carrier Liaoning is apparently sailing to. “The Sichuan, our country’s first Type 076 amphibious assault ship, has set sail from Shanghai for relevant waters in the South China Sea to carry out scientific...
