Is China building a fleet of drone motherships to extend its naval reach?

A second unusual Chinese vessel suspected of being designed to launch and recover large underwater drones has appeared in Guangzhou, raising questions over whether Beijing is developing a fleet of specialised motherships to extend its undersea operations beyond coastal waters.

The smaller vessel, seen under tow on the Pearl River in images circulating online, resembles a ship about 200 metres long seen at a Shanghai shipyard last month that has since been launched.

Both feature conspicuous vertical structures at the stern that naval analysts believe could be used to lower large underwater drones into the water and recover them.

If confirmed as military motherships, the vessels could enable the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy to deploy and recover large uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) far from Chinese ports, potentially expanding its ability to conduct undersea surveillance, seabed mapping and other military missions in the western Pacific, including waters east of Taiwan.