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PLA Navy's Type 075 amphibious assault ship can carry Army's Z-10 helicopter: official media report

Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun and Liang Rui Published: Nov 30, 2025 05:19 PM

The Type 075 amphibious assault ship of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy can carry the PLA Army's Z-10 attack helicopter, in addition to the Navy's own helicopters, air-cushioned landing craft and amphibious armored vehicles, according to an official media report on Sunday. An expert said that such cross-service joint operational capability can provide the Type 075 amphibious assault ship with more firepower.

A report introducing the PLA Navy's amphibious combat system centered around the Type 076 amphibious assault ship, the first hull of which just completed its first sea trial mission in mid-November, as well as four Type 075 amphibious assault ships that have already entered active service, was released by China Central Television's (CCTV) military channel on Sunday.

The CCTV report said that the Type 075 amphibious assault ship is a core equipment of the PLA Navy for amphibious landing operations, second only to aircraft carriers in status. It is mainly tasked with conducting large-scale, long-distance amphibious landing missions.

The Type 075 amphibious assault ship can carry some dozens of helicopters of various types, including the Z-8 and Z-18 transport helicopters, the Z-20 utility helicopter, and the Z-10 attack helicopter. It can also accommodate multiple Type 726A air-cushioned landing craft and dozens of amphibious armored vehicles, according to the report.

With a full-load displacement of about 40,000 tons, the ship adopts a straight-through flight deck design and integrates the strike capability of helicopters, the transportation capacity of air-cushioned craft, and the rapid strike capability of assault vehicles. This transforms the amphibious landing operation mode from the traditional horizontal landing to a three-dimensional landing that closely combines vertical air landing and horizontal landing, the report said.

This is seemingly the first time an official media report has confirmed that the Z-10 attack helicopter is compatible with the Type 075 amphibious assault ship, although experts and analysts have long speculated this compatibility, with the Z-10 having previously trained with another type of amphibious warship, the Type 071.

In August 2020, the Z-10 attack helicopter among other types of helicopters assigned to an army aviation brigade under the PLA 73rd Group Army conducted an inter-services maritime coordinated training exercise with the PLA Navy at an undisclosed sea area, lifting off from the Type 071 dock landing ship Yimengshan, China Military Online reported at the time.

Wang Yunfei, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that the Z-10 is a medium-sized dedicated attack helicopter capable of conducting fire assault missions on the frontlines. Its compatibility with the Type 075 amphibious assault ship means that other amphibious landing equipment carried by the Type 075 can collaborate with the Z-10, receive fire support and expand their scale of missions.

The PLA's Z-10 attack helicopters are mostly in service with the Army, and some with the Air Force, so their joint operations with Type 075 amphibious assault ships are another highlight, showing the PLA's increasing cross-service joint operational capabilities, Wang said. He also noted that the PLA has a large number of Z-10s in its helicopter fleet.

Since April 2021, the PLA Navy has commissioned four Type 075 amphibious assault ships, namely the Hainan, Guangxi, Anhui, and Hubei. The operational modes of the Type 075 include three approaches: vertical landing, over-the-horizon landing, and horizontal landing. Vertical landing utilizes helicopters for troop projection; over-the-horizon landing relies on air-cushioned landing craft to achieve rapid delivery of heavy equipment; and horizontal landing involves amphibious armored vehicles launching direct assaults on shorelines from ships, the CCTV report said.