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LHA Amphbious Assault Ship

Taiwan has the world's 8th largest marine corps, but ranks 13th out of the 13 countries with Landing Ship Dock / Landing Platform Dock amphbious ships. There had been no substantial discussion of Taiwan acquiring an amphbious aviation ship, but such an acquisition is plausible, given recent acquisitions in Korea and Japan, for instance. There was a Taiwanese navy LHA project from Tai-ship company in 2010. This concept from Taiwan ship company for "Shin-yen" project, one of the design style for navy, but later there was no news for this.

The navy revealed plans for a proposed helicopter carrier at a naval indigenous shipbuilding exhibition in Keelung Harbor 08 March 2017. The navy detailed its plans to build what it calls an "Amphibious Landing Helicopter Dock Ship" at a display as was part of a naval indigenous shipbuilding exhibition that opened that day on the combat support ship AOE 532 Panshi, which was docked in Keelung Harbor.

According to the schematic diagram of the helicopter ship published by the Navy, the ship has a full deck. In addition to carrying six helicopters on the deck, there is also a lifting platform on the deck that can transport the helicopters to the hangar below the deck. According to mission requirements, it can carry AH-64 attack helicopters and UH-60 general-purpose helicopters to perform assault missions. Therefore, all countries regard helicopter ships as one of the main forces of offensive operations, so they are quite sensitive.

According to the specifications listed on the display, the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) would have a displacement of 22,000 tons, have a top speed of 30 knots (55kph), and would be 220 meters in length. The helicopter carrier would be armed with an OTO Melara 76mm gun, an air defense missile system, actively electronically scanned array radar, and an advanced sonar system. The deck of the warship will be able to accommodate at least six large helicopters at the same time.

When the Navy cooperated with the first Kaohsiung Maritime Exhibition in 2016, it publicly explained the various shipbuilding plans for the future state-of-the-art national shipbuilding. It originally included the amphibious helicopter dock landing shipbuilding plan, but when explaining it at the press conference before the exhibition, The shipbuilding plan was temporarily extracted without explanation, which triggered speculation and discussion from all walks of life. However, this time in the publicity hall of the Dunmu Detachment, it was openly displayed.

Since helicopter carriers are listed as important platforms for strategic projection by various countries and are also one of the main forces of offensive operations, they have attracted much attention. Military officials said that whether to build and own an amphibious helicopter dock landing ship is a sensitive issue in various countries. Japan currently has four helicopter ships including the Izumo. In addition to self-made aircraft carriers, China also plans to build amphibious assault ships and assault ships. The future development of the amphibious helicopter dock landing ship deserves the attention of Taiwan and the world.

As for the display, does it mean that the Navy has also included helicopter carriers in its shipbuilding plan? Navy officials said that this is the navy's vision. Whether it will be included in the shipbuilding plan and whether it will be built in the future is up to the government's decision and the navy to cooperate in implementation.

According to the display content of the Navy, future plans also include fast mine-laying boats, new generation missile frigates, new rescue ships, new generation main battleships, new mine hunters, national-built submarines, new amphibious dock transport ships, and multi-functional personnel. Transport ships and Tuojiang class follow-up ships.

In response to reporters' questions on whether this project will come to fruition, the Navy said, "This is the Navy's 'vision,' but whether it will really be included in the shipbuilding plan, and whether it will be built in the future will depend on government evaluations."

The capacity to house large helicopters could also allow the new warship to carry other vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) warplanes, such as Harriers, Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys, and the new F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), which the Taiwan military covets, but had yet to have the opportunity to purchase.

This "Amphibious Helicopter Dock Landing Ship" has a through deck and is said to carry helicopters, but it is not. Prior to this, Taiwan’s media has been rumored that Taiwan intends to purchase US-made F-35 stealth fighters, especially the vertical take-off and landing F-35B. The DPP leaders even inspected Taiwan’s aviation company Hanxiang Company to investigate its own production vertical. Possibility of lowering fighters. However, Hanxiang said that if the existing IDF, the "Jingguo" fighter, is used as the basis to develop the vector thrust engine of the short-range vertical take-off and landing aircraft, it is estimated that it will take 13 years before completing the transformation from technology to practical fighter.

It will take more than 10 years, the cycle is too long, and the risk is not small, it is completely unable to meet the needs of Taiwan's military "war preparation". Therefore, the Taiwan authorities are second to none and intend to introduce American F-35 fighter jets. Even if it fails, they also hope to introduce the retired American AV-8B vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, which will be used as carrier-based aircraft on helicopter carriers in the future, thus realizing Taiwan navy’s "aircraft carrier" dream.

However, from the current ups and downs of the Taiwan Navy’s construction of new conventional submarines and new dock landing ships, it can be seen that the Taiwan Navy’s appetite for shipbuilding needs is too great, but the funds are limited, and the progress of each specific project is not ideal. The key point is that Taiwan Island does not have the ability to build large surface combat ships of tens of thousands of tons. With Taiwan’s existing shipbuilding capabilities, large hulls can be built at most, but engines and even a full set of weapon systems are reluctant, like large-scale ships. The engines needed for amphibious ships can only be imported from the US LM2500 gas turbine engine.

The Green Committee Luo Zhizheng believes that the construction of a helicopter ship by the Ministry of National Defense should not cause an imbalance in regional military power. However, if only this ship is built without a related frigate, the ship will be vulnerable to attack.

Shi Xiaowei, editor-in-chief of the "Military Intelligence and Aviation" website, said that the helicopter carrier that the Navy plans to build is more like the "Hyuga-class" helicopter carrier of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in terms of tonnage, although this type of ship is used in the implementation of anti-landing operations on Taiwan's main island. The actual benefits are not great, but when the Nansha Taiping Island is threatened, this type of helicopter carrier, because it can carry attack helicopters, has a certain degree of combat power as a rush to Taiping Island.

With the combination of difficult factors such as capital and technology, it is difficult to say whether the "aircraft carrier" expected by the Taiwan authorities can be built. However, what is certain is that as long as the Taiwan authorities do not die for Taiwan independence, they will continue to toss on the road of resisting reunification by force. Even if the "aircraft carrier" fails to be built, they will also engage in other weapons development plans for refurbishment.