By Dan Middlemiss, 4 June 2022
Chinese technology is certain to be watched with interest by many navies, including Canada’s. One development of particular interest is that China recently launched the world’s first dedicated, modern, drone mothership. Such ships will pose a challenge to Western surface and subsurface combatants. Expensive, forward deployed warships are being increasingly forced to spend more and more space and effort simply to protect themselves as opposed to bringing more offensive firepower to potential future conflicts.
For more on the Chinese maritime drone vessel, see, Meera Suresh, “China Launches World’s First Drone Mothership; Likely To Be Used For Military Purposes,” International Business Times (30 May 2022) at https://www.ibtimes.com/china-launches-worlds-first-drone-mothership-likely-be-used-military-purposes-3525464
One thought on “Recent Chinese Naval Development”
Addendum
I neglected to mention that this new ship, Zhu Hai Yun, can be controlled remotely to navigate autonomously in open water. Launched last week, the vessel has a wide deck equipped to carry dozens of unmanned vehicles including drones, unmanned ships and submersibles, plus weapons like smart mines.