Chapter 65: Helicopter Assault Ship

"To tell the truth, in my view, this exercise was bound to fail."

The topic had barely been opened when Tang Wen dropped a bombshell.

Old Man Yan Hai had only come for a friendly match, but the young fellow had no sense of sportsmanship and threw out four twos right at the start.

A highly controversial conclusion—if anyone else had said it, they might have been told off with a "Bullshit" on the spot, but Yan Hai patiently waited for Tang Wen's next words.

This grand exercise was still being pulled out by online military bloggers for review even thirty years later, so Tang Wen was naturally confident he could lay out the reasoning:

"For a cross-sea amphibious assault, the most important thing is undoubtedly air superiority—not just high-altitude counter-air capability, but also low-altitude close air support."

"First, high-altitude air superiority. It has to be achieved by striking the enemy's airfields, air-defense positions, air-defense destroyers, and fighter squadrons.

This requires our side to form a regional anti-access/area-denial capability with powerful fighter groups, missiles, and air-defense destroyers, providing air-defense cover for ground forces.

On this point, we failed to do it."

Regional anti-access/area-denial.

Yan Hai keenly caught this novel term, and after a moment's thought understood its meaning.

Thinking it through carefully, right now the country only had the first batch of imported Su-27s, with the mainstays being the aging J-8s and JH-7s—air superiority capability was indeed terribly poor.

As for missiles and warships, there was even less to say; they could hardly form an effective air-defense network.

"Second, low-altitude close air support. We already learned from the Gulf War that if an assault force built around attack helicopters is circling over the battlefield, it will be a devastating blow to the hypothetical enemy's ground troops.

Within a single sub-sector of the battlefield, attack helicopters can reach a support point in just ten minutes, covering an area of dozens of kilometers at any time, and two missiles can destroy a ground position.

Tanks and armored vehicles both have a very hard time resisting strikes from the sky, and battlefield clearance efficiency is extremely high.

Also, under the cover of attack helicopters, medium and heavy helicopters can carry light armored vehicles and assault forces to conduct deep-penetration maneuvers, dispersing and breaking up the hypothetical enemy's positions.

And regrettably, we lag even further behind in helicopters than in fighters."

Tang Wen's tone was helpless—this point only began to change just before his transmigration.

What helicopters did the military have now? Mi-8s and Mi-171s bought from the big brother, and France's little Gazelle light attack helicopters—nowhere near enough to form a systematic assault force.

Besides, helicopters had limited range—how much loiter time would they have left after crossing several hundred kilometers?

"So looking at high and low altitude air superiority, we simply don't have the ability to hold it firmly.

Ground forces would not only have to face precision munitions dropped by the hypothetical enemy's air force, but also evade threats from helicopters, all kinds of missiles, and large-caliber artillery.

Under these circumstances, an amphibious landing is almost certain to fail."

Yan Hai fell silent.

He tried to find an angle to rebut, but everything Tang Wen said was perfectly reasonable.

Modern warfare is a contest for air superiority—without air superiority capability, what kind of war can you fight?

If the army alone could make up for it, there would have been no terrible sacrifice at Kinmen, where two main regiments were wiped out down to the last man.

But to patch these shortfalls, one would have to wait for the air force to grow—more advanced third-generation fighters and missiles, and a massive helicopter assault fleet.

The air force had already received the first batch of Su-27s, with more to come continuously, and localization was proceeding in parallel; in a few years they would have a sizable third-generation fighter fleet.

But helicopters were a different story—crossing several hundred nautical miles alone would seriously eat into their range, so how much fuel would be left by the time they reached the objective?

Even advanced foreign helicopters found it hard to balance performance and ultra-long range at the same time.

In fact, even the future Z-10 had sacrificed armor indices for the sake of range, causing its protection to drop sharply.

Unless…

"In the future, we should develop a combat force centered on helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ships, with air-defense ships providing cover."

Yan Hai thought for a moment and quickly found the key point.

If helicopters were put aboard landing ships, assaulting from the sea would not only expand the operating radius, but also effectively improve the flexibility of helicopter deployment.

Tang Wen was not surprised by Yan Hai's keen nose—the flat-deck amphibious assault ship dedicated to carrying helicopters had already appeared; the U. S. Navy had commissioned the Iwo Jima-class back in the sixties and seventies.

But right now this was still a cutting-edge concept—the world's first amphibious assault ship to abandon the well deck entirely and use helicopters as its main assault method would not appear until 2009.

As for a domestically built flat-deck assault ship, the Type 075 would not come along for another twenty-plus years.

Now that Tang Wen had introduced this concept, it happened to fall right in his area of expertise.

"Exactly. Compared to an aircraft carrier, a helicopter assault ship has much lower requirements.

It doesn't need to launch carrier aircraft, so the speed can be lowered to around 25 knots, and a hull of about twenty thousand tons is enough to carry more than thirty helicopters—drop the well deck and you can fit even more.

One helicopter assault ship is the equivalent of a mobile army aviation regiment; its delivery capability is faster than traditional landing, the strike footprint is wider, and survivability is higher.

And most importantly, it's cheap to build."

That last point really struck a chord with Yan Hai—he knew all too well just how poor the navy was.

For a missile destroyer, the most expensive parts are the propulsion system, radar and electronic warfare systems, and the various types of missiles—far more expensive than the hull itself.

But a helicopter landing ship is different: a 25-knot speed means the propulsion system can be cobbled together, it needs no expensive armament of its own, and its only job is to launch helicopters.

Yan Hai: "You just said drop the well deck and carry only helicopters?"

"The navy already has plenty of ships that can carry landing troops. Better to let the helicopter assault ship devote itself entirely to helicopters—the space freed up can fit at least another ten helicopters."

Yan Hai tried hard to picture what Tang Wen was describing: a twenty-thousand-ton ship with a full-length flight deck, cleaving through the waves at sea.

Wait—why does this feel like a small aircraft carrier?

The Iwo Jima-class still retained a well deck; carrying helicopters was only one of its uses.

But following Tang Wen's line of thinking, it would be a light aircraft carrier with helicopters as its embarked aircraft, pure and simple.

Since it wouldn't take part in the frontal landing and would roam around the edges of the battlefield, could a helicopter landing ship also take on part of an aircraft carrier's duties?

For example, serving as a command ship, or as the center of a strike group?

The country definitely couldn't afford to build an aircraft carrier right now, and there was no foundation for carrier aircraft either.

But putting helicopters aboard ship wasn't complicated—Mi-8s and Mi-17s were already available, so what difficulty could there be in building a twenty-thousand-ton helicopter assault ship?

"And there's another way to use a helicopter landing ship."

Tang Wen continued to stretch (copy) his imagination:

"If one day we can manufacture a Yak-141-style vertical takeoff and landing fighter, we can also deploy it on helicopter assault ships.

We do not need many, but with just two squadrons, we can provide considerable air support for the assault forces and helicopters.

At the same time, fixed-wing aircraft can also carry precision-guided munitions, providing support for the front lines as well."