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| Zubr class Landing Hover Craft (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
Wendell Minnick discussed in a recent article written for the Virginia-based Defense News whether China can achieve its ambition to "reclaim" territories in the East and South China seas with the Zubr-class air-cushioned landing craft introduced from Ukraine in the next 40 years.
The Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po, a pro-Beijing newspaper, indicated in July that China plans to take over the Diaoyutai or Diaoyu islands — administered by Japan as the Senkaku and also claimed by China and Taiwan — along with the Ryukyu island chain from Japan in the East China Sea as well as seizing the Spratly islands in the South China Sea within the next 30 to 40 years. For this reason, Western military experts have begun focusing on Chinese efforts to build a viable littoral capability.
In addition to the first two Zubr-class landing craft from the Ukrainian Feodosia Shipbuilding Company at a price of US$315 million received by the People's Liberation Army Navy last May, the contract also allows two other vessels to be built in China. The landing craft can transport three medium tanks, 10 armored personnel carriers or a landing force of 500 troops. It is the largest hovercraft ever built.
Read the full story at Want China Times