00:00This massive mobile pier system could one day be used to deliver an unprecedented number
00:05of troops and equipment in an amphibious invasion.
00:09It's been built by China in a shipyard constructing vessels that are changing modern warfare.
00:15As Beijing escalates its military activity around Taiwan and rapidly builds its naval
00:20and civilian fleets, China's threat to seize the island could be coming closer to reality.
00:26To be able to deliver vehicles at huge volume straight to the beach without having a capture
00:31report changed the calculus of whether China could successfully invade Taiwan.
00:36Here's a breakdown of how these ships could set the stage for a D-Day style invasion.
00:45The vessels were built here at this island shipyard in Guangzhou, China.
00:49This is a major shipyard.
00:51It's used to construct both military and civilian vessels.
00:54Thomas Shugart is a defence analyst and former Navy warfare officer whose research focuses
00:59on maritime competition.
01:01This shipyard has been quite interesting to watch over the last year.
01:04They've had a number of very different vessels they've had under construction at the same time.
01:08Right here we can see two Soviet design, now built by China, amphibious assault hovercraft,
01:14a ostensibly military test platform unmanned service vessel.
01:18Among them, analysts noticed a unique set of ships taking shape, with distinctive jack-up legs
01:23that can stabilise them out of water.
01:25And also the long ramps, you can see it here extended, from the landing platform all the
01:31way onto the shoreline.
01:33Shugart says the ships represent a significant improvement in the People's Liberation Army's
01:38amphibious assault capacity.
01:39We had never seen before this kind of matching set that were designed to go together in multiple
01:45sizes.
01:46About two months after this satellite image was taken, the ships were seen on China's
01:50Nangsang Island, roughly 225 miles southwest.
01:54This is where the first known footage was captured, showing the ships in sea trials.
01:59A couple of things were surprising about it.
02:01One was that they were all connected.
02:03Also seeing them lifted up out of the water, that was quite impressive.
02:06I had not seen anything quite like that before.
02:08The ships did not transmit their location using the Automatic Identification System,
02:13or AIS, and the ship's paint scheme was now visible, which closely resembles the Chinese
02:18navies.
02:19All these being indications that confirm for me that it is highly likely that these are
02:22PLA Navy ships.
02:24Video footage, photos and satellite images examined by Shugart and other analysts provide
02:29insight into many of their specifications and capabilities.
02:34There are three distinct types that have been classified by their hull length.
02:38The first is about 360 feet long, the second about 440 feet, and the third about 600 feet.
02:45When linked together with their bow ramps extended, they span nearly 2700 feet.
02:51That's the length of seven and a half football fields.
02:54The ship designed to land on shore has a bow bridge that extends more than 400 feet, and
02:58it features four 105 foot jack up legs.
03:02The middle platform has six 164 foot jack up legs, and two drop down loading ramps, one
03:08on the port and one on the starboard side.
03:10The end platform has eight 180 foot jack up legs, and two drop down loading ramps, one
03:16on the starboard side, and one at the stern.
03:19The three ships were seen about 12 miles south two days later, where these systems were put
03:24to the test.
03:25It was probably just a testing trial to be able to verify that they connect together properly,
03:31that they can connect to the bottom properly, and that ships can moor with these platforms
03:35in the way that was intended.
03:38China regularly uses its civilian fleet of what are known as roll-on, roll-off ferries
03:42in military transport exercises, and has demonstrated they can carry some of its heaviest vehicles.
03:48The landing platforms appear specifically designed to link with these commercial ships.
03:53It has two side ramps, one on each side, that can flip down, and we have seen them connect
03:58to roll-on, roll-off ferries that can basically back up to those ramps and drive vehicles off.
04:04On the side of the platform are what are called camels, which are these big rubber bumpers essentially,
04:10that allow full-size ships to come up and nest up against the side of the platform.
04:15So the ferry that we see alongside here is called the Chang-Legang-Zhu.
04:20It is a ferry that has been seen in numerous times during PLA exercises.
04:25Ferries like these have been used to offload equipment in various scenarios, including in
04:29ports, on floating causeways, and even in the open ocean.
04:33China has also used its larger roll-on, roll-off vehicle carriers in transport exercises between
04:38ports, but not with the PLA's temporary floating causeways, which couldn't accommodate their diagonal ramps.
04:44Satellite imagery suggests these landing platforms could serve that purpose.
04:50What we see here is a vessel called the Shunlong-hai.
04:53While it is not technically a normal, pure vehicle carrier, it is a roll-on, roll-off cargo ship,
05:00and it does have a diagonal ramp, confirming our suspicions that that's what that unique
05:04shape of that stern ramp was for.
05:07Additionally, it is possible that a ferry could back up to this stern ramp and also unload vehicles
05:13straight on out of the back, as we have seen them do with floating piers in the past.
05:17With as many as five points of contact where ships could offload, the linked platforms could
05:22potentially transfer hundreds of vehicles ashore per hour, including some of the PLA's heaviest.
05:28I would be very surprised if these structures and the bridges are not also built to those,
05:34at least those same standards, and able to deliver any of the Chinese military's armoured vehicles,
05:39including the battle tanks.
05:40Within about eight miles of the two sea trial sites is a base with Chinese amphibious assault craft,
05:45including hovercraft, landing craft that can deliver tanks to shore, and a military-specific roll-on, roll-off ship.
05:53All of this equipment is designed to be used in what one would traditionally think of as a beach assault,
05:58something right over a beach, and would also be the first wave of troops that go ashore,
06:03probably in combination with helicopter-delivered troops and airborne troops in the case of a Taiwan invasion.
06:08One thing that these new platforms could potentially bring to the table is the ability to land troops
06:13at places even these vessels can't bring troops ashore.
06:17Adding the landing platforms to the PLA's amphibious fleet would boost the volume of equipment
06:22delivered across the Taiwan Strait, and would also make more areas of the island's rocky coastline vulnerable.
06:29One of the things that analysts and the Taiwanese military have been able to have some confidence in over the years
06:36is that there were a fairly limited number of locations where the Chinese could potentially land on Taiwan,
06:41thereby allowing Taiwan to concentrate its defensive efforts in those places.
06:46This could thin out Taiwan's defences and make it harder to defend all the different places that now exist.
06:52After the sea trials, the three landing platforms return to the same Guangzhou shipyard where China is building a second set.
06:59One right here, one right here, and one right here.
07:03US officials say Chinese leader Xi Jinping instructed the PLA to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027.
07:11Most military experts agree China isn't ready to execute a full-scale amphibious invasion yet.
07:17But these landing platforms might be the key to making one possible in the near future.
07:24will actually change Rafi is that far too soon should land close enough toINT.
07:27meet Japanese.
07:28Thank you for your attention
07:29in the near future.
07:29Aimbance where losing password is andkamera is known as a
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