Motherships: The PRC Enters the Conversation
The evolution of naval warfare is entering a transformative era, one where autonomous systems and drone technologies are reshaping traditional concepts of maritime operations.
Several years ago, I learned from the Danes about their collaborative work with Singapore on ship modularity, a concept that has now evolved dramatically with the integration of autonomous systems of various types. The ship that was initially envisaged during those early discussions has now been launched by Singapore, marking a significant milestone in naval innovation.
However, Singapore is not alone in this revolutionary journey. The People’s Republic of China has been working intensively on its own version of a mothership, developing platforms tailored to what they perceive as the purpose and operational requirements of modern maritime warfare.
From the massive Type 076 amphibious assault ship to the cutting-edge autonomous Zhu Hai Yun research vessel, China is systematically building a fleet of motherships that fundamentally blur the traditional lines between conventional naval platforms and futuristic drone carriers.
This development represents not just an incremental improvement in naval capabilities, but rather a paradigm shift in how maritime power can be projected and sustained.
The Type 076: China’s Amphibious Drone Carrier
In December 2024, China achieved a significant milestone when it launched its first Type 076 amphibious assault ship, christened the Sichuan, at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai. The independently developed ship has been enthusiastically hailed by Chinese military officials as a “key asset” for advancing the Navy’s ongoing transformation and substantially enhancing its long-range operational capabilities across the globe.1
The Type 076 is undeniably a large ship by virtually any standard. With a full-load displacement exceeding 40,000 tons, it ranks among the world’s largest amphibious assault ships. The vessel features a twin-island superstructure combined with a full-length flight deck.
Integrated into the design is the ship’s electromagnetic catapult system. This advanced launch mechanism enables the Type 076 to launch considerably larger and substantially heavier aircraft than would be possible with conventional launch systems or without any catapult technology whatsoever.
The electromagnetic catapult represents a genuine global first for amphibious assault ships, setting a new benchmark for this class of vessel. Previous amphibious platforms have traditionally relied exclusively on helicopters and, in some limited cases, short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft like the Harrier or F-35B.2
Military analyst Du Wenlong underscored that if attack and reconnaissance drones can be successfully launched from the Type 076 via the electromagnetic catapult system, “then this amphibious assault ship will transform into the world’s first drone aircraft carrier. This would significantly enhance its strike range and operational effectiveness across multiple domains.”3
Even if the Type 076 is operationally limited to unmanned systems alone, its air wing will be highly capable and formidable. China currently boasts an impressively advanced and rapidly growing arsenal of sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, including the GJ-11 stealth combat drone with its distinctive flying wing design, the high-altitude, long-endurance WZ-7 reconnaissance drone, and the versatile CASC Rainbow strike UAV family, among numerous others.
These diverse drone systems could collectively provide the Sichuan with formidable reconnaissance, persistent surveillance, and precision strike capabilities without risking human pilots or incurring the high costs associated with manned aircraft operations.4
Just one month before the Sichuan’s highly publicized launch, China unveiled another significant and impressive piece of its comprehensive mothership approach at the prestigious 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition held in November 2024.
The Jiutian heavy UAV, itself dubbed a “drone mothership” by Chinese media and military commentators, can carry up to an impressive 6 tons of payload, including entire swarms of smaller drones, and perform a wide variety of complex missions such as heavy transport, sophisticated electronic warfare, and precision strikes against high-value targets.5
With its innovative modular design and exceptional versatility across mission types, the Jiutian could potentially integrate seamlessly with the Type 076, creating a powerful synergistic relationship between sea-based and air-based drone platforms. This combination powerfully underscores China’s determined push toward multidomain, high-tech warfare platforms that can operate cooperatively across air, sea, and electromagnetic domains.
Amphibious Assault Capabilities
The Type 076 remains an amphibious assault ship at its core. The vessel is expected to operate with substantial complements of helicopters and amphibious landing craft, with the latter being capable of deploying more than 1,000 well-equipped marines in a single operational wave.
The ship’s considerable size means it should be able to carry substantially more personnel, vehicles, and equipment than China’s smaller Type 075 amphibious assault ships, the U.S. Navy’s America-class amphibious assault ships, and Japan’s Izumo-class helicopter carriers, which are currently being converted to carry the F-35B fighter.
The vessel features a large floodable well deck at its stern specifically designed to enable comprehensive amphibious operations, allowing it to efficiently launch and subsequently recover landing craft carrying marines and their essential equipment.
Carl Schuster, a respected military analyst and former U.S. Navy captain with extensive operational experience, emphasized the strategic significance of the Type 076’s impressive size and multifaceted capabilities. “That shows a PLA Navy commitment to expeditionary and amphibious warfare and an expanding capability to do so,” he observed, adding that it clearly demonstrates China’s increasingly competitive posture relative to the United States.6
The Zhu Hai Yun: Autonomous Drone Mothership
The Zhu Hai Yun is a semi-autonomous vessel specifically designed to operate with minimal or no crew while effectively coordinating swarms of unmanned systems across air, surface, and underwater domains simultaneously.
China launched the Zhu Hai Yun in May 2022 at the Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard in Guangzhou. The vessel has been widely described as the world’s first semi-autonomous drone carrier, measuring 88 meters (290 feet) long, with a moulded beam of 14 meters and a displacement of 2,100 tonnes. The ship can achieve a maximum speed of 18 knots thanks to an efficient diesel-electric propulsion system consisting of multiple generators and azimuth pod thrusters that provide excellent maneuverability.7
What makes the Zhu Hai Yun truly interesting is its sophisticated autonomous navigation capability. The vessel is equipped with the world’s first Intelligent Mobile Ocean Stereo Observing System, an advanced AI operating system developed by the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory. China doesn’t expect the ship to navigate busy seaports by itself due to safety and regulatory concerns; instead, the Zhu Hai Yun runs on remote control until it’s safely out in open water, and then its self-driving systems take over to autonomously execute whatever mission it’s been assigned.8
The Zhu Hai Yun’s primary role is to serve as a sophisticated mothership for smaller, sensor-equipped unmanned air, surface, and undersea research and monitoring vehicles. The ship can carry, launch, recover, and coordinate the actions of more than 50 other autonomous aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles simultaneously.
It’s equipped with everything necessary to deploy its own boats, submarines, and aircraft, communicate with them reliably, and run highly coordinated missions, including conducting “task-oriented adaptive networking to achieve three-dimensional views of specific targets.”9
Purportedly, the deployed unmanned craft can be controlled directly from the vessel, enabling them to scan a three-dimensional section of ocean measuring an impressive 54 nautical miles across. The resulting large coverage area provided by the coordinated drones is ideal for numerous tasks including environmental monitoring, offshore wind farm maintenance, and potentially the detection of hostile submarines and other undersea threats, giving the drone carrier a secondary maritime security function of considerable importance.10
The ship’s drones are designed to be able to form an intelligent network with which to observe targets, and the drones themselves are capable of autonomous decision-making as a coordinated group. This swarm intelligence capability, if fully realized, would represent an important breakthrough in unmanned systems coordination.11
While the Zhu Hai Yun is officially designated as a marine research vessel with publicly stated missions including marine disaster prevention and mitigation, environmental monitoring, and offshore wind farm maintenance, observers have noted its obvious military potential. Professor Dake Chen, Director of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, described it optimistically as “a beautiful new ‘marine species’ that will bring revolutionary changes for ocean observation.”12
However, The South China Morning Post characterized the vessel as one with the “military capability to intercept and expel invasive targets,” a capability at the forefront of maritime defense concerns. The vessel could easily be employed in military contexts as a hub for various unmanned weapons and surveillance systems. Its wide deck can carry dozens of unmanned vehicles, making it a convenient platform from which to launch unmanned military devices.13
The Chinese company Yunzhou Tech has been working extensively on swarming technology that aims to allow multiple drones to engage in “cooperative confrontation” with enemy vessels to “besiege and expel” them. In one demonstration, the company coordinated 56 unmanned boats swarming in Chinese waters, verifying the effectiveness of formation control and route planning technology.14
The drones are intended to share sensor data, track target vessels at high speed, conduct intercepts, “expel” intruding vessels, and are capable of autonomous decision-making as a group. For years, the company has been designing software for coordinating drone swarms for civilian purposes, with their “confrontation mode” under development. This technology could be scaled up using the design philosophy of the Zhu Hai Yun, potentially creating mothership platforms capable of deploying dozens of coordinated unmanned systems for military operations.
Strategic Implications
The development of Chinese mothership capabilities has significant and far-reaching implications for security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific region. With its advanced aviation capabilities, hybrid propulsion system, and potential synergy with platforms like the Jiutian drone mothership, the Sichuan narrows the technological advantage long held by U.S. platforms such as the WASP and America-class amphibious ships.
The ability to deploy large numbers of drones from mothership platforms creates new challenges for traditional naval defense systems. Drone swarms can potentially overwhelm point-defense systems designed to counter a smaller number of more sophisticated threats. The relatively low cost of individual drones compared to traditional aircraft means that China could potentially field large numbers of these systems, creating a quantity-versus-quality challenge for adversaries.
The featured image was generated by an AI program and shows a notional mother ship launching various types of autonomous systems at sea.
2. https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/27/china/china-type-076-amphibious-assault-ship-intl-hnk
4. https://www.spf.org/iina/en/articles/kawakami_05.html
5. https://thediplomat.com/2025/04/chinas-type-076-amphibious-carrier-what-it-does-and-why-it-matters/
8. https://newatlas.com/marine/china-autonomous-mothership/
9. https://www.eurasiantimes.com/worlds-1st-seaborne-uav-carrier-chinas-cutting/
11. https://asiatimes.com/2022/06/china-floats-first-ever-ai-powered-drone-mothership/
12. https://thedefensepost.com/2022/05/31/china-mothership-drone-swarms/
13. https://www.twz.com/china-launches-drone-ship-that-acts-as-mothership-for-more-drones
14. https://asiatimes.com/2022/06/china-floats-first-ever-ai-powered-drone-mothership/