Hidden away in a shipyard on the Yangtze, far upriver from the major yards at Shanghai, is a new aircraft carrier. It’s China’s fourth, a ship whose mere existence has not been reported before. Only China can build an aircraft carrier in relative secrecy.

This ship, launched in December 2022 but not reported until now, is surrounded by mystery. Naval News, together with J. Michael Dahm, Senior Resident Fellow at the Mitchell Institute, have been analyzing it.

The world knows about China’s first three carriers; the largest and most capable, the Type-003 Fujian, is currently undergoing sea trials. This new carrier is very different. Its claim to fame will not be that it is larger. Instead, we are confident that this ship is the world’s first dedicated fixed-wing drone carrier...

J. Michael Dahm notes that the shipyard where it is being built, Jiangsu Dayang Marine, has previously built simulated enemy ships for the PLAN. China has an extensive program of simulating Western and Western-leaning navies’ ships in its weapon testing program. Its anti-ship ballistic missiles are tested on full-size outlines of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.

Several high-tech target barges and two large drone motherships have already been built at this shipyard. All these perform as opposing forces in training, a role known as ‘Electronic Blue Force’. So it is possible that this ship too is designed to support that mission.

If the new ship is intended to support large fixed-wing UAVs at sea, as its design suggests, then it raises the question of who or what it is expected to simulate. As we note, it is the first drone carrier in the world, so it is not mimicking any known Western ship. Such drones could be operated more cheaply from shore. A second possibility is that it is some type of experimental platform that will test and develop drone operations at sea.

Whether it is intended for Blue Force simulation or purely research and development remains to be seen. Similarly, we question whether it is an official PLAN program or a speculative commercial project. The new drone carrier remains something of a mystery. Watch this space.

The drone can approach an underwater target slowly and stay in one place for a considerable amount of time since it is propelled by four propellers, including a pair at the front that tilt.

When the drone reaches the water’s surface, two sizable wings that fold over its back can extend, enabling it to fly at a speed of 74.6 mph (120 kph), which is roughly twice as fast as a typical drone powered by rotor blades.

This kind of “transmedia vessel”, according to Ji Wanfeng, professor at Yantai’s Naval Aviation University in Shandong province, is one of the simplest and most efficient ways to compromise an aircraft carrier fleet’s defenses.

According to an estimation by Ji and his coworkers, the multilayered defense system of a contemporary warship can take down almost half of the approaching aircraft, missiles, or conventional drones. However, they explain, a “transmedia vessel” has the ability to submerge when identified by radar and emerge again to avoid sonar.

Ji said that even a small number of these drones may overwhelm or confound a warship’s computer systems.

According to a report Ji’s team published in the Chinese journal Electronics Optics & Control last month, if a transmedia vessel could fly at a speed of more than 93 mph (150kph), it would have a survival rate of close to 100% when launched from a distance of 62 miles (100km)...

An airbag in the belly of the flying submarine created by Ang’s team can be filled with water to change buoyancy, allowing it to maintain a specific depth without producing noise with its propellers. Its sleek body, which resembles a normal submarine when traveling in water with its wings folded, allows for less drag and more agility.

Surface waves and the drone’s simultaneous interactions with air and water make the takeoff process unstable, according to Ang’s team, if the vessel rises directly out of the water.

To correct this, they created a sophisticated control system that enables the submarine to glide on the waves before lifting...

According to reports, the US military has supported a large number of research projects to create manned or unmanned underwater planes for clandestine operations, but the majority of the programs have been delayed due to technical difficulties.