China Adds Expeditionary to Streetfighter

I think China has taken seriously the development of a Streetfighter capability for the South China Sea. With estimates China is building 81 Type 022 Fast Attack Missile Craft, this deal would appear to give China a matching high speed expeditionary capability for their developing Streetfighter doctrine.

China's navy is to purchase four Ukrainian military hovercraft in a 315-million-dollar deal potentially shifting the South China Sea naval balance, the Interfax news agency reported. A shipbuilding firm in Ukraine's Black Sea port Feodosia will construct two Zubr (translation - Bison) class craft, and a second pair of vessels will be built in China under the supervision of Ukrainian technicians.

A Ukrainian government publication listing state contracts confirmed the order without giving its value. Officials at the Morye shipyard in Feodosia declined comment.

The Zubr hovercraft is designed to carry three tanks, 10 armoured personnel carriers, or as many as 500 troops at speeds exceeding 63 knots.

The vessel can due to its larger size operate in rougher seas than smaller hovercraft.

The Russian, Ukrainian, and Greek navies currently operate the Zubr, with a total ten hovercraft produced since 1988.

I think we all know China will eventually copy these systems and build them at Chinese shipyards. Given the rate of construction for the Type 022, it is entirely possible China could field several dozen by 2015, enough to move thousands of troops around the South China Sea.

The Zubr landing craft has a cargo area of 4,300 sq ft and a fuel capacity of 56 tons. It can carry three main battle tanks or up to ten armored personnel carriers with 140 troops (up to 115 tonnes), or up to 500 troops total. The working parameter for range is typically 300 miles (480 km) at 55 knots.

At that speed, a single Zubr can cross from China to Taiwan, self deploy a 500 troop Marine force, and be back in China in about 3 hours, and conduct 4 such operations in a single day. That means 4 Zubr's could theoretically land 8000 Chinese Marines per day in a cross strait scenario.