No‑Surprise PLAN News of the Day: GJ‑21 Mock‑Up Spotted on Type 076

A GJ‑21 naval UCAV mock‑up has once again been photographed on the deck of the Type 076 amphibious assault ship. Anyone who has followed this program shouldn’t be shocked — this is exactly what the ship was built for.

From the outset, the Type 076 was designed as a hybrid drone carrier / amphibious assault ship, centered around one defining capability:

An electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) paired with arresting gear for fixed‑wing recovery. 

As of today, the Type 076 remains the only amphibious assault ship in the world equipped with EMALS for this LHD‑class hull designed to fling fixed‑wing “angry birds” off the deck.  Therefore, seeing a GJ‑21, the navalized stealth UCAV derived from the GJ‑11 Sharp Sword  sitting on its deck isn’t a surprise. It’s a confirmation.

The Type 076 was always meant to operate carrier‑grade unmanned combat aircraft, and the GJ‑21 was built specifically for catapult launch and arrested recovery. The mock‑up simply makes the relationship explicit.

So why a blog post to highlight this  no‑surprise PLAN News? Because it shows the Type 076 program is still moving forward, with the appearance of the GJ‑21 mock‑up suggests the program is now shifting into the next phase:

• Aviation integration
• Deck handling validation
• Catapult/landing interface testing

In short: The ship has moved beyond “does it float and move” and into “does it launch and recover drones.”

 

Monday, April 20, 2026

Type 076 landing helicopter dock off to her sea trials

The Type 076 landing helicopter dock has entered its third round of sea trials, indicating continued progress in validating its propulsion, aviation facilities, and integrated systems.  

 

 

Thursday, November 06, 2025

Photos Of The Day: Type 076 landing helicopter dock's CATOBAR system is now visable

One notable detail from the Type 076 landing helicopter dock's launch ceremony on December 27, 2024, was that its CATOBAR system—comprising an electromagnetic catapult and arresting gear was covered from view.  Now you can have a full view from the two photos below:

Thursday, September 25, 2025

Checking in with China's other electromagnetic catapult (EM catapult) equipped ship (Sept 25th)

The Type 076 landing helicopter dock Sichuan has remained relatively quiet since her launch on December 27, 2024 especially when compared to her older, larger, and far more louder sister, the Type 003 Fujian, which recently made headlines by launching a bunch of birds from her electromagnetic catapult and arresting systems.

According to chatter on Chinese social media, Sichuan is now preparing to set sail, promising fresh material for PLA watchers and armchair generals alike to dissect every move and detail.   Youtube will be busy for sure.

Insufficient Firepower Phobia (IFP) Of The Day: Civilian Policing with 35mm grenade launcher and 120mm anti-tank rocket

First up, a fire‑support platoon from the PAP’s First Mobile Corps with their QLZ201 35 mm automatic grenade launchers. To date, this lightweight 35 mm AGL has only shown up in police units. Great for riot control, right? That’s one way to put it.

 

 

Next on deck: the Sichuan PAP Civilian Corps, this set of PR photos shows  the PF‑98 rocket launcher, QBU‑201 anti‑materiel rifle, QBJ‑201 machine gun, and assorted toys. Because nothing says ‘riot control’ quite like a shoulder‑fired HEAT round.

 

This blows: Type GBP113A, PLA’s Rigid‑Flexible Combination Bangalore Torpedo

The PLA’s engineering troops have always been unapologetically in love with explosives. Satchel charges? Still there. Dynamite bricks? Absolutely. And of course, the immortal Bangalore torpedo, which refuses to die no matter how many decades pass or how many glossy brochures promise “next‑generation breaching solutions.”

Why?

Because the PLA loves tools that are cheap, modular, and reliable.  Errrrr, with heavy emphasis on the cheap part. Anyone who has ever looked at a PLA infantry TOE knows exactly what that means.

Enter the latest evolution of this 100‑year‑old classic: the GBP113A Rigid‑Flexible Combination Bangalore Torpedo. The name alone tells you what the designers were thinking:  “What if we made the Bangalore… bendy?”

The idea is simple:

• Traditional Bangalores are rigid tubes.
• The GBP113A uses a rigid‑flexible hybrid structure, allowing it to curve with the terrain, snake under obstacles, and reach places a straight tube can’t.
• Once in place, it still delivers the same satisfying big bang engineers have relied on since the trenches of WWI.

It’s very PLA:

• Take a century‑old concept.
• Add practical improvements.
• Keep costs low (emphasizing the cheap part again)
• Field it widely.

For breaching wire, clearing narrow lanes, and doing all the unglamorous pioneer tasks under fire, a bendable Bangalore is exactly the kind of incremental upgrade the PLA is famous for.  

Worth noting: during the 1984 Sino‑Vietnamese border clashes, every PLA assault‑engineer ‘Pioniere’ team carried Bangalore torpedoes for breaking through the Vietnamese fixed positions.

 

 Photos from 1980 Sino‑Vietnamese border clashes/Battle of Battle of Laoshan

 

 

 

 

Sunday, March 29, 2026

This blows, PLA 200G dynamite brick/satchel charge

Old‑school PLA vibes here. Troops from a brigade of the 73rd Group Army carrying on the proud tradition of solving problems with dynamite. One takeaway from the war in Ukraine is that the humble satchel charge or the TM‑62 anti-tank mine acting as one, is still extremely effective in urban combat/house clearing. Sometimes the classics just refuse to retire.

 

 

 

China’s WIG/GEV/Ekranoplan Program: A Few Updates

Back in June 2025, Naval News (link) ran a story titled: “China Builds New Large Jet‑Powered Ekranoplan”

Well, about that “jet‑powered” part, turns out the four engines perched above the wing are turboprops, not jets. The photos now circulating below make that pretty unambiguous that it is not a Chinese "Caspian Sea Monster" 

This “civilian” program is nominally tied to the China Coast Guard, The airframe itself is a fairly traditional flying‑boat design with high wing, boat hull, while the T‑tail with twin vertical stabilizers are new.  If you ask me,  it gives off WWII PBY Catalina vibes, and that’s probably not accidental. The Catalina was a patrol, SAR, and logistics workhorse; this not-monster looks built for the same set of missions.

• Search‑and‑rescue for downed pilots?
• Island‑to‑island logistics?
• Maritime patrol in the “civilian” sense?

All plausible.

And because it’s a Chinese “civilian flying boat,” naturally it must have the ability to carry weapons, purely for safety purposes, of course. The under‑wing hardpoints in the photo below shows of a bomb slung under.

 

Note the China Coast Guard Cutter in the Background

The USN PBY-5A Catalina source of the photo (link)

 

 

Photo of the Day: J‑16 in Full Air‑to‑Air Beast Mode

 Pretty sure this is the first clear shot of a J‑16 loaded to the gills for pure A2A work — a full 10‑missile loadout, with 2× PL‑10 short‑range heaters and 8× PL‑15 long‑range sticks hanging off every available pylon.

 

Saturday, September 06, 2025

J-16 Fighter Bomber "Bomb Truck" Still Rolling Off the Line at Shenyang Aircraft Corporation

In a CCTV report featuring workers at Shenyang Aircraft Corporation watching the September 3rd Beijing Military Parade,  six near-completion J-16 fighter jets were visible as the backdrop, underscoring the J-16 "bomb truck is very much in production.

Designers confirmed that the J-16 is now equipped with active phased array radar

While the newer 5th and 6th fighters receive all of the media and fanboy attention, the J-16 continues to serve an important role in the People's Liberation Army Air Force's (PLAAF) ground support missions.   The J-16, with 12 external hardpoints capable of carrying a wide array of munitions for precision strike and suppress enemy air defenses,  are not found in the J-10, J-20, or J-35 variants.

The war in Ukraine offers a lesson here: when troops are entrenched, considerable firepower is required to drive them out.  That's where the J-16 comes in as a bomb truck to help.   Because of this capacity, we'll see far more J-16s in service than the lighter, single-engine, more nimble J-10.

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Photo Of The Day: J-10 vs J-16 size comparison

 

. . 

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Photos of the day: 6 new J-16 spotted at Shanyang.

Sunday, September 01, 2024

PLAAF Unit Of The Day: 3rd Aviation Brigade, North Theater Command

Back in Aug 20th 2024, the PLA Daily Chinese Edition published (link) a rather plain, run-of-the-mill article with nothing specific about an Aviation Brigade, North Theater Command conducting drills under summer heat.  And I translate:

"In midsummer, an aviation brigade of the Air Force in the Northern Theater Command conducted multiple batches of high-intensity flight training around simulated confrontation, live-fire shooting and other subjects.

After the tower issued the order, several fighter planes slid out, roared into the sky, and flew to the training airspace.

Above the clouds, the red and blue sides formed attack formations to conduct air combat training. The blue pilot was the first to spot the target, adjust his attitude and prepare to attack. The red pilots evaded urgently and got out of the predicament... locked, escaped, and counterattacked. After several transitions between offense and defense, the red wingman pilots seized the opponent's tactical loopholes and decisively carried out simulated strikes"

 

After further digging, the unit mentioned in the article is identified as the 3rd Aviation Brigade, North Theater Command.   A proud PLAAF unit whose roots may be traced back to the PLAAF's founding and saw actions during the Korea War as elements of the "1st Division" then became 3rd Regiment, 1st Fighter Aviation Division, in May 1970.    The 3rd Regiment was outfitted with J-8II fighters in the 1980s; however, in contrast to her sister regiment, the 1st, the 3rd was never given the Su-27 or J-11 as an intermediate. In September 2018 (link), the 3rd swapped its J-8II to the J-16, thus skipping a generation.

Beginning in early 2010 and ending around 2018, the 3rd Regiment, 1st Fighter Aviation Division was upgraded as the 3rd Aviation Brigade,  organic to the North Theater Command.   "The 1st Fighter Division HQ is dead,  long live the 1st Fighter Division HQ"

Photos copied from the PLA Daily article (here)