Plan 870 landing ship

Plan 870 is the design designation for a type of heavy landing ship designed in Menghe. It represents a major improvement over the preceding Plan 858 landing ship, with more than double the vehicle capacity and greatly improved defensive armament.

Development

The Plan 870 design was drawn up during the early 2000s, but development work stopped in 2001 when Menghe and Dayashina signed an agreement resolving the dispute over the Renkaku Islands. Menghean landing ship construction remained frozen until 2005, when renewed tensions with Innominada led to a major expansion of the Menghean Navy's Marine Infantry arm.

Under the MoND's War Plan Blue for conflict with Innominada, the reorganized and expanded Second Marine Infantry Brigade would be tasked with conducting amphibious landings along Innominada's east coast in order to draw forces away from the front line. This mission would require the long-range deployment of mechanized forces and their supplies, a major change in priorities from the short-range, small-island landings on which the Marine Infantry had previously focused.

Design

Layout

The Plan 870 design follows a conventional landing ship layout, with a raked keel, an internal vehicle deck, an upper vehicle deck, and a superstructure aft. The internal vehicle deck is approximately 10 meters wide, allowing two rows of armored vehicles to be parked side by side, and the upper deck allows two rows if landing craft are carried and four rows if landing craft are omitted with the cranes angled outboard. Vehicles can travel from the upper deck to the shore by using a ramp at the forward end of the hull, but at-sea vehicle movement between the upper and lower decks is not possible.

Unlike the Plan 858 class before them, the Plan 870 landing ships do not have a crane for loading and unloading vehicles in port. Instead, vehicles and cargo must be loaded through the forward or aft ramps, and the forward ramp is the only way to load vehicles onto the upper deck. Cranes at a port facility can also load vehicles directly onto the upper deck.

Armament

Self-defense gun armament consists of two GBM-23/5 Bulkkot CIWS turrets, one on the forecastle and one on the aft superstructure offset to port. In addition to missiles and aircraft, the Bulkkot system can engage light warships and shore targets. The gun-based CIWS turrets are complemented by a 24-box launcher for the YDG-61 point-defense surface-to-air missile, facing forward on top of the bridge. This weapon covers a roughly 200-degree forward arc.

For shore bombardment, the ships are armed with two 40-barrel 122mm multiple rocket launchers, one on each side of the forecastle. A total of 80 reload missiles are carried. This rocket armament is typical for Menghean large landing ships.

Powerplant

The main powerplant consists of two Samsan S9000H diesel engines, each generating 6000 kW of power to a single propeller shaft. Top speed is 18 knots. In addition to the aft propellers, there are two electric-transmission bow thrusters for maneuvering in port and on approach or de-beaching. These draw electricity from the auxiliary powerplant, consisting of three Samsan S680 600-kW diesel generators.

Boat facilities

Just forward of the superstructure, the Plan 870 landing ship can carry four Plan 8814 landing craft, two on each side under davit cranes, and two rigid inflatable boats, under smaller conventional cranes. Each Plan 8814 landing craft can transport 36 personnel, a 5-ton vehicle, or 5 tons of cargo. These can be replaced by enclosed combat boats. The RHIBs may be used to transport Special Naval Troops or battalion-level reconnaissance units ahead of the landing force to survey the beachhead.

Aircraft facilities

The Plan 870 group are the first Menghean landing ships to include helicopter maintenance facilities. The hangar is wide enough to store two Gyundoan-Han GH-28 Ppulsoeori helicopters, specifically the GH-28G and GH-28M troop transport variants, which have an extra set of hardpoints on a lengthened supporting frame and are roughly 1.1 meters wider overall. The aft side of the hangar has two three-piece folding doors, a configuration not used on any other Menghean ships, and the hangar itself is offset to starboard.

The left side parking area in the hangar connects to a "tunnel" leading through the superstructure to the forward upper deck. This allows both helicopters and land vehicles to move between the forward deck and the helipad. The front end of the "tunnel" has a metal roll up door, and because of the hangar's width it is slightly offset to port.

Carrying configurations

The Plan 870 landing ship can be easily modified at a naval base to carry out a wide variety of missions, depending on the stage of the conflict and the requirements of the operation. This flexibility allows procurement of a single hull to meet multiple needs, though in other configurations the Plan 870 is less effective than a dedicated ship of that type.

In all configurations, the total passenger capacity is 450 personnel, not including the ship's crew. This is equivalent to two Marine Infantry Companies, an attached supporting unit, and additional attached air assault or small boat units.

Mechanized landing ship

The mechanized landing ship configuration, pictured at the top of the page, is the standard configuration of the Plan 870 design. In this configuration, four landing craft are carried on the upper deck, and two helicopters (sometimes three) are carried in the hangar. The central area of the forward deck is used to store additional vehicles.

Because all armored vehicles in a mechanized Marine Assault Battalion are amphibious, they can drive off the bow ramp while the landing ship is loitering off shore and complete the rest of the journey to land under their own power, without requiring the landing ship to beach itself. Non-amphibious supply trucks, if part of the unit, are carried to shore on the smaller landing craft, which can also carry infantry units. This approach allows greater flexibility in the choice of landing area.

In this configuration, the transport capacity is 36 APCs (BSCh-6) and 450 personnel. This is enough to transport two Marine Mechanized Companies and one Marine Mortar Battery, plus additional infantry or special forces teams which can deploy by boat or helicopter. The third Marine Mechanized Company would move to shore on a separate landing ship, and the logistics on a Plan 852 or 858 type, allowing an entire Marine Assault Battalion to deploy on three landing ships.

Tank landing ship

When a Plan 870 ship is tasked with landing Main Battle Tanks, it must beach directly on the shore, as the 45-ton JCh-5 and 50-ton JCh-6 are non-amphibious and too heavy for the light deck-based landing craft. This restricts the available landing areas to locations with a sufficiently sloped beach. To improve flexibility, the landing craft are removed, and replaced with two large pontoon floats, each held in place by two cranes. These can be lowered into the water alongside the ship and moved into position by the RHIBs further forward, providing a pontoon bridge between the ship and the shore.

In this configuration, the transport capacity is 20 main battle tanks in the 45-50 ton range, arranged in two columns in the hull. The upper vehicle deck is left empty, as the tanks alone bring the vessel close to its maximum weight limit, but helicopters may still be carried, either to deploy detached Marine Infantry units or to support the tanks with rocket and missile fire.

Landing platform helicopter

This configuration leverages as much deck space as possible to carry helicopters. The landing craft are replaced with barges, as on the tank landing ship configuration, and their cranes are angled outward to leave more space on the deck. In addition to the two helicopters in the hangar, a third is carried in the passage between the hangar and the forward deck, and four more are carried on the forward deck. An open portion of the forward deck is used as a second takeoff location. This allows for the carrying of a total of 7 helicopters, or 8 if one is parked on the forward helipad.

Usually, when this configuration is chosen, the internal hold is loaded with cargo and vehicles to support the logistics element of a Marine Infantry Brigade or Battalion, and the landing ship beaches itself after the landing area is secure to deliver supplies. In this configuration, 26 supply trucks can be carried.

Logistics landing ship

Reversing the landing platform helicopter approach, the logistics landing ship configuration leverages as much deck space as possible to carry vehicles and supplies. The landing craft are replaced with barges, as on the tank landing ship configuration, and their cranes are angled outward to leave more space on the deck. The thru-superstructure passage, hangar, and helipad are also used for parking space. This raises the capacity to 60 standard-size vehicles, usually supply trucks of various types, if tie-down points are used. Cargo can also be packed in crates on the deck, using the same tie-down points.

Minelayer

In minelayer configuration, each parking column in the internal section is replaced with two raised rails for sea mines of various types. The dimensions of the internal vehicle deck suggest that approximately 700 mines can be carried. Because upper deck space is not used for mine storage, and because draft is not limited in this role, the ship's helicopters can be loaded with air-deployed mines to assist in mining operations.