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Chinese officials revealed that the Attack-21 stealth drone completed the world’s first catapult takeoff from an amphibious assault ship on board the Sichuan Ship, which shows that the Type 076 ship’s semi-aircraft carrier capabilities have been significantly improved.
News released by China Military Bugle on the 30th,People’s Liberation Army The first type of covertly integrated attack ship-borne surveillance and attackFreelancer “Attack-21” recently successfully completed its first takeoff and landing on Sichuan, the first Type 076 amphibious assault ship. Officials stressed that this is the first time in the world that a large stealth drone has been carried out from an amphibious assault ship. This means that the combat power of the Sichuan ship has made a qualitative leap, reaching the “quasi-aircraft carrier” level and becoming an all-round maritime warfare center with multiple capabilities such as three-dimensional landing support. This shows that China has made significant breakthroughs in the three dimensions of technology, operation and system.
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After the debut of “Attack-21” at the 2025 September 21 military parade, CCTV released a CG photo of its electromagnetic catapult take-off from the Sichuan ship in July 2026, showing the Type 076 amphibious assault ship take-off of its electromagnetic catapult from the Sichuan ship for the first time. Now it has officially achieved actual take-off and landing. The “Attack-21” is a carrier-based model developed from the Air Force’s “Attack-11”. It is currently the only publicly available carrier-based stealth flying-wing drone in the world. In the past, amphibious assault ships worldwide were limited by the lack of catapults and could only rely on vertical or short take-off and landing, resulting in limited bomb load and combat scope.
The Sichuan ship breaks traditional limitations and is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult, which allows fixed-wing drones to take off and land efficiently without sacrificing payload, thereby completely extending the combat range of global amphibious assault ships. The Sichuan ship was launched in December 2024 and completed its first sea trials in November 2025. In April this year, it went to the South China Sea to conduct tests. By October, it will achieve ship-aircraft integration, and its progress speed will exceed external expectations. The aircraft adopts a flying wing tailless layout and an S-shaped air inlet at the rear. It has excellent stealth performance and has carrier-based improvements such as folding wings and arresting hook. It can achieve perfect takeoff and accurate recovery under the electromagnetic ejection and fully automatic landing guidance system of Sichuan ship.
From a technical point of view, the flying wing layout of “Attack-21” places extremely stringent requirements on flight control algorithms, structural strength and automatic landing guidance systems. The fully automatic landing guidance system equipped on board Sichuan is an “invisible runway” designed for unmanned platforms. In terms of combat dimension, “Attack-21” provides a deep “firepower arm” for landing operations, and the landing method has evolved from amphibious to amphibious. From a system perspective, drones have also become a “key puzzle piece” of the aircraft carrier system.
Military expert Du Wenlong once pointed out that the Sichuan ship is the world’s first unmanned mothership. The combination of fixed-wing stealth drones and the Sichuan ship is a capability that only China has in the world. Expert Zhang Junshe also said that the Sichuan ship is both a small aircraft carrier and a “drone aircraft carrier” adapted for future intelligent warfare. In the future, if it is jointly used with a large aircraft carrier such as the Fujian ship, it will be able to form a powerful maritime joint combat formation and carry out high-precision deep strikes on islands, offshore and coastal areas.
Summary FAQ
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The most important breakthrough is that the Attack-21 has completed actual takeoff and landing on the Type 076 amphibious assault ship Sichuan for the first time, and it is the first time in the world that a large stealth drone has taken off and flown from an amphibious assault ship.
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Because the Sichuan ship is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult and a fully automatic landing guidance system, it can allow fixed-wing drones to take off and land efficiently. It is no longer limited to vertical or short takeoff and landing, and the combat radius and load capacity have been greatly improved.
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After the Attack-21 is installed on the ship, it can provide long-range and more accurate fire support for landing operations, and also enable the Sichuan ship to act as a drone mothership. If it operates jointly with aircraft carrier formation in the future, it will strengthen its deep strike capabilities.
