Polonium is easily obtained in that area of the world, I hear.... as well as other things.... that can cause... you know... heart attacks. Like electricity... or oh...maybe potassium injected.
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Polonium is easily obtained in that area of the world, I hear.... as well as other things.... that can cause... you know... heart attacks. Like electricity... or oh...maybe potassium injected.
Global naval balance of power shifting with introduction of China’s aircraft carrier
Peter Apps, Reuters | Nov 28, 2012 4:20 PM ET
More from Reuters
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AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Tang, File
Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning cruises for a test in the sea. The big question on everybody's mind is how much of a role Washington, with its mighty military and immense diplomatic clout, can play in keeping the Pacific peaceful
WASHINGTON — China has showcased its first aircraft carrier landings while maintenance woes have reduced the United States to a single carrier in the Gulf, pointing to the beginnings of a subtle shift in the balance of naval power.
With South China Sea tensions growing, the threat of Middle East conflict still very real and counterterrorism and counter piracy operations also demanding resources, demands on Western navies — and the U.S. in particular — seem ever-growing.
Even as it emerged that problems with the USS Nimitz would leave Washington unable to maintain its standard two-carrier Gulf force for the first time since 2010, its navy found itself sending new forces to a volatilce eastern Mediterranean.
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Tough choices loom, with the U.S. military facing years of tighter spending – and the prospect of even starker reductions from sequestration still very real just as European allies seem less able than ever to offer support.
“None of these developments is overwhelming or shocking in its own right,” says Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the U.S. Naval War College.
“But they point to a larger trend. The U.S. is going to have to get used to not always having the capability to be everywhere. There are going to be more gaps, and there are going to be other countries that fill those gaps.”
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AP Photo/Xinhua, Zha ChunmingThis undated photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, made available on Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012, shows a carrier-borne J-15 fighter jet on China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.
With its own domestic energy production potentially freeing the United States from dependence on Middle East oil, some are beginning to ask whether the world’s pre-eminent superpower should bear the cost of being global maritime policeman everywhere.
“I don’t believe you’re going to see the U.S. pull back from being the only force capable of protecting global sea lanes,” said Gary Roughead, a veteran former admiral who retired last year as Chief of U.S. Naval Operations and now distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
“But I do think there is going to be a very considerable policy debate — and probably a good one to have.”
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AP Photo/Xinhua, Zha ChunmingIn this undated photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, made available on Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012, a carrier-borne J-15 fighter jet takes off from China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.
The challenge from an increasingly assertive China is becoming more obvious. Even with double-digit defense budget increases, Beijing’s growing fleet remains well behind that of Washington, both in numbers of major ships and capability.
But China’s announcement on Sunday of landings on its first operational carrier the Liaoning – a reconditioned Soviet era vessel purchased from Ukraine ostensibly for use as a casino — will unnerve some of its already jumpy neighbours.
With the exception of a small force in the Indian Ocean to counter piracy, China’s entire naval focus remains on its immediate neighbourhood — the South China Sea, particularly Taiwan, and disputed waters with Japan, Vietnam and others.
The United States, in contrast, finds itself stretched much thinner as it spreads its forces around the globe. If it is to follow through on its “Asia pivot” and match Beijing in its backyard, it may have to decide which other areas of the world to ignore.
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REUTERS/Xinhua/Zha ChunmingNaval honour guards stand as they wait for a review on China's aircraft carrier "Liaoning" in Dalian, Liaoning province, September 25, 2012.
COUNTING CARRIERS
The retirement this month of the USS Enterprise after half a century of service will bring Washington once again down to 10 carriers. With maintenance and training requirements, however, it can often only call on half that number at any given time.
Keeping one pair in the Gulf and another in Asia, experts say, could prove ultimately unsustainable.
That does not particularly worry naval officers who have long juggled limited resources around the globe. But it may force U.S. policymakers to moderate the expectations they have of both their own fleet and that of allies.
Europe’s only “super carrier,” the French “Charles de Gaulle”, has also spent much of this year in refit after last year’s Libya campaign. Italy and Spain have much smaller carriers, while one-time naval superpower Britain has none after scrapping its three vessels as part of major defense cuts.
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REUTERS/StringerA general view shows navy soldiers standing on China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" as it is berthed in a port in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning province, September 25, 2012.
Two larger British carriers, the “Queen Elizabeth” and “Prince of Wales,” will enter service towards the end of the decade.
Having spent the last decade experimenting with landing aircraft on a ground-based mockup of a carrier flight deck, Beijing is clearly keen to make up for lost time. Several domestically built carriers are now under construction.
“The balance is clearly moving in the direction of emerging economies,” says Christian le Mierre, naval analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
“There is a lot of focus on the Chinese carrier but people tend to forget India will also be operating three carriers within a decade.”
Aircraft carriers alone do not define the strength of navies, he said. The U.S. Navy also has an unmatched number of amphibious warfare ships and other vessels from which you can deploy helicopters, vertical takeoff aircraft and drones as well as Marines and special forces.
With carriers in short supply, such ships have been become increasingly important.
Several were sent into the eastern Mediterranean last week.
Washington can also use a variety of land bases, such as a base in Djibouti from which it is widely believed to have launched special force operations into Somalia and perhaps elsewhere. Submarines can hit targets well inland with missiles.
Even there, however, China is believed to be starting to close the gap. Earlier this month, it announced it would be sending nuclear ballistic missile-carrying submarines to sea for the first time.
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AFP PHOTO / US NAVY / Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Daniel MesheIn this image obtained from the US Navy, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise sails in the Strait of Gibraltar on October 23, 2012. Enterprise is returning to its home base in Norfolk, Virginia to be decommissioned on December 1, 2012. As the first nuclear aircraft carrier, Enterprise entered service on November 25, 1961.
RE-EXAMINING PRIORITIES
For now, the U.S. Navy’s approach to the world remains broadly unchanged. Where there is trouble, they will send additional forces moved from areas they hope will remain calmer.
Having kept at least one aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean throughout most of the Cold War and Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, in recent years the United States had quietly pulled back.
That, however, is now changing as the increasingly chaotic aftermath of the “Arab Spring” has brought instability to Egypt, conflict to Libya and Syria, Al Qaeda militancy to Mali, and further complicated this month’s conflict in Gaza.
Earlier this year, Washington announced it would move four destroyers to the Spanish port of Rota and analysts expect a heightened presence elsewhere in the region – although a permanent carrier presence is seen as simply unachievable.
The military planning of all other major powers, experts say, almost invariably assumes the United States will continue that global approach. Even potential foes such as China are effectively dependent on U.S. naval power keeping global trade routes open.
In reality, however, other states may have to step up more quickly than they ever expected.
The global response to Somali piracy — in which the European Union, NATO, China, India Japan and others sent separate forces informally organized through meetings and an Internet chat room — might be a clue to the future. Shipowners welcomed the naval deployments, but have increasingly taken matters into their own hands by hiring armed guards.
“The future is going to be a lot more ad hoc coalitions,” says Gvosdev at the U.S. Naval War College. “Others may have to take up the slack much more than they had expected.”
Funny, every expert I've heard so far has stated clearly they are more than a decade away from "catching up" to any degree that would put them at odds with the US.
In fact, I have it on... high authority.... that this is a facade. Maybe a fake out for something else going on. I suspect that authority has a lot more information on the subject that Reuters has or will ever know.
Thought you all might get a laugh out of this...
Fighter Jet Plagiarism Allegations 'Offensive'
November 30, 2012
China on Thursday dismissed claims that its carrier-based fighter jets plagiarized foreign models and would make Beijing more assertive in tackling maritime disputes with neighbors.
It is at least unprofessional, if not an intentional attack, to claim China copied foreign aircraft carrier technology through a simple comparison since the laws for military development are objective, and the principles of building military equipment, the command and safeguard methods are similar, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Geng Yansheng said at a regular news conference.
Geng made the remarks in response to reports that the carrier-borne J-15 fighter jet, which made its debut in a landing and take-off exercise on China's first aircraft carrier the Liaoning on Saturday, is a Chinese adaptation of the naval version of Russia's Su-33.
"China adheres to self-dependent scientific innovation. We have sufficient know-how and capability to build and develop our own aircraft carrier," Geng said.
It is true that China used to rely heavily on imported Russian military equipment to modernize its troops, but people should not use that as an excuse to criticize Chinese people who have made tough endeavors and even sacrifices in developing the J-15's engine, fire-control system, electronics system and other key components, said the Xinhua News Agency.
Guo Xiaobing, deputy chief of the Institute of Security and Arms Control Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the "crime of plagiarism" is a severe insult to Chinese researchers including Luo Yang, head of the production phase of the J-15 who died on Sunday of a heart attack during the carrier's voyage return to base after the planes' landing exercise.
Geng said the J-15, which is still conducting related experiments and training, would equip the army in accordance with the military's schedule. Experts said it will be a while before the Liaoning can be put into operation.
But its presence in the Asia-Pacific region and Beijing's newly proposed "maritime power" strategy have been detected as threats by Washington and its Asian allies. Tokyo and Manila were especially concerned amid their territorial disputes with Beijing over the Diaoyu Islands and the South China Sea.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said earlier that the United States was continuing to carefully monitor Chinese military developments. She urged Beijing to be as transparent as possible about its military capabilities and intentions and to use military power, including the aircraft carrier, in a way that is conducive for regional peace and stability.
"China is always open to military transparency and frankly speaking, the J-15 experiment is quite transparent," said Geng, adding that the Chinese media has had abundant and timely coverage and commentary about the plane since Sunday.
Wu Shengli, China's navy chief on Tuesday also briefed the US secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus on the J-15 and test trials of the Liaoning.
Pan Zheng, a scholar on US military studies with the People's Liberation Army National Defense University, said the US should also ask itself how transparent it has been to China.
Washington on Monday released two pictures of a US-Japan joint drill that concluded on Nov 16. The closed-door exercise is one of many that have taken place between the two countries this year. Geng said China opposes parties that intentionally highlight military agendas and frequently flare up regional tensions.
China's development of the aircraft carrier is not targeted at any third party or part of an arms race, Geng said.
Its development is based on national security and military construction needs and China's ability to invest in such a project, Geng said.
"We hope related parties view China's aircraft carrier construction in an objective and rational way," he added.
Wu Xiaoguang, deputy chief designer of the national aircraft carrier project of the 701 Research Institute of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and also a representative attending the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, said in a interview on the afternoon of November 6, 2012 that we should attach more importance to the ocean and ensure legitimate maritime rights and interests in the future by ourselves.
When referring to the aircraft carrier construction that has attracted nation-wide attention, Wu Xiaoguang, who has dedicated himself to the construction of national defense equipment for 30 years, told the reporters, “China’s perception of interest demands has a bearing on the number of aircraft carriers.
How many aircraft carriers China should have depends on its needs. What I can tell you is that the ‘Liaoning Ship’ is just a beginning.”
By Nan Chen, Li Pengxiang and Liu Jie
Methinks thou doth protest too much.
/chuckles
Companion Thread:
CLINTON'S ROGUES GALLERY
China holds Top Gun air war to choose its best fighter pilotsQuote:
The Washington Times 10/28/99 Bob Smith "…..Adm. Prueher's pro-China tilt while at CINCPAC reflects at best naivete and at worst a dangerous hubris that personal interactions can convert the Chinese from adversaries into friends.
He has taken Chinese military officials to tour a U.S. nuclear submarine in Honolulu and to the Top Gun school in California. (These actions would now be prohibited by the amendment I attached to the Defense Authorization bill restricting military-to-military contacts between the U.S. Armed Forces and the PLA (Chinese Peoples Liberation Army). My restrictions were intended to prevent contacts that create a national security risk due to an inappropriate exposure.
He allegedly has violated the six assurances that defined Taiwan policy under Presidents Reagan and Bush, and which remain in force under President Clinton, making unauthorized efforts last fall to persuade the Taiwanese military to start talks with the PLA.
Apparently the details are in a classified cable that at least one congressional office is seeking to obtain.
Adm. Prueher allegedly ordered deletion of the section of the classified U.S. plan for the defense of Taiwan dealing with strategic matters, which has upset STRATCOM (Strategic Command) and riled the Air Force, causing them to object to Adm. Prueher's actions. The details of this also are classified….."
China News.Net Thursday 13th December, 2012
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China has organised a 10-day air war competition in which over a hundred ace fighter pilots were pitted against each other at speeds of 1,800 km per hour and had to take the right decision in barely 10 seconds.
The second People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force "Golden Helmet" award took place after the 10-day air war competition came to an end Nov 29. Eleven air force pilots stood out from the 108 elite and won the award, reported People's Daily.
Jiang Jiayi, one of winners of the first "Golden Helmet" award and chief of a squadron of Chengdu Military Area Command, won the award again and became the first man winning the "Golden Helmet" award twice.
This year's competition also saw the fight between different types of aircraft, the safety distance between two aircraft in unrestricted air combat was reduced by 50 meters, and "face-to-face" peer reviews of pilots' performances were added.
"We cannot win continuous victories without advanced guiding theories," Jiang was quoted as saying.
Jiang said that pilots rely on weapons to win beyond visual range combat and on their techniques to win close combat.
"When two fighter planes are only over 10 km away from each other, and the relative speed is 1,800 km per hour or 1,900 km per hour, the pilots only have slightly more than 10 seconds to respond," he added.
Whether the pilots can make right responses in 10 seconds determines the outcome of the combat.
J-31 stealth fighter may be deployed to PLA aircraft carriers
- Staff Reporter
- 2012-12-12
- 15:58 (GMT+8)
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A Chinese J-31 stealth fighter (Internet photo)
China's fifth-generation J-31 stealth fighter has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, US-based magazine Jane's Defense Weekly reported on Dec. 5.
Before the J-31's first test flight, the aircraft's designer Shenyang Aircraft Corporation demonstrated a remote controlled airplane with similar vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, foreshadowing what was to come. Yet this important event was overlooked by most observers as merely a demonstration demonstration of a model aircraft.
When images of an airborne J-31 were released military watchers were left flat-footed as they realized touted advancements in China's military prowess were not exaggerated as they had assumed. Jane's Defense Weekly said the model aircraft demonstration had actually revealed several of the J-31's potential capabilities.
Working from officially published images, the magazine remarked the Chinese engineers had developed the fighter taking cues from the American F-35 and Russian Yak-141 designs. Though the appearance of the J-31 is closer to the F-35, its engine design is more akin to the Russian Yak-141. Rumors suggest the Russian Yakovlev Aircraft Corporation sold the Yak-141 engine to China sometime early last decade. Through acquiring the Russian technology, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group developed the J-20, the country's first stealth fighter, while Shenyang Aircraft Corporation developed the J-31.
While the larger J-20 is reckoned to be geared toward ground attack missions, the J-31 will likely serve as its cover. Other analysts suggest the J-31 may begin service aboard PLA Navy aircraft carriers; if not the Liaoning, its first, then aboard subsequent vessels developed domestically. A report from Moscow's Military-Industrial Courier said funding for the development of the J-31 was provided by the PLA Navy directly. Following the J-15 fighter, which just completed landing and takeoff exercises aboard the Liaoning, the J-31 may be its successor. In any event, any J-31 fighters entering service PLA Navy service is still some way off.
The Military-Industrial Courier said that the PLA was more comfortable with demonstrating a model of the J-31 than the J-20 during the Zhuhai Airshow in November. Jane's Defense Weekly commented that competition between the two Chinese aerospace manufacturers will encourage development in the industry.
China To Send First Aircraft Carrier On High Seas Voyage
April 19, 2013
China will send its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, on a voyage on the high seas for the first time within a year, the state-run news agency Xinhua said on Friday.
The Liaoning, purchased used from Ukraine and refurbished in China, has conducted more than 100 exercises and experiments since it was commissioned last year, Xinhua said.
Although considered decades behind U.S. technology, the Liaoning represents the Chinese navy's blue-water ambitions and has been the focus of a campaign to stir patriotism.
It has also been the most visible of China's efforts for more than a year to build up military hardware, including test flying two prototype versions of stealth fighter jets -- one of which is believed capable on landing on aircraft carriers.
Last year, China also unveiled its first attack helicopter and a range of drone aircraft it hopes to export.
In November a U.S. government commission said it believed that within two years, Chinese submarines would be capable of deploying nuclear weapons.
China is alone among the original nuclear weapons states to be expanding its nuclear forces, according to the report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Xinhua did not say where the Liaoning would go or for how long. The carrier has been conducting training maneuvers since it arrived at its east coast home port of Qingdao in February.
"To date, all the tests have been going smoothly, and the Qingdao home port has been proven capable of berthing and supporting the carrier", Xinhua said.
"It will undergo further tests, including ocean-going trials and flight-landing exercises under the schedule."
Bet it gets sunk "accidentally" haha
Chinese Navy To Build Second Aircraft Carrier
April 23, 2013
China will build a second, larger aircraft carrier capable of carrying more fighter jets, the official Xinhua news service reported late Tuesday, quoting a senior officer with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.
The report comes after Chinese officials denied foreign media reports in September 2012 that China was building a second carrier in Shanghai.
"China will have more than one aircraft carrier ... The next aircraft carrier we need will be larger and carry more fighters," Xinhua quoted Song Xue, deputy chief of staff of the PLA Navy, as saying at a ceremony with foreign military attaches.
Song said foreign media reports saying the carrier was being built in Shanghai were still inaccurate but did not elaborate, according to the report.
China currently has one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was refitted from a Russian-made model. Considered by military experts to be decades behind U.S. carrier technology, it was originally intended to serve as a floating casino, but was turned to military use in the runup to a once-in-a-decade power transition in late 2012.
China is also building up other forms of military hardware, including a stealth fighter jet believed to be capable of landing on a carrier, drone aircraft and nuclear submarines.
China is alone among the original nuclear weapons states to be expanding its nuclear forces, according to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Song also said the PLA Navy is building a naval aviation force for the Liaoning, and there will be at least two aviation regiments on one carrier, including fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft, electronic countermeasure (ECM) planes and rotary-wing aircraft, the report said.
Chinese officials have said the Liaoning will be used primarily for training purposes.
They better hurry, Japan will kick their asses near those islands. lol
The Future Chinese Carrier Force
By: Bernard D. Cole
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A naval honor guard at the in 2012 on board the Liaoning. Xinhua News Agency Photo
China’s acquisition of its first operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, has generated headlines of late. Those reports have included questions about how many additional carriers Beijing intends acquiring.
Air power is crucial to naval power, and Chinese officers have long expressed interest in acquiring aircraft carriers. Many reports of People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) carrier construction were published during the final quarter of the last century; President Jiang Zemin may have given the Navy permission to begin carrier design in the mid-1990s.
Aircraft carrier advocates in the PLAN began taking significant steps in 1985 with acquisition of the ex-Australian carrier, Melbourne. Next came construction of a carrier deck mock-up, complete with catapults and arresting gear, in Guangdong Province a few years later. The mock carrier flight deck presumably was used for some period of time to train would-be carrier pilots from the PLAN or the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), but did not last long.
PLAN interest in acquiring aircraft carriers continued; following purchase of the Melbourne, China acquired three former Soviet carriers: the Kiev, Minsk, and Varyag. Commercial companies intending to convert the ships into casinos supposedly made all three purchases, but that obviously was a subterfuge; Beijing bought Kiev and Minsk to allow naval engineers to study their construction, as was the case with Melbourne.
Minsk and Kiev are decrepit hulks; as two of the Soviet Union’s first carriers they were inactive for several years before being sold to Chinese interests. Varyag has had a different history. Its construction began in a Ukrainian shipyard in 1985 and stopped in 1992, a year after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The ship is equipped with arresting gear and a “ski-jump” bow, the latter to facilitate fixed-wing aircraft operations.
Varyag was incomplete when sold to China by the Ukraine in 2000, apparently lacking engines and much other equipment. The ship arrived in China in 2003, following a two-year delay: Turkey balked at its transit of the Turkish Straits and the Dardanelles, an apparent violation of the Montreux Convention. Then followed a hazardous voyage to China under tow. At one point the ship broke free from its tugs in the Eastern Mediterranean and was almost abandoned.
Varyag then spent nearly a decade being reconstructed in Chinese shipyards before becoming operational in 2012. Renamed Liaoning, the carrier began training pilots in the fall. Two factors may detract from Liaoning’s operational life. First is the very long time from initial construction to commissioning, including many years of sitting idle and rusting; ships under construction that long often have proved to be difficult to maintain. Second was the Soviet plan to install a pressure-fired steam propulsion engineering plant in the ship. That plant, similar to that in the Sovremenny-class cruisers that China has acquired, is trouble-prone and difficult to keep in operational trim.
That said, however, her very long time in reconstruction may mean that China rebuilt Liaoning from the keel up, thus ameliorating previous problems. Furthermore, if Beijing does intend employing the ship solely for training aviators, then it may serve that purpose quite satisfactorily. That means, of course, that China plans to build aircraft carriers.
China has been using the J-15 as its first carrier airplane, but has reportedly been negotiating to procure the more capable Su-33 as its carrier aircraft from Russia. Additional, indigenously built aircraft carriers are almost certainly in the PLAN’s future. While Zhang Guangqin, a senior shipbuilding official, denied in June 2005 the report that China was building an aircraft carrier in Shanghai, in October 2006 a senior officer in the PLA General Armament Department, Lieutenant-General Wang Zhiyuan, stated that “the Chinese army will study how to manufacture aircraft carriers so that we can develop our own. . . . [They] are indispensable if we want to protect our interests in the oceans.”
A similar statement was made six months later by a senior PLAN admiral, and then by China’s defense minister, General Liang Guanglie, who reportedly stated in March 2009 that China intends to build aircraft carriers.
Chinese press reports usually describe a 40,000–50,000-ton ship, perhaps similar to the French-built Charles de Gaulle—including possible nuclear propulsion. Liaoning displaces closer to 70,000 tons, however, and it is likely that China will build at least three carriers of approximately that size; also unanswered is whether the new Chinese flat-tops will utilize catapults, like the de Gaulle, or a ski-jump for launching aircraft.
Three carriers theoretically will allow Beijing to maintain near-continuous operational status for at least one of its flattops. Rather than assign one to each of its three fleets, the PLAN may decide to station them in the same port, perhaps in Qingdao, with the North Sea Fleet. The PLAN is also constructing the ships to fill out an aircraft carrier battle group.
New Fuchi-class replenishment-at-sea (RAS) ships are being constructed, but a newer, larger class of RAS ship should be anticipated. That ship will have to be capable of refueling and rearming the carrier plus at least four escorting warships, ideally more than once before reloading fuel and stores. The escorts are likely to be the new Luyang-class destroyers and Jiangkai-class frigates, several of which have already joined PLAN operating forces. Additionally, if the navy follows the U.S. model, at least one submarine would be assigned to operate in at least loose cooperation with the carrier group. The new Type-095 reportedly under construction is a likely candidate.
Liaoning currently is more of a political statement than a naval threat, posing little operational danger to the United States, its allies in East Asia, or even to smaller regional nations. But those nations are reacting to the pending Chinese carrier fleet, primarily by modernizing or acquiring submarines. Japan, South Korea, Australia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and perhaps Thailand are all strengthening their ability to conduct undersea warfare. For instance, Hanoi’s purchase of six Kilo-class submarines from Russia is undoubtedly in reaction to PLAN modernization. And India is acquiring a nuclear powered submarine fleet, more out of concern for Chinese intrusions into the Indian Ocean than from fear of Pakistan, its more historic enemy.
A future, robust Chinese aircraft carrier force is likely, then, but not assured. The PLAN, like the Indian navy—which plans for three carrier task forces—will no doubt face competition from its army and air force colleagues for defense resources, particularly if the Chinese economy slows. Acquisition of carriers is evidence of Beijing’s maritime thinking in a world in which the Taiwan issue is resolved in China’s favor, with the island coming under the mainland’s effective political control. Seaborne air power does little to enhance the PLAN’s capabilities against Taiwan, even if that regime receives U.S. naval assistance.
Beyond Taiwan, the PLAN faces challenges in the East and South China Seas. The operational ranges involved in an East China Sea scenario do not justify PLAN aircraft carriers; those in the South China Sea do require carrier air power to ensure air cover for PLAN surface forces operating throughout that sea. If Beijing achieves its probable strategic maritime goal of gaining sea control capabilities over the three seas (Yellow, East and South China) by 2049, then next for a PLAN planner would be operations in the mid-Pacific or, more likely, in the Indian Ocean. Either theater requires seaborne air power for effective naval operations.
In sum, the advent of Liaoning, and the likely acquisition of two-to-three additional aircraft carriers, signals Beijing’s seriousness about operating naval forces capable of operating after and beyond a Taiwan scenario, including regular deployments outside the three seas.
New pic of the carrier CV-16.
Attachment 1109
Why are the numbers 16 on the side of a Chinese ship? Shouldn't the numbers be in Chinese?
All asian countries regularly use western-arabic numerals. China and Japan have their indiginous numerals, but are less commonly used. For anything international in use (Military) you'll rarely see them.
Is this the one that was several years ago going to be a casino according to reports? You know, the one that was an unfinished Russian one that was not going to be made mil ready according to reports.
Yep. There is also the Minsk which was turned into a type of USS Intrepid setup.
Thank you Ryan. Means we called it years ago despite news accounts and scant images.