(Ukraine was tricked into selling an old, never-finished rusting hulk-Kiev class to the Chinese and they re-furbed it)
IT WAS almost certainly just coincidence. But the ceremony attended by China’s leaders on September 25th in the northern port city of Dalian to mark the entry into service of the country’s first aircraft carrier will have struck many of its jittery neighbours as an ominous sign of intent. With tensions building up with Japan in the past few weeks over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyutai islands in the East China Sea, the addition of a carrier to China’s growing naval fleet will have done nothing to lower the temperature. After all, what are carriers for if not to project power?
In fact, the hoopla surrounding the handing over to the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of the Liaoning probably has rather more to do with creating a patriotic backdrop to the once-in-a-decade Communist Party congress that is now expected to be held next month. Furthermore, the 58,500 tonne vessel, a refurbished Admiral Kuznetsov-class carrier that was initially acquired from Ukraine by a Macau tourist venture in 1998 when only 30% completed, will be limited to a training and development role for the foreseeable future. The Chinese are nothing if not realistic. They know that carrier operations are highly complex and that they are starting from scratch. According to one senior Chinese officer, even with substantial investment it could be 30 years before the PLAN will be able to put a carrier battle group to sea approaching the capability of even one of the 11 carrier groups that America currently deploys.
A fairly small carrier fitted with a “ski jump” ramp rather than a catapult, the Liaoning is no match for America’s Nimitz-class supercarriers, which are almost double the displacement, let alone the new Ford-class ships, the first of which is expected to enter service in 2015. Nor does China yet have any fast jets to fly from the Liaoning. The Shenyang J-15, a not entirely convincing copy of Russia’s Sukhoi S-33, has flown, but is unlikely to enter service until 2016.
As a military threat to America, the Liaoning is therefore negligible and that will remain true even when it is joined over the next 15 years by two indigenously-built carriers that have been modelled on it. What worries America far more are the impressive anti-access/area denial capabilities that China has built up (mainly with missiles and submarines).
Rather than attempt to match US naval strategy and operational doctrine, it is likely that the PLAN is seeking a more limited power-projection capability that will support both the defence of China’s regional interests and its growing interests further afield (investments in natural resources and a fast-expanding diaspora of Chinese workers and technical advisers). Hu Jintao, China’s outgoing president, has also frequently referred to the PLAN’s “new historic missions”, which include being able to respond to non-traditional security challenges such as disaster relief, counter-piracy, military diplomacy and patrolling the sea-lanes that have become so vital to the Chinese economy.
Even so, China’s neighbours are unlikely to respond passively to its carrier programme. They see it as yet another sign of China’s determination to acquire the military trappings of a great power combined with a willingness to flex its muscles when it believes it is in its interests to do so. The military utility of China’s carrier programme is questionable – at least in the context of any future showdown with America. But it says quite a lot about how China sees itself and how it wishes others to see it.
---------------
http://www.economist.com/blogs/claus...rcraft-carrier
i dunno why russia or anybody in the future would sell military hardware to the chinese, if they continue to strip it apart and build replicas of it......its just fkn stupid...
hence this carrier is +20 yrs old refurbished, still a piece of when it actually sales across the ocean with any fighters on it...
theres been a few articles down here high lighting it, but nothing to be scared about when its one su-30 away from sinking in the ocean....
Pretty much.
Militarily insignificant, symbolically important.
It will be decades, if not a century before China would be capable of matching a US supercarrier, if ever. The US has been building and operating carriers for close to 70 years, and that knowledge base is a HUGE headstart to overcome or achieve parity with.
imo they got nothing on the japs, besides being close in proximity to launch a nuke, but thats about it...japs might have been stalled for the 70yrs not allowed to build offensive weapons let alone an army, i wont be surprise if they have some capable to fend off any future attacks
youtube has links of china havin 827 missiles targetting vietnam northern city of hanoi, well i do hope the chinese do drop a few in north vietnam..fck them, act all hard and winning the vn war kicking out svn and americans, only 35yrs later whatever happen to their nationalists pride; instead come humping the leg of america for help...fck them commies
the chinese reverse engineering of the f-35, lol revealing pics, but havnt shown it can do anything....
so when are you fkn yanks going to hurry up and deliver the 100 f-35s wankers?
a UK expert on NPR said the Russian aircraft carrier was nothing but a Chinese training platform, not an offensive weapon.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
