052C/052D Class Destroyers

Brumby said:

Disputes by definition mean that there are disagreement between one or more parties and they stay benign by conscious choice. If the strategic decision is to actively pursue your claims then in my view is to go for the low hanging fruits or take a path of least resistance like in East or South as the Philippines or Vietnam is easier to take on then Russia or Japan. Deployment of assets then become a tactical decision.

Click to expand...

Salami slicing on full display.

antiterror13 said:

Why PLAN concentrate on East and South not NORTH ... in the North are three very very strong navies ... SK, Japan and Russia

Click to expand...

Neither Russia nor SK have any tendency to quarrel with China. And East Sea fleet is better position to contend with Japan.

Blackstone said:

Salami slicing on full display.

Click to expand...

You mean like Israel's West Bank developments in Palestinian land? Funny how come few or no one talks or complain about this in Western media when they always likes to point fingers at China about "Salami slicing".

delft said:

Neither Russia nor SK have any tendency to quarrel with China. And East Sea fleet is better position to contend with Japan.

Click to expand...

ROK for sure, but Russia is a more complex issue. In spite of the treaty to resolve land borders, Russia will always be nervous of future Chinese intentions and/or Chinese encroachment into the Russian Far East. No matter how many more ships and planes Russia adds to its Pacific Fleet, it wouldn't alter the fact there are few Russians in the RFE and 100+ millions more Chinese. China and Russia might not have tendencies to quarrel for now, but tensions will likely increase over time.

Modified 130 mm gun appeared



I think, it is my mistake: instead of 130 this gun should be 76 mm

antiterror13 said:

Why PLAN concentrate on East and South not NORTH ... in the North are three very very strong navies ... SK, Japan and Russia

Click to expand...

StopSquarkS said:

Maybe because current and all past disputes have been in the AOR of East and South Sea Fleets?

Also, destroyers are blue-water assets for the PLAN, doesn't make as much sense to assign to North Sea Fleet which should be more focused on littoral combat due to geography.

Click to expand...

Definitely geography plays a huge role on this. Yellow Sea is rather shallow and by default would make it a bad place to field subs and diminish the need for blue naval assets like 052D there, thus the North Fleet being lesser priority on those assets. Furthermore, Bohai Sea is encircled by Chinese territory and land assets can be brought into play. At the same time having both Koreas on the immediate opposite side of the Yellow Sea means naval assets will have to break out of that defensive perimeter if either of the Koreas are your opponent so it's not that great of a strategy to hem in your large naval assets. Russia is not a factor here as there is no open water between China and Russia here. Anything sent to deal with Russia on the open seas if there is such a conflict can be pulled from the East Fleet as well.

Unless something unique happens such as the ability to base a fleet in a foreign port, for example, let's say Rason, NK, then providing more large blue water naval assets to the North Fleet is not a priority.

A.Man said:

Modified 130 mm gun appeared

I think, it is my mistake: instead of 130 this gun should be 76 mm

Click to expand...

There is something wrapped up behind the gun, maybe one of the CIWS unit.

A.Man said:

Modified 130 mm gun appeared

I think, it is my mistake: instead of 130 this gun should be 76 mm

Click to expand...

Sorry, I cannot help myself. This truck need a bumper sticker that reads: "Do not tailgate. Gun loaded!"

Some nice images of 172 and other ships of the SSF at Hainan (20 photos, be warned):

Cont; not strictly 052C/D, but from the same set.