re: PLAN Type 071 LPD & its Landing Craft
To me, some sort of LHD would make sense for several reasons. First, you can't do much other than rescue missions with a type 071 unless you also have an LHD. So it makes little sense to build more 071's without accompanying LHD's. Secondly, there are a lot of new Z-8's. What are they for, if only two go on each 071?
My third reason is just the impression I have that aside from what we see on the Varyag, we have hit a relative slow period in terms of new naval hardware. The navy threads in SDF have been much quieter in the last year or two than they used to be, and I think the reason is not our lack of interest, but simply that China has lots of new toys and has to figure out how to play with them in various combinations. This would imply a period of slower in-your-face development (not much new hardware), but a greater degree of training. But besides the Varyag, an LHD would be nice too. This way China would basically have a complete set; it would have at least one specimen of all the major types of ships needed by a modern blue water navy (minus cruiser and a couple of other things, I guess). The period can be used to prepare the grounds for a further expansion if such a thing is deemed necessary or desirable in the future. Meanwhile, the slower expansion (and slower accompanying growth of the military budget) can be used to cool off the Japanese militarist lobby.
In fact, I think this policy of building or maintaining just one or very few of these major ships is one followed by many navies. It saves money, but allows for quick expansion of the basic capabilities once they are needed.
To me, some sort of LHD would make sense for several reasons. First, you can't do much other than rescue missions with a type 071 unless you also have an LHD. So it makes little sense to build more 071's without accompanying LHD's. Secondly, there are a lot of new Z-8's. What are they for, if only two go on each 071?
My third reason is just the impression I have that aside from what we see on the Varyag, we have hit a relative slow period in terms of new naval hardware. The navy threads in SDF have been much quieter in the last year or two than they used to be, and I think the reason is not our lack of interest, but simply that China has lots of new toys and has to figure out how to play with them in various combinations. This would imply a period of slower in-your-face development (not much new hardware), but a greater degree of training. But besides the Varyag, an LHD would be nice too. This way China would basically have a complete set; it would have at least one specimen of all the major types of ships needed by a modern blue water navy (minus cruiser and a couple of other things, I guess). The period can be used to prepare the grounds for a further expansion if such a thing is deemed necessary or desirable in the future. Meanwhile, the slower expansion (and slower accompanying growth of the military budget) can be used to cool off the Japanese militarist lobby.
In fact, I think this policy of building or maintaining just one or very few of these major ships is one followed by many navies. It saves money, but allows for quick expansion of the basic capabilities once they are needed.
