Ask anything Thread

[charles18]

Would the PLA navy ever put tactical nukes on their surface ships?

Imagine anti-ship missiles carrying tactical nuclear warheads instead of conventional warheads.
Could there ever be a nuclear variant of the YJ-12, YJ-18, or YJ-21 missile?
Would the Type 055 or Type 052D destroyers ever be outfitted with such weapons?

The idea of putting tactical nukes on surface ships is not a new idea. The US navy and the USSR experimented with the idea back during the cold war.

 

[lcloo]

The advantage of putting a nuclear tip missile on your surface ship is that you will draw a large portion of enemy's surveillance asset onto your ships, consuming much of their time and energy, and reduce the availability of their surveillance assets on your other places.

The disadvantage is that your ship will be the first target to be sunk at the start of a war because of the nuclear missile, so most likely you will never have the chance to fire your missile.

That's why nuclear missile submarines exist.

 

[kurutoga]

Would the PLA navy ever put tactical nukes on their surface ships?

Imagine anti-ship missiles carrying tactical nuclear warheads instead of conventional warheads.
Could there ever be a nuclear variant of the YJ-12, YJ-18, or YJ-21 missile?
Would the Type 055 or Type 052D destroyers ever be outfitted with such weapons?

The idea of putting tactical nukes on surface ships is not a new idea. The US navy and the USSR experimented with the idea back during the cold war.

No. PLA does not plan to make or use tactical nukes. If PLA goes to war, the goals should be achieved with minimal killings. If others use tactical nukes on PLA, the revenge will be strategic nukes

 

[nelBi]

Have there been any physical evidence of the Type 004 or second batch of Type 055's in any shipyards yet?

 

[charles18]

Have there been any physical evidence of the Type 004 or second batch of Type 055's in any shipyards yet?

In regards to the Type 004 the answer is: No
If there was it would be all over the internet.

As for the Type 055 I am less certain. I believe the 9th Type 055 has begun construction.

 

[nimitz123]

I wonder why China doesn't build more replenishment ships. Currently, they only have a small number of types 901 and 903, which I think is insufficient to support a blue-water navy.

 

[lcloo]

I wonder why China doesn't build more replenishment ships. Currently, they only have a small number of types 901 and 903, which I think is insufficient to support a blue-water navy.

They built according to their needs. They are not building more because they already have enough replenishment ships.

PLAN's attention is mainly regionally in the seas around China. They need only one replenishment ships 365 days a year on their Somali escort missions. At other times, the requiremnt of replenishment ships is needed when they are on long duration missiions far from Chinese shores like training in far away places which happens only a few couple of times a year.

 

[Michaelsinodef]

They built according to their needs. They are not building more because they already have enough replenishment ships.

PLAN's attention is mainly regionally in the seas around China. They need only one replenishment ships 365 days a year on their Somali escort missions. At other times, the requiremnt of replenishment ships is needed when they are on long duration missiions far from Chinese shores like training in far away places which happens only a few couple of times a year.

@nimitz123

I believe that there might be another or two in the works though (building or fitting out), so it's not like there won't come more online in the future.

 

[gelgoog]

They built 4 Type 055s for the Northern and Southern Fleets. They will likely build another 4 Type 055s for Eastern Fleet.

 

[charles18]

I wonder why China doesn't build more replenishment ships. Currently, they only have a small number of types 901 and 903, which I think is insufficient to support a blue-water navy.

I have asked myself this same question previously.
The US navy has a battle force of 4.5 million tons of warships. 1/3 of this or 1.5 million tons are logistics replenishment ships.

If China wants to "become" like the USA it would need to build 3 Type 901 replenishment ships every year for the next 9 years. Obviously this is not going to happen. However this is not to say China does not have great ambitions. China is literally building warships at double the rate compared to the USA. 160,000 tons to 80,000 tons per year. By 2032 the PLA navy will become the largest navy in the world, end of discussion. However its composition will be very different from the US navy.

Within the next 10 years:
PLA navy - superior number of surface combatants and amphibious ships
US navy - superior number of aircraft carriers and replenishment ships

Beyond the next 10 years:
That's a separate conversation.