China should move

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Gunmen raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border on Tuesday, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers, an official of the Chinese company said. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility.:nono:

This would be a great time for The PRC to flex its newly found military might in a very reasonable way that would give its airborne special forces and Marines some great combat experience.

I think the PRC could immediately move 2 brigade's of airborne troops supported by heavy Helo transport assets and a special forces bat into a old airbase or port inside somalia. With a follow on force of a Marine brigade and and a Army Mech/Armour Brig. Imagine if the PRC fixed Somalia and conducted some military operations against Eritrea as this is were much of the "bad guys" are coming from.:china:

I think the PRC could immediately move 2 brigade's of airborne troops supported by heavy Helo transport assets and a special forces bat into a old airbase or port inside somalia. With a follow on force of a Marine brigade and and a Army Mech/Armour Brig. Imagine if the PRC fixed Somalia and conducted some military operations against Eritrea as this is were much of the "bad guys" are coming from.

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Ute, do they have the logistics to do this sort of operation? I can't see it happening right now. Let's say they do as you have suggested. How are they going to logistically maintain such a force?

The world wide politically repercussions would be intresting to watch.

Personally I do not think the PRC will take any action other than the usaul "talking head" ramblings of a spokes person.

Instead of sending in PLA, China can hire local people to act as security guards. Somalia is not a stable place to begin with, and China should have been prepared for raids and gun battles.

Ryz05 said:

Instead of sending in PLA, China can hire local people to act as security guards. Somalia is not a stable place to begin with, and China should have been prepared for raids and gun battles.

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It's useless to send the regular troops or warships there for a paramilitary warfare. Be prepared to take causalties if you go out and explore, no surprise.

Popeye, I think they do have the logistics to conduct such operation.
1. we know the air force can move said airborne troops and all airborne combat AFIV in around 2 weeks or less.
2. The Move of the Marines and Mech/Armour brigade would take longer and the use of its commercial shipping fleet would have no problem at all in moving that size of force without taxiing its Amphibious warfare ships. The reason in using just a few Amphibious warfare ships would be because it would not be a contested landing by a organized force.

so I Think the movement of around 10,000 PLA military personal and 300+ armoured vehicles into Somalia could be completed in around 30 days with very little problem. Once those forces were in place I think a Reg of Q-5 and around 12 SU-27 to deal with the Eritrean air-force would also be needed and also to give air combat support for ground operations. I also think world opinion would be fine if the PRC went the rout of "we are truly here to fix things and secondly to protect our assets"......cheers ute

Well, PLA might be able to transport the troops to Somalia. But I somewhat doubt they currently could support and coordinate an ongoing military operation on that scale that far away from home sufficiently.
You describe an operation on a different continent against an entire army.
I could imagine some hundred light infantry/recon soldiers with light vehicles to secure oil-fields and chinese workers. Maybe support stabilizing operations in the immediate vicinety. But not more at the moment.
I don't think they need to chase those rebels into eritean teritory or hold eritrea responsible for them right now.
Plus, it would be a way to test international response on such an action with only a small deployment. But 10.000 soldiers at once might be too much in one turn.

I wonder if the White House is scrambling to see who these guys are because the US military is already operating in the area and was said to be involved with groups that attacked Mogadishu recently.

This is why China needs carriers. Whether to use them for this type of incident is another question.

utelore said:

so I Think the movement of around 10,000 PLA military personal and 300+ armoured vehicles into Somalia could be completed in around 30 days with very little problem. Once those forces were in place I think a Reg of Q-5 and around 12 SU-27 to deal with the Eritrean air-force would also be needed and also to give air combat support for ground operations. I also think world opinion would be fine if the PRC went the rout of "we are truly here to fix things and secondly to protect our assets"......cheers ute

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Ute, whatever you're smoking I'd like some of it! :roll:

China couldn't pull anything off like this. It simply couldn't - I shouldn't even have to say why.

Ute, says;

Popeye, I think they do have the logistics to conduct such operation.

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and

I Think the movement of around 10,000 PLA military personal and 300+ armoured vehicles into Somalia could be completed in around 30 days with very little problem.

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I just don't see how. Even given 30 days. Maybe in 90 days they may pull something off... They just don't have the logistical support anywhere.. They just don't. They would have to establish supply lines with their "allies" to support their troops in Somilia that simply do not exist at this time.

From sinodefense;

The PLAAF is equipped with 14 Russian-made IL-76 jet transport aircraft for medium- to long-range airlift missions. The two services are also equipped with 200~300 indigenous Y-8 and Y-7 turboprop transports, and 8~10 H-6 aerial refuelling aircraft.

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How many of those aircraft are servicable and avilable for this mission? Also does the PLAAF have any "real World " experience in such an airlift? I beleive that answer is either no or limited.

It would be intresting to see the PRC respond to this murderous act.

bd popeye said:

It would be intresting to see the PRC respond to this murderous act.

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Well, for good or ill it won't respond with a military taskforce. It might lodge a protest and/or try to exert some soft power, but then again it's not as if the Ethiopians are backing these people so they can't exactly change much by going after Addis Ababa.