Can these Type 96 tanks be transported across the Taiwan strait? I'm still figuring out what heavy tanks China will send, or none at all?
Taiwan is mountainous island stretching form north to south with sliver of flat land on both side of ranges, making it unsuitable for armor warfare. But if they need to use Tank China has plenty of STUFT(Ship taken up from trade) in the form of Ro Ro ship, ferry ship, car transport ship, cargo ship etc.
Last year China issue regulation that new ship has to built military specification built in. Incase of war those ships can be commandeered for war purposes
And they have practice every year for this operation. Lately they built special purpose ship RoRo, Flat bed ship etc
The trick in any marine amphibious landing is to secure a functioning port that can be used by subsequent wave of transport to disgorge their weapon, munition,food and equipment
STUFT-ed, Chinese Style.
According to the Chinese edition report of the same (here), the China Army will STUFT (Ship Taken Up From Trade) a total of four large size Ro-Ro ship under the command of the Shenyang MR.
Advanced passenger ro-ro ship commissioned in Shenyang MAC
(Source: China Military Online) 2012-01-19
The “Qingshandao” large-scale passenger ro-ro ship (China Military Online/Chen Li and Du Mingjun)
Escorted by related personnel of the military representative office of navigation affairs under the Shenyang Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Passenger Ship Co., Ltd of the China Shipping Co., the 23,000-ton “Qingshandao” large-scale passenger ro-ro ship smoothly arrived at the Dalian Port from the Guangzhou Shipyard on Jan. 12, 2012. The commission of this most advanced ship lays a solid foundation for improving the maritime strategic projection capability of the Chinese Navy.(China Military Online/Chen Li and Du Mingjun)
Editor:Zhang Qingxia
Of course, all those news release could be part of a Communist propaganda attempt to deceit -- China, as a nation, still only capably of sea-lifting one division at a time. Don't believe me? See this official US government report.
"China Naval Modernziation: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities -- Background and Issues for Congress released by the US government.
Change in Amphibious Lift Capability Since 2000 Although China in recent years has deployed new amphibious ships and craft, DOD states that “PLA air and amphibious lift capacity has not improved appreciably since 2000 when the Department of Defense assessed the PLA as capable of sealift of one infantry division.”
Weasel posted this post about STUFT
New Janes article talking about civilian mobility lift
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Perhaps the most interesting was the PLA Daily 's 10 June review of a mobility exercise from late May in which a 20,000-ton civilian roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferry was assigned to the Transportation Department of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). It transported personnel and trucks from the Bohai Sea to the South China Sea.
To compensate for the relatively small size of its formal naval amphibious transport fleet the PLA has co-funded construction of a large number of ferries used by civilian companies. They will be made available to the PLA during emergencies and are a frequent element in civil-military transport exercises.
The PLA Daily article featured an image of an officer giving a briefing with a digitally barely concealed map of Taiwan. In early 2014 an Asian government source told IHS Jane's that with combined military-civil transport, the PLA could move eight to 12 divisions to Taiwan.
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The diplomat rebuts that the annual DoD report says no issue with no increase in amph capability citing 2014 DoD report (2015 just cut & paste same conclusions) which makes no reference to civilian mobility capabilities.
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It wasn't that long ago that the same author (Fisher) highlighted:
Quote
In 2006, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense estimated that with mobilized civilian lift, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could transport five to six divisions of troops to Taiwan. All of the PLA Navy’s large amphibious transports and most of the new large civil ferries have been built since 2006....
“In terms of amphibious lift potential, the civilian large ferry fleet may be able to transport two to three times what formal PLA amphibious ships could carry,” Fisher said. “These are also capable of being loaded rapidly, but require captured functional ports in order to be used to their full benefit.”
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A look back in history. Merchant navy in Falklands war.
Weasel's comment: 5-6 divisions in 2006. 8-12 divisions in 2014. DoD 2015 conclusion: no increase. Will it suddenly increase in a US election year next year? stay tuned....
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Last Edit: June 17, 2015, 03:45:02 AM by weasel1962 »
