Re: Chinese sub thread
not sure whether to put it into this thread or the one crazyinsane just created. Anyhow, this is the translation of an interview with a PLAN Colonel:
copied from
Too long a post to translate. Here are some things mentioned. There are two articles from two sources.
The first article:
* 091 & 092 have been refitted, possible a new propulsion system, sound proof tiles, and JL-2.
* The sub collided with a foreign sub. Possibly Russian.
The second article(a long interview with a navy commander?, divided into three segments)
* China has finished the catpult develpment in a cave airport. The bottleneck is the carrier-capable fighter.
* China figured out how to hit US carriers with ballistic missles. Or at least there is enough potential to make US concerned, ala 1996 Taiwan Strait incident.
* China has the guided(?) Shkval topedo(or the Chinese equivalent with foreign assistance), the quoted speed is 1000m/s!!! The longest range for the target test is 130 knots!!!
* China has excellent C3I/C4I system across the strait.
* China subs have spied in foreign ports right under the enemy's nose.
* China has 24 hr duration stealth UAV.
* 039 is capble of launching anti-sub, anti-ship and anti-radiation missles.
* There is a new type of missles capable of actively blinding oppornents' radar and sensors.
more translation:
Addendum and more details:
First article:
Sound tiles, about 5 cm thick, looked foreign, from the packaging. Suspect Northern European. Attachment is not via glue, but mechanical. Front side smooth, back side uneven.
Subs' missile silo tops refitted and looks new. Top is rounded instead of flat and taller to accomodate JL-2.
Sub nose shows shiny new metal, repairs from collision with foreign sub. So that's what "Big nose" means?
---
The second article has lots of sailor's anecdotes with the nuggets of info mixed in, hence it's so long. Pardon if I left some things out, I read these parts last night and this is what struck out.
First he talks about the battle depicted in the movie "Sea Hawk" (proper translation? can't find it on imdb). The main idea was that the secret engine in the Chinese FACs allowed them to operate at flank speeds for a much longer duration than Russian FACs at the time. The opponent thought we were using Russian equipment so did not take the threat seriously. Thus surprise was achieved. Supposedly when China wanted the MIG-21 from Russia, they asked for this engine in return. The moral of the story is to keep some critical capabilities hidden.
The second anecdote talks about the '96 strait missile crisis. Media reports the US carriers moved back "200 nautical miles" after their initial position, possibly due to the dissapearance of one of China's SSNs. Interviewee states that it could be partially due to this, but the main reason was the DF-21 Mod 3 anti-carrier IRBM. He claims that China has sovled the 3 big problems with an anti-carrier IRBM: tracking target, mid-flight and terminal course correction, and terminal guidance. He claims that the US moved their carriers not 200 nauts, but 1000 nauts after the DF21s were brought out of their tunnels. That China knew this and tracked their course entirely (gave coordinates, but censored). The US learned of the capability because some researcher or officer's kid was tricked by TWese agent to cut a small piece of material from a model. The material eventually reached the CIA and from this, they concluded that China had anti-carrier IRBM capability.
The next anecdote is about training with Kilos. Apparently without their latest equipment, the surface vessels could not find the Kilos for days. When the exercise ended the kilo was finally found when the sub crew were banging their pots and pans. The ship captains were rather annoyed. During the next exercise they recruited help from local militia to organize fishermen to use their fishing nets, and they found the kilo by thus cheating.
But during later parts of the execrise, new technologies using (I'm not sure what is the proper translation for "线谱") and laser-radar were able to find the Kilos.
The next part talks a bit about incidents in the South China Sea, but not much in the way of current info.
Then it talks about 039 as yccnorth already summarized. The navy is more or less satisfied, but wants to keep developing it to be cutting edge, hence each ship is different. But the main objective was to be able to fire the 3 kinds of missiles: anti-ship, anti-sub, and anti-radiation.
Then it talks about carrier development. Supposedly the problems are all solved except aircraft, and the Navy is really wanting to acquire SU-32FN, not just a rumor. Supposedly the problems of catapult and deck material have been solved. A land-based testing site was built, with separate landing strip and catapult. The catapult is steam (PLAN insisted) and is inside a cave (I suppose the aircraft flies out the mouth on takeoff). Tested with J-7II. Testing is already complete and caves probably sealed-off. It wasn't detected by foreign intel, even with satelite, because it looked the same as other cave-based airstrips. Steam catapult development was based on carrier bought from Aussies as scrap metal. Plans for carrier is in the 60,000 ton displacement class, 24 fighters, 24 strike ac. Models have fighters that look like small F-22s.
And that's only the translation for half of the interview.
anyhow, I think that confirms quite a few thing. In the sub related front, it looks like they are really working on the new noise reduction technologies and the ASW techniques seem to be getting slightly better.
