CV-16, CV-17 STOBAR carrier thread (001/Liaoning, 002/Shandong)

by78

General
those look like target drones to me

They don't look like PLAN target drones, which are almost without exception painted red or reddish orange.

The image is very blurry, but I spot possibly two different types of drones. Just going by memory, they could be this and this or maybe even this and/or
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, or really any of a number of VTOL drones that have been spotted in the past few years, as seen
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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, and
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. I'd list more, but I'm too lazy to find the rest.
 

wssth0306

Junior Member
Registered Member
They don't look like PLAN target drones, which are almost without exception painted red or reddish orange.

The image is very blurry, but I spot possibly two different types of drones. Just going by memory, they could be this and this or maybe even this and/or
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, or really any of a number of VTOL drones that have been spotted in the past few years, as seen
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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, and
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. I'd list more, but I'm too lazy to find the rest.
It just looks too me to short ranged (small) to be useful beyond been a target , I can't think of a use of one in a naval situation.
Army battalion would love to have a drone that would extend it's intel 20KM-40KM forward, buy for the navy ,that too small of extension to justify it's use , they would be better to deploy a much bigger drone , since it can do everything the small one can and has much bigger range.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
It just looks too me to short ranged (small) to be useful beyond been a target , I can't think of a use of one in a naval situation.
Army battalion would love to have a drone that would extend it's intel 20KM-40KM forward, buy for the navy ,that too small of extension to justify it's use , they would be better to deploy a much bigger drone , since it can do everything the small one can and has much bigger range.
How about ASW you don't need range for ASW. Not sure what is the torpedo range 30 or 40 km? Since Torpedo is the most potent weapon for submarine
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
It just looks too me to short ranged (small) to be useful beyond been a target , I can't think of a use of one in a naval situation.
Army battalion would love to have a drone that would extend it's intel 20KM-40KM forward, buy for the navy ,that too small of extension to justify it's use , they would be better to deploy a much bigger drone , since it can do everything the small one can and has much bigger range.

Why does anyone think that these drones are intended as part of the carrier's actual intended drone complement?

UAVs are an emerging domain of high end warfare, and there is lots of R&D and experimentation to do.


These drones in question are small, not particularly high end and likely have short range and endurance with small sensor fits.
Not what you'd expect for a carrier's proper drone complement right?

But what if you are doing experiments with seeing how a carrier can simultaneously control and coordinate multiple drones? For that, you wouldn't need high end drones -- in fact, smaller drones would make more sense. They only need to be capable enough to demonstrate certain command and control techniques.




This is one problem I see with people's observations of "new" drones being tested or developed.
They instantly wonder if it is the "intended final product" that will be mass produced and procured in large numbers.

The fact is that there are so many aspects of high end drone warfare, among so many different categories of drones, some with overlapping technologies, some without, and that they need to do trials and risk reduction that often can be platform agnostic.

Testing done today with simple and small drones can feed into high end stealthy strike UCAVs years down the line. It doesn't mean the small drones will be procured as an intended complement for the ship in question.
 

by78

General
It just looks too me to short ranged (small) to be useful beyond been a target...

I wouldn't say there is no use case for them. Remember
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? These VTOL drones could come in real handy when there is a need to quickly check out suspicious small crafts or boats without having to scramble a helicopter.
 
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wssth0306

Junior Member
Registered Member
Why does anyone think that these drones are intended as part of the carrier's actual intended drone complement?

This is one problem I see with people's observations of "new" drones being tested or developed.
They instantly wonder if it is the "intended final product" that will be mass produced and procured in large numbers.
I wasn't saying that what we saw is the end product , rather just making on observation on what a platform of this size might be able to do.
As a technology demonstrator is definitely possible.
How about ASW you don't need range for ASW. Not sure what is the torpedo range 30 or 40 km? Since Torpedo is the most potent weapon for submarine
It can't really carry anything beyond a sensors, it too small to carry any weapon that can hit a submarine , it might even be able to carry a sonar buoy since it is a vertical takeoff vehicle. Torpedoes are big things , so heavy in fact that Z-9 in PLAN service cannot carry it and the sonar buoy at the same time, that why the navy really wanted the Z20 , cause it is big enough to carry with it both the search and kill tool, so the fleet won't need multiple helicopters to complete kill chain.
 

Squidward

New Member
Registered Member
The current drones seem too small to do anything but short range recon, but the fact that there are so many of them as well as the fact that they could be vtol, makes me think they could be for testing unmanned vertical replenishment? You could probably get some pretty good throughput and better flexibility with a swarm of drones instead of just using one or two helicopters to transfer supplies between ships. Would be used in situations where traditional underway replenishment isn't possible or isn't necessary.

Kind of like those Amazon/Google delivery drones we've heard about, except designed for naval operation.

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Volpler11

Junior Member
Registered Member
The UAV reminds me of this
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talking about a naval target drone unit being deployed to certain new ship that is very large.
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. The rest of the article talks about the history of the main guy.

Here are some key quotes.
As the fourth-level sergeant major of an aerial target squadron of a brigade in a joint training base of the Navy, Liu Qiutong is the longest soldier in the unit. As a navy for 11 years, this is the largest and most majestic ship Liu Qiutong has ever seen with his own eyes.

A few days ago, the squadron received the task: during the exercise, the target aircraft was used to simulate "enemy" combat aircraft and cruise missiles, to construct air threats, and to test the air defense and anti-missile capabilities of surface ships.

As a fast-growing Air Blue Army, officers and soldiers listen to and practice such words every day, and they are already familiar with it. However, when the superior clearly stated that they were training on a new type of domestically produced ship, the officers and soldiers of the squadron were instantly excited.

"The blue army is to help the participating troops to test the performance of equipment, verify tactical tactics, and temper their combat skills through attacks that are similar to actual combat." Liu Qiutong said that on such a giant steel ship, more target racks can be launched at the same time. , the operability is stronger, and the attack mode is more diverse. This time, the squadron dispatched multiple crews at the same time.
 

Richard Santos

Captain
Registered Member
How about ASW you don't need range for ASW. Not sure what is the torpedo range 30 or 40 km? Since Torpedo is the most potent weapon for submarine
Isn’t that what CY series of rocket delivered torpedos are for? they can get a torpedo from a ship to over the submarine much more promptly than a low speed drone.


Although testing the operation abs coordination of drone swarms from carrier decks does not necessarily need be done on the actual drones intended for service, but much can probably be tested using some suitably cheap drones able to accommodate the software and communication package.
 
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