I signed up as an SDF member in January 2012, the year when Liaoning was about to be commissioned towards the end of the year. I actually had been lurking around SDF for some time before that.
One of my earliest posts that got me a lot of likes back then was about the trip that I went to China and found out the country was swept by "carrier craze." I also mentioned that I bought a multi-volume book series on carriers in China - the history, the combats, the construction, the technology, the operations and maintenance, in a word, everything about carriers - that target ordinary readers. I was amazed by its scope and meticulous details, which showed years of research Chinese naval community had devoted to.
China's carrier program has been shaping up to be the most carefully and methodically planned and executed large and complex defense program in the nation's history and indeed, among one of the world's most successful ones. To be sure, the carrier program is still in the midst of a relatively long journey before reaching its end goal: CVNs with EMALS, but there is little doubt that it will get there before the end of next decade.
No other Chinese large defense programs can match its smooth planning, execution and success. The destroyer program took years of delays and zigzags until it reaches its present status of a world-class destroyer in 055; the nuclear submarine program had suffered from long pause, delay and technology barriers and has always been shrouded in mystery. J-20, a surprisingly successful story, is more a tactical weapon platform and much smaller in scope of program.
One of my earliest posts that got me a lot of likes back then was about the trip that I went to China and found out the country was swept by "carrier craze." I also mentioned that I bought a multi-volume book series on carriers in China - the history, the combats, the construction, the technology, the operations and maintenance, in a word, everything about carriers - that target ordinary readers. I was amazed by its scope and meticulous details, which showed years of research Chinese naval community had devoted to.
China's carrier program has been shaping up to be the most carefully and methodically planned and executed large and complex defense program in the nation's history and indeed, among one of the world's most successful ones. To be sure, the carrier program is still in the midst of a relatively long journey before reaching its end goal: CVNs with EMALS, but there is little doubt that it will get there before the end of next decade.
No other Chinese large defense programs can match its smooth planning, execution and success. The destroyer program took years of delays and zigzags until it reaches its present status of a world-class destroyer in 055; the nuclear submarine program had suffered from long pause, delay and technology barriers and has always been shrouded in mystery. J-20, a surprisingly successful story, is more a tactical weapon platform and much smaller in scope of program.
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