hmmmm....this must be very interesting for the PLAN. those awesome images of a cool russian corvette approx 1000 tons displacement firing cruise missiles against targets approx 1000 klms away. maybe china should build a version of it's 056 that can fire cruise missiles like them russians, and build lots of them. we always see destroyers or cruisers firing cruise missiles but seeing them done by corvettes in the caspian sea was spectacular.
I don't think the PLAN would be that impressed or interested.
If they really wanted to, they could switch out the C802s on their 500ton 022s and put in cruise missiles instead. Same with the 056 or any current operational PLAN ship.
Hell, if it really wanted to, China could park land based cruise missile launcher trucks on the deck of container ships and let rip and it would achieve similar results.
China is far more interested in well-rounded designs that can stand up to the best the rest of the world has to offer.
If China was involved in the operation, it would be firing cruise missiles from 052Ds, and would be able to fire far more such missiles that what the small Russian corvettes could hold.
What's more impressive, corvettes firing 26 missiles and needing to return to port to reload, or destroyers firing several times that number of missiles and still being able to remain on station and defend themselves against any threats?
Far from being a sign of strength, I see the fact that the Russians had to rely on corvettes as a sad sign how far their once mighty shipbuilding industry has fallen.
How many cruise missile capable FFGs and DDGs does the Russian navy have?
Although they do have SSGNs, and I did wonder out loud if it might not have been better for them to deploy one of them rather than that Typhoon.
SSGNs firing off dozens to hundreds of cruise missiles would be something that would impress and interest the PLAN. Although China will almost certainly develop their own rather than buy anything the Russians might have available for export.
