PLA Navy news, pics and videos

Jura said:

the second FON this year by the USN in the SCS:

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now off the Spratlys, after the Taiwan Strait Jan 25, 2019

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Higgle said:

It's worth pointing out that fzgfzy himself is little more than a rumour collector just like us. The difference is that he's more familiar with the subject matter due to experience, and that on occasion it does seem that he has indirect access to insider information. Like the kind of stuff you hear from a shipyard friend at dinner, from the friend of a friend, etc.

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Jura said:

Feb 11, 2019
and now noticed this short footage (inside

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) showing Type 054A x Burke:

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Interstellar said:

That's Akizuki class destroyer.

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Klon said:

So he's not in management at CSSC?

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• Exercises involved navy, air force and missile unit and were also held in western and central Pacific during 34-day mission
• They included some of China’s newest warships and aimed to simulate real combat situation

China has conducted a month of drills in the South China Sea and the western and central Pacific involving its navy, air force and missile unit.

Military observers said the exercises indicated the People’s Liberation Army wanted to put its wartime command system to the test and also strengthen its missile defences in the South China Sea.

The waterway is one of the world’s busiest and is subject to overlapping territorial disputes involving China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

Several of China’s newest warships took part in the exercises, according to a statement from the navy’s South Sea Fleet. They included guided missile destroyer the Hefei, guided missile frigate the Yuncheng, amphibious landing dock Changbaishan and the replenishment oiler Honghu.

To simulate a real wartime situation, the exercise had no pre-planned scenario and no advance notice was given, with all command instructions and procedures following an actual combat situation, the statement said.

“This training enabled us to deepen our knowledge of a systematic combat situation at sea and improve our capabilities,” it said.

Other training included repelling advancing vessels, rescue by force and live-fire exercises.

Over the course of the 34-day mission, which began on January 16, the joint forces carried out 20 drills.

A source close to the PLA said the Rocket Force also sent a communication group to take part because one of the drills involved missile defence, and troops stationed on Chinese-controlled islands in the South China Sea also joined the exercises.

“The Rocket Force would like to deploy its HQ-9 anti-air missiles and YJ anti-ship missiles on Woody Island on a permanent basis,” according to the source, who requested anonymity.

Woody is the largest of the contested Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. It is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam but is under China’s control.

The PLA has set up missile positions on Woody Island as well as several other man-made land features in the Spratly chain. Satellite images earlier showed missiles launchers installed on these artificial islands, but they have since been removed.

“China has not deployed assault weapons on islands in the South China Sea partly because the US is conducting frequent reconnaissance flights in the region,” the source said.

Hong Kong-based military analyst Song Zhongping said the latest exercises were an attempt by the PLA to better integrate the Rocket Force’s conventional and tactical units with the Southern Theatre Command, which oversees the South China Sea.

He added that the PLA had been restructuring its command chain since 2015.

“The Rocket Force’s nuclear missile power falls directly under the Central Military Commission, but responsibility for the conventional missile force would be transferred to the theatre command during wartime,” Song said. “This exercise was to put to the test the so-called combined force command, with all these capabilities.”

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Jura said:

Today at 7:54 AM
and now noticed
16:38, 11-Feb-2019
China strongly dissatisfied by U.S. warships entering South China Sea

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The United States sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Monday as the U.S. military increased the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.

The voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.

The movement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States and China are “very, very close” to a deal to end a months-long trade war that has slowed global growth and disrupted markets.

The U.S. Navy’s passage through the Taiwan Strait also comes just days before a summit between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a statement.

The two ships were identified as the destroyer Stethem and Navy cargo and ammunition ship Cesar Chavez, the statement added. The 180-km-wide (111.85 miles) Taiwan Strait separates Taiwan from China.

Washington has no formal ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to help defend the island nation and is its main source of arms. The Pentagon says Washington has sold Taiwan more than $15 billion in weaponry since 2010.

China has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island, which it considers a breakaway province of “one China.”

China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle the island on drills in the past few years and worked to isolate the island internationally, whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies.

Earlier this year the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency released a report describing Taiwan as the “primary driver” for China’s military modernization, which it said had made major advances in recent years.

Taiwan is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which also include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom of navigation patrols.

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