We can talk about this somewhere else, but I will point out that the Chinese Foreign Ministry's response to Obama's statement this week was a lot more muted than (at least I) anticipated. I think that shows China's willingness to give the US some wiggle room with regards to maintaining its alliances while bigger geopolitical concerns are afoot (Russia). Furthermore, one cannot emphasize a key word in that statement, which is "administered". So no, I did not see Obama's recent statements on this trip as any major shift. Furthermore, if we're going to talk about the security situation over time, the US's presence in East Asia has actually weakened very much compared to what it was in the 90s, so all this coded language about the US's "intentions" for China seems pretty silly from that perspective. But let's leave it all at that.
PLAN Aircraft Carrier programme...(Closed)
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We can talk about this somewhere else, but I will point out that the Chinese Foreign Ministry's response to Obama's statement this week was a lot more muted than (at least I) anticipated. I think that shows China's willingness to give the US some wiggle room with regards to maintaining its alliances while bigger geopolitical concerns are afoot (Russia). Furthermore, one cannot emphasize a key word in that statement, which is "administered". So no, I did not see Obama's recent statements on this trip as any major shift. Furthermore, if we're going to talk about the security situation over time, the US's presence in East Asia has actually weakened very much compared to what it was in the 90s, so all this coded language about the US's "intentions" for China seems pretty silly from that perspective. But let's leave it all at that.
But, the point I am trying to make is not geared so much topwards US-China relationships as it is towards an opportunity on China's part to depict to its own people and the general community how it can be perceived.
That is a great opportunity.
The US, in the past, has had even worse feelings and actions towards China, and yet used numerous opportunities to bring Chinese onto its naval ships and then photographed them there in an effort to show that despite other issues, the ability to draw the militaries closer helped lessen tensions and the chance of improper reactions, and conveyed a general spirit of goodwill all around.
Hagel visited a Chinese Yuan sub just a few months before and there were quite a few pictures of that, including him inside the sub.
I would simply have thought that an opportunity to do the same on the carrier, would have been take advantage of as much for their own people and a general impression amongst the international community as a whole as any US-China relations portion of it.
Anyhow, I just wish there had been more. I have to believe that there are more pictures that the PLAN itself took.
Oh well, each in its time.
On to other Carrier issues then.
The military strategy page is headlining the Liaoning is out of action for the remainder of 2014. I don't go there much, but it does make me wonder why they would dry-dock the Liaoning during what should be the busy season of spring and summer???, as periodic maintenance of aircraft and such is usually scheduled for the months when the weather is not conducive to operations?? Just curious if there has been anything substantive released about the dry-docking????
This is the article on Strategy Page that Air Force Brat was talking about. It says that the Liaoning will be at the shipyard in Dalian for at least 6 months to do maintenance and modification works. If it is true it will be very interesting. Since she has only been to sea for 146 days in the past 1,5 years. And there were just 3 Flankers doing landings and take offs in that time. How much wear and tear could there be from that ? Unless they have discovered issue's with some of the new systems. Its also means that she will be out of the shipyard somewhere in october or november which is my expected date for the embarking of the air wing. I suppose they want to get rid of all the bugs on that ship before the air wing embarks.
Hmmm, it will be interesting to see if any of these modifications are substantive, and if they are noticeable.
Thanks for the link and the summation. It is a good summation and something very much worth talking about and discussing.
Well, my guess is, that they have accumulated quite a list of desired fixes, minor repairs (major repairs would be handled as they occur), and modifications based on the last 1-2 years of experience they now have with the carrier.
I am not sure we will see the airwing embark this year at all.
They will take her out for a shake down of the vessel and crew with the new fixes and changes, to ensure that all of those are working right. That may take two or more voyages to accomplish and would not be unusual.
That will occur sometime after she leaves the yards. Since it will be the Winter season, I expect they will do that as they can, and then probably wait until the next spring to embark any air wing, if in fact they have them ready by then.
Time will tell on that issue.
I would expect the future, long term escort for the Liaoning to include at least one Type 052D DDG and one other DDG, probably a Type 052C or a Type 051C. I would also expect it to include two Type 054A FFGs and then one SSN. Even though the PLAN does not have many SSNs, the later Type 093 SSNs could function as an escort, and would be important for the Liaoning. At some point, of course, they will use a Type 095 SSN when they are ready.
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TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Because there's so little hard data any opinion is fed digested regurgitated remixed debated buried dug up and reposted.
When I look at the slow progress of getting a full Carrier Air Wing Operational, the lack of Aircraft and now the news of a long, long refit, I really am left with the very strong impression that most of what Liaoning is about, is not to be the first Operational Chinese Carrier Group, but really as the floating testbed for the Indigenous Carrier programme and to be honest, this is is what I have always suspected right from the start.
Liaoning is of course a Carrier built to the dedicated operation of Flankers, but it does hark back to a previous generation and there is no real evidence to support the contention that Russian and Chinese operational requirements are the same.
It also reinforces the notion that Carrier Aviation is still not a priority for the PLA, still just a work in progress and something not really important to military Planning until the next decade.
Liaoning is of course a Carrier built to the dedicated operation of Flankers, but it does hark back to a previous generation and there is no real evidence to support the contention that Russian and Chinese operational requirements are the same.
It also reinforces the notion that Carrier Aviation is still not a priority for the PLA, still just a work in progress and something not really important to military Planning until the next decade.
Just more affirmation that bd popeye and Jeff Head were right when reminding posters that simply having a carrier, does not a CV make, and some of those hard cold posts about the reality of life at sea are not naysaying, but simply reality checks, that may be a little disappointing to the rest of us, I myself would have bet that last Franklin that the PLANAF, would have had 6 J-15s on deck this spring ready to rock and roll??? guess I was wrong?
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