PLAN Carrier Strike Group and Airwing

FuManChu said:

Jeff, that third picture looks like a zoomed version of one often seen before. Maybe it's just me, but perhaps you should check other pictures of it from that direction to see if that ship in the foreground is there too.

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I am sure the last one is a zoomed in pic of one already shown at a distance, but I wanted to show that the deck is indeed being worked on and progress being made on its surface. The other two are ones I have not seen before.

Kilo636 said:

Still ,the lack of radar and sensor installation on Varyag hamper the chances of it entering PLAN service. Only when we start to see such installation on Varyag then we can clearly assume Varyag will enter service as first PLAN A/C.

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I agree. That will be a key occurrance and will certainly verify its intended use.

Kilo636 said:

Hope u guys don't put too much hope on Varyag. I know Varyag was bought with an agreement from Ukarine that it will not use for military purpose and I believe the Chinese still abide by that agreement!

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Just very interested. I do not believe that the Chinese intend to abide that agreement...which was to use her as a Casino, where the holding company that entered into the agreement has gone out of business. Since that has occurred and it is in a naval yard being worked on, I believe all those bets are off...but that is just my opinion.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

Looking at that picture of the bow it looks very clean with a new surface applied.

I'm looking foward to the day when we see some radars on the island.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

bd popeye said:

Looking at that picture of the bow it looks very clean with a new surface applied..

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That was my thought too. It looks like they are continuing to work on the flight deck and get it in good order. The picture from the aft side gives me the same impression.

bd popeye said:

I'm looking foward to the day when we see some radars on the island.

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Me too. I have read from a Chinese post that Tphuang quoted that there is work going on internally with propulsion right now. I still believe 2008 is a good time frame...but we shall just have to wait and see.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

Jeff Head said:

That was my thought too. It looks like they are continuing to work on the flight deck and get it in good order. The picture from the aft side gives me the same impression.

Me too. I have read from a Chinese post that Tphaung quoted that there is work going on internally with propulsion right now. I still believe 2008 is a good time frame...but we shall just have to wait and see.

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My view is this. We haven't seen a photo from Varyag for a long time. To me, that means there are things been done on it right now. But yeah, until the next photo comes out, it's kind of hard to judge.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

tphuang said:

My view is this. We haven't seen a photo from Varyag for a long time. To me, that means there are things been done on it right now. But yeah, until the next photo comes out, it's kind of hard to judge.

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I believe things are going on. The first two photos I posted above in post number 675 were ones I had not seen before, and even if they are several months old, they clearly represent to me progress being made on the carrier's deck. I believe, from those pics, that the deck has been covered over in a relatively final coat, overlaying the non-skid primer we saw some time ago.

If the PLAN is putting that effort into to the deck, you can bet that there is some corresponding effort going on internal to the ship. Exactly what that is, we do not know, and probably will not know until work of some type of begins on her island.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

Jeff Head said:

I believe things are going on. The first two photos I posted above in post number 675 were ones I had not seen before, and even if they are several months old, they clearly represent to me progress being made on the carrier's deck. I believe, from those pics, that the deck has been covered over in a relatively final coat, overlaying the non-skid primer we saw some time ago.

If the PLAN is putting that effort into to the deck, you can bet that there is some corresponding effort going on internal to the ship. Exactly what that is, we do not know, and probably will not know until work of some type of begins on her island.

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hey Jeff, where did you get those pictures of Varyag from? I haven't seen those ones either and haven't seen new ones out for a long long time.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

???

tphuang said:

hey Jeff, where did you get those pictures of Varyag from? I haven't seen those ones either and haven't seen new ones out for a long long time.

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The up close one one I found on Defence Talk. As I said, the deck appears clearly to be being worked on. Starting to look, at least from these angles, like it is close to its final coating, but no positioning markings on there yet. Need a more recent overhead.

swimmerXC said:

???
[qimg]http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/1677/varyag90406he5.jpg[/qimg]

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Can't really see the deck surface in that photo, but the photo itself looks more recent as well.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

That picture that swimmer posted looks like the one with the "PS" of a J-10 on the flight deck i saw several months ago.

Jeff as far as the deck makings go you may not see them untill all major work on the flight deck is done...That's how most navies do that sort of thing.

Re: Latest Varyag Pics

Just wondering, who takes these pictures?

The most obvious sign of military use is if/when they install missle launchers/CIWS on the Varyag. That will also make it obvious that commisioning is not far in the future.