The USS Stetham is a good choice. She has conducted joint drills with the PLAN in the past, and they know her.
Here she is:
South China Sea Strategies for other nations (Not China)
- Thread starter PanAsian
- Start date
Here she is:
These three pic of the three new Chinese islands with their airfields are stunning.
Having worked the last 15 years of my career for the US Bureau of Reclamation, I have to say how impressive what the Chinese have accomplished is.
They took shoals and reefs and turned them into impressive island bases with all of the fixings. And folks, these have clearly been designed to be mutually supportive military installations...and the proof is in the pictures of the finished products.
...and I have no problem with the Chinese improving their possessions however they feel warranted. Other nations are foolish to write off, scoff at, or take lightly what China is doing. And they did this at the same time they are doing a massive and equally impressive military/naval modernization and build up.
In fact, it is clear that the two go together like a hand in glove.
Simply amazing from what originally existed there.
Having worked the last 15 years of my career for the US Bureau of Reclamation, I have to say how impressive what the Chinese have accomplished is.
They took shoals and reefs and turned them into impressive island bases with all of the fixings. And folks, these have clearly been designed to be mutually supportive military installations...and the proof is in the pictures of the finished products.
...and I have no problem with the Chinese improving their possessions however they feel warranted. Other nations are foolish to write off, scoff at, or take lightly what China is doing. And they did this at the same time they are doing a massive and equally impressive military/naval modernization and build up.
In fact, it is clear that the two go together like a hand in glove.
Simply amazing from what originally existed there.
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Just for comparison sake...look at what the original improvements were back in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s of all three areas in the same order...Mischief, Fiery, and Subi:
Each of those structures is a small...a very small...dot on the large islands they have created. Those air fields are each something on the order of 10,000 feet long, capable of landing any aircraft from a fighter, to a large bomber. As I said...amazing.
For example, here's Fiery in 2013:
Here's Fiery two years later:
You saw what the finished product is now in 2017 above.
Each of those structures is a small...a very small...dot on the large islands they have created. Those air fields are each something on the order of 10,000 feet long, capable of landing any aircraft from a fighter, to a large bomber. As I said...amazing.
For example, here's Fiery in 2013:
Here's Fiery two years later:
You saw what the finished product is now in 2017 above.
Jura The idiot
General
some time ago Jun 28, 2017
Global Defence Technology: Issue 80
in the last page of
A Place for Palau
(which is so fancy document that even getting a screenshot didn't work for me)
this:
"... The future is likely to be decided in the months ahead,
as the 2018 NDAA moves through House-Senate conference comittee
stage and Congress members look to resolve the differences of
position betweeen the two chambers.
...
As military spending goes, $17.7m a year will not buy much ...
It is very hard to see the US walking away from that sort of
bargain."
let's wait and see if the US makes this eighteen million saving
now noticed inside
Global Defence Technology: Issue 80
in the last page of
A Place for Palau
(which is so fancy document that even getting a screenshot didn't work for me)
this:
"... The future is likely to be decided in the months ahead,
as the 2018 NDAA moves through House-Senate conference comittee
stage and Congress members look to resolve the differences of
position betweeen the two chambers.
...
As military spending goes, $17.7m a year will not buy much ...
It is very hard to see the US walking away from that sort of
bargain."
let's wait and see if the US makes this eighteen million saving
Jura The idiot
General
ooh la la
Le parcours inédit d'une frégate FREMM en mer de Chine méridionale
Translated from French by
The new course of a frigate FREMM in South China Sea
Le parcours inédit d'une frégate FREMM en mer de Chine méridionale
Translated from French by
The new course of a frigate FREMM in South China Sea
SamuraiBlue
Captain
Here is some movement;
Although the article claims it is the first PM Abe refutes this claim on TV;
Stating that JMSDF have been doing training in the South China Seas for the past 15 years including last year and the year before that the only thing different is that JMSDF had announced this specific training to the public for the first time.
Although the article claims it is the first PM Abe refutes this claim on TV;
Stating that JMSDF have been doing training in the South China Seas for the past 15 years including last year and the year before that the only thing different is that JMSDF had announced this specific training to the public for the first time.
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SamuraiBlue
Captain
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
I have no problem with Japan competing against China in South East Asia Let see who can contribute most to the advancement of SEA economy
This is better competition than war But no ganging up against China
I think those SEA countries know which side of their bread is buttered
China will be there for eternity and when you live next to an elephant you live by their twitch and grunt Pierre Eliot Trudeau
Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an . No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.
This is better competition than war But no ganging up against China
I think those SEA countries know which side of their bread is buttered
China will be there for eternity and when you live next to an elephant you live by their twitch and grunt Pierre Eliot Trudeau
Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an . No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.
It's hardly surprising that the Japanese are also interested in free passage through the area. Their oilers also have to go through Singapore to go to Persian Gulf among other things. Same thing about the South Koreans. I wouldn't be surprised to see a joint military show of force in that area sometime.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
For the Japanese and Koreans, yes, the SCS is important, but hardly critical. Worst case, their ships can loop around the Phillipines east coast and approach from the west. It will add time and cost, but not prohibitively.
For China, if a foreign power controlled the SCS, they can effectively cut Chinese sea based trade lines.
Chinese shipping cannot loop around the same way, as that would be putting them further into the reach of likely hostile foreign powers.
The SCS is the only place on earth where such a blockade would have any hope of succeeding.
Further away and you cannot easily distinguish who’s ships are sailing and where they are going, especially if those ships are actively trying to hide their identity and destination.
Closer and you run into practically and cost barriers as trying to conduct an interdiction campaign within range of mainland Chinese air and land based assets is going to be extreme costly, if not downright impossible.
So, for China, the SCS is effectively an existential issue.
No other power has that level of commitment to the issue, or that resources that could be brought to bare to defend it.
That is why the whole FONOP business is just a non-starter. If push comes to shove, China has the means and motivation to go as far as needed to win there. Whereas no other power can have such commitment or capabilities to wrestle control from China at this point in time, never mind the future.
For China, if a foreign power controlled the SCS, they can effectively cut Chinese sea based trade lines.
Chinese shipping cannot loop around the same way, as that would be putting them further into the reach of likely hostile foreign powers.
The SCS is the only place on earth where such a blockade would have any hope of succeeding.
Further away and you cannot easily distinguish who’s ships are sailing and where they are going, especially if those ships are actively trying to hide their identity and destination.
Closer and you run into practically and cost barriers as trying to conduct an interdiction campaign within range of mainland Chinese air and land based assets is going to be extreme costly, if not downright impossible.
So, for China, the SCS is effectively an existential issue.
No other power has that level of commitment to the issue, or that resources that could be brought to bare to defend it.
That is why the whole FONOP business is just a non-starter. If push comes to shove, China has the means and motivation to go as far as needed to win there. Whereas no other power can have such commitment or capabilities to wrestle control from China at this point in time, never mind the future.