GULF OF ADEN, November 18 (ChinaMil) -- The guided missile frigate “Hengshui” of the 15th escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLAN), which is on an escort mission in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast, held a maritime drill with the guided missile frigate “Hetman Sahaidachnyi” (U130) of the Ukrainian Navy on an escort mission in the same water area on the morning of November 14, local time.
The joint maritime drill is featured by joint search and rescue as well as boarding and inspection.
This is the first time for the navies of China and Ukraine to hold a maritime joint drill.
The maritime joint search and rescue drill was conducted against the background that the escort taskforces of China and Ukraine were to provide humanitarian assistance for a merchant ship of a third country hit by a powerful typhoon....
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During the drill, the Chinese and Ukrainian warships simulated in turn the merchant ship suspected of carrying illegal cargo to accept the boarding and inspection of the other side.
The Ukrainian guided missile frigate “Hetman Sahaidachnyi” simulated the merchant ship first. After the Chinese guided missile frigate “Hengshui” demanded it to accept boarding and inspection, the “merchant ship” stopped and drifted, and the frigate “Hengshui” dispatched a joint inspection team to board the ship and carry out inspection.
After the inspection was done, the frigate “Hengshui” also simulated the merchant ship to accept boarding and inspection.
After the drill, Jiang Zhonghua, commander of the Chinese side, and Talasov, commander of the Ukrainian side, met on the Chinese guided missile frigate “Hengshui”.
During the meeting, both sides expressed that this drill is conducive to deepening the friendship between the two navies. It helps improve the coordination and cooperation between the taskforces of the two countries in escort operations.
The Nigeria Navy (NN) has contracted the China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company (CSOC) to upgrade its naval dockyard into at Port Harcourt into a world-class factory that will build offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and carry out maintenance on vessels. The Chinese company, which won a contract to build two 95 metre P18N OPVs for the Nigerian Navy in 2009, is scaling up the facilities to enable it to do the remaining construction works on the vessels locally in Port Harcourt. Nigerian Navy chief of Policy and Plans Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogbor said the upgrading of the shipyard is part of the navy's drive to develop a local ship-building capability and an industrial base capable of maintaining the country's naval vessels. Localising building of naval vessels in Nigeria will make more naval ships available for patrol and protection of critical offshore infrastructure in Nigeria's maritime domain for the benefit of all,” Ogbor said. CSOC representative Xu Qui said the first phase of the project will entail construction of a new jetty and other facilities for the repairing of ships up to 5 000 dead-weight tons (dwt). The second phase will focus on the construction of a new dry dock and auxiliary facilities with a capacity to build and repair offshore patrol vessels and 5 000 dwt ships. The third and final phase will see the setting up of a fully modern shipyard capable of building and repairing offshore patrol vessels, offshore platformss and seafaring vessels of up to 10 000 dwt. According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, the first Chinese-built OPV is being built at the Wuchang shipyard in Wuhan and is expected to be delivered to Nigeria in mid-2014. The second vessel is also set to arrive in Nigeria in 2014, and will be completed either later next year or in early 2015. According to Jane’s, the NN dockyard has already produced a 31metre long Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) and is using the experience gained to build a larger, 38-metre long SDB and a 16.56 m, 92 ton naval tug. The dockyard previously built a 90-passenger naval ferry (Sauka Lafiya) in 2009. International interest in Nigerian ship-building has grown of late with Singapore-based Suncraft International offering the NN two low-cost ship designs - one for a 60 metre long vessel with a helicopter pad and the other for a 90 metre long vessel which has an integral hangar. Suncraft has delivered at least a dozen 17 metre Manta and two 38 metre patrol craft to the Nigerian Navy, which will soon receive two Ocea FPB 98 patrol craft. Many of the Nigerian Navy’s vessels are in poor condition due to lack of maintenance, but the Navy is embarking on a highly ambitious expansion programme that aims to acquire 49 naval vessels and 42 helicopters over the next decade. A number of vessels have been delivered over the last several years, such as the ex-US Coast Guard Hamilton class cutter NNS Thunder, and dozens of inshore patrol vessels. The Nigerian Navy will receive two more ex-United States vessels in 2014/15, the US Navy Survey Ship John McDonnell and the US Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin.
The state-run China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation will have to spend at least US$20 billion to design and develop vessels for the PLA Navy's first carrier battle group, according to the Toyko-based Yomiuri Shimbun.
With the task of building 80% of the PLA Navy's ships, the CSIC has already begun to raise funds through the stock market. However, the company has only managed to raise under US$8.5 billion as its strong ties to China's military development, limits the type of investors allowed to participate.
Most of the funds collected so far are from other state-run businesses, but the CSIC is considering plans to sell its stock to the general public as well. While more money can be raised in the open market, it is also a way to call on the public to support their country's military efforts, insiders said.
The CSIC is also looking to raise funds to take over all major military projects assigned to affiliated company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry since the latter is the only company with experience to refit the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier. According to reports, China will build at least three aircaft carriers in the future, and the company plans to build one or more aircraft carriers over the next five to 10 years
Since aircraft carriers alone cannot make China a new maritime power, the CSIC will also build more destroyers, frigates and landing carriers which are necessary for the PLA Navy to form its first carrier battle group, with the Liaoning serving as its flagship. This plan was confirmed by the official website of PLA Navy on Sept. 24, the paper said.
During an event to celebrate the 64th anniversary of the PLA Navy this April, Duan Zhaoxian, vice chief of staff of the PLA Navy, stated that the position of China's carrier formation or carrier battle group will not surpass the country's three major fleets — which includes the North Sea, East Sea and South Sea fleets.
Sources from Russia's Rubin Design Bureau based in St Petersburg said that the Lada-class mini submarines sold to the People's Liberation Army Navy will be equipped with Chinese power and electronic fire-control systems, reports the Kanwa Defense Review operated by Andrei Chang or Pinkov (Andrei Chang), a military analyst in Canada.
The purchase was confirmed in a report by the US-based Strategy Page, but it is said that the four Lada class diesel-electric submarines will be modified specifically for China. Based on the PLA Navy's requests, the air independent propulsion system based on oxygen-hydrogen fuel cells — which allows the submarine to extend its underwater endurance to more than 15 days — will be removed.
Because the Lada-class submarine will not be used by the PLA Navy for ocean-going combat, the oxygen-hydrogen fuel cell is no longer necessary. The PLA Navy will instead power the submarine's air independent propulsion system with Chinese Stirling engines. The country's Type 041 Yuan-class submarines and Type 032 Qing-class submarines are also equipped with the Stirling engine, the source said.
The four Lada-class submarines will also be equipped with advanced electronic systems developed in China and the fire-control system will also be modified to launch Chinese anti-air and anti-ship missiles.
(Reuters) - The Chinese navy is using its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, for training and testing and will decide on an operational carrier for the fleet after a few years of evaluation, Admiral Wu Shengli said on Thursday.
The navy chief of the People's Liberation Army, on a military-to-military visit with his U.S. counterpart, told reporters at the Washington Navy Yard that Chinese sailors would carry out "very heavy" training over the next two or three years as they assess the carrier.
"After the training and experimentation we will have a final evaluation on the development of the aircraft carrier for the PLA navy," said Shengli, whose delegation included the commander of the Liaoning and the first pilot to land on its flight deck.
The Chinese carrier was built on the shell of a Soviet-era vessel that China purchased from Ukraine. China revamped the ship, which was formally commissioned in September 2012. Flight operations began two months later.
The launch of the first Chinese carrier is been seen as a symbol of Beijing's ambition for greater global influence and another sign of its rapid military buildup. U.S. officials have downplayed the importance, noting that it takes years to learn to effectively integrate carriers into fleet operations.
Senior Captain Zhang Zheng, the commander of the Liaoning, said the carrier was smaller than U.S. aircraft carriers and had a "ski jump"-style ramp at the end of its longest runway.
"We have around 36 airplanes operating on board our ship," he told reporters. "And we are still practicing and doing tests and experiments for the equipment and systems."
Wu, Zhang and Captain Dai Ming Meng, the pilot who first landed on the carrier, visited several American ships in California earlier this week, including the carrier USS Carl Vinson, where they met with their counterparts.
"We talked in great detail in San Diego with our aviation people and Admiral Wu's aviation people," said Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, who hosted Wu. "It was great and inspiring to see two professionals talk about a common challenge - aviation from an aircraft carrier."
Wu received a ceremonial 19-gun salute at the Washington Navy Yard, the U.S. Navy's oldest shore establishment, during his formal welcoming ceremony on Thursday. He and his delegation visited the Pentagon later for further discussions.
The Wu visit was part of stepped-up efforts to improve military-to-military ties between the United States and China following a break in 2009 due to U.S. military sales to Taiwan. More than 40 visits, exchanges and engagements are planned for 2013, versus 20 last year.
China is due to participate for the first time next summer in the U.S.-sponsored Rim of the Pacific exercises, the world's largest maritime warfare exercise.
With the United States shifting its focus on the Asia-Pacific after a dozen years of war in Afghanistan, the two navies are increasingly bumping up against each other in hot spots in the region. They hope to build up a mutual understanding that can help avert confrontations in the future.
Greenert said recently that Wu and other Chinese military leaders want to "move on to a consistency of dialogue" and "get away from miscalculation."
"He has a challenge of a growing navy and an assignment ... to operate in the South China Sea," Greenert told the American Enterprise Institute think tank last week. "They know we're going to be there too ... so he wants to get away from miscalculation and preclude ... a scenario that they just wish they hadn't gotten themselves into."
MANILA - A classified government document seen by Kyodo News on Friday confirmed that U.S. Navy surveillance planes conduct routine maritime patrol to monitor activities in the disputed South China Sea.
"(There were) confirmed flights of U.S. P3C Orion aircraft over the South China Sea especially (in the contested Spratly Islands)," according to the document.
Last year, Philippine President Benigno Aquino revealed that Manila was seeking U.S. deployment of P3C Orion spy planes over the disputed sea since the Philippines lacks the capability to monitor its territorial and maritime claims in the sea.
"We can only do (the) best (with) what we have," the document says. "The military is aware of its limitations as regards equipment, naval and air assets, facilities and funding to support our efforts" in the South China Sea.
It says the military "needs another perspective of intelligence from higher headquarters and agencies that are relevant to our efforts".
Military experts describe the P3C Orion, a land-based maritime surveillance and antisubmarine aircraft that can intercept communications, as one of the most sensitive planes in the U.S. fleet.
Its reconnaissance flights are focused on Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged shoal 128 nautical miles (237 kilometers) off the Philippine island province of Palawan.
Since February, the Philippine military says, China has sent frigates and maritime surveillance vessels to the vicinity of the disputed shoal to maintain a presence, setting off alarm bells in Manila.
The territory, which is known to the Philippines as Ayungin Reef and to China as Ren'ai Reef, is part of a group of islets, shoals, reefs and cays known together as the Spratly Islands, which are claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The Philippines has garrisoned the shoal plus eight other features it claims in the South China Sea.
China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, wants the Philippines to remove a wrecked and rusty World War II-vintage landing ship which the Philippine military grounded in 1999 and which currently serves as its outpost there...
VLADIVOSTOK, July 5 (RIA Novosti) - Seven ships of the Chinese naval forces arrived in Russia’s Far Eastern port of Vladivostok on Friday to take part in large-scale Russian-Chinese exercises.
The Naval Interaction 2013 exercise will be held in the Sea of Japan between July 5 and 10 and involve about 20 Russian and Chinese warships and auxiliary vessels, as well as a dozen of aircraft.
At a welcome ceremony, Rear Adm. Leonid Sukhanov, deputy chief of the Russian Navy Main Staff, said it was the biggest Chinese naval task force ever to arrive at the main base of Russia’s Pacific Fleet.
“The Naval Interaction 2013 exercises are not directed against any third party and are not politically charged,” he said, adding that they should not be treated as a threat or warning to any country.
China’s Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Vice Adm. Ding Yiping, said the exercises are aimed at improving the two states’ anti-piracy cooperation.
Chinese hackers have obtained designs for more than two dozen U.S. weapon systems — including the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter, the Littoral Combat Ship and electromagnetic railguns — according to a Monday report from The Washington Post.
The detailed list was part of a classified version of a January report from the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board on U.S. cyber posture. The Post obtained the full version of the report that included a detailed list of the compromised designs.
The itemized list gives more weight to the Pentagon’s “Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013,” which stated China uses the technical information it obtains to modernize the growing defense sector designed to modernize the People’s Liberation Army weapons programs.
“China utilized its intelligence services and employed other illicit approaches that involve violations of U.S. laws and export controls to obtain key national security technologies, controlled equipment, and other materials not readily obtainable through commercial means or academia,” read the report to Congress.
While China has a growing military-industrial base, they still fall far behind the U.S. in technology development. A shortcut to intensive research and development is obtaining technical designs and reverse engineer the technology for domestic production. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union copied several U.S. and NATO member country designs and developed domestically developed versions of stolen weapon designs.
The designs listed in the Post story include several key BMD capabilities: the U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD),Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) in addition to the Aegis BMD programs. The systems make up the bulk of the U.S. BMD capability and are keystones to future plans for the U.S. to protect against ballistic missile threats.
A 2007 theft of terabytes of data on the F-35 program is often blamed on the speed China was able to develop its stealth Chengdu J-20 aircraft.
The Chinese government has long denied it employs hackers to steal U.S. secrets. In February, U.S. cyber security firm Mandiant accused China of using a government-backed cyber espionage cell designed to steal U.S. technology secrets.
BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- A senior officer with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy said on Tuesday that "China will have more than one aircraft carrier." Song Xue, deputy chief of staff of the PLA Navy, told foreign military attaches at a ceremony to celebrate the Navy's 64th founding anniversary in Beijing, "The next aircraft carrier we need will be larger and carry more fighters." However, Song said some foreign media reports on China's building new aircraft carriers in Shanghai were not accurate. Currently, China operates one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was refitted based on a Russian-made unfinished carrier and delivered to the Navy on Sept. 25, 2012. The PLA Navy was founded on April 23, 1949. Song, a Real Admiral of the Navy, said the Liaoning does not belong to any of the Navy's three fleets, but under direct command and management of the Navy's headquarters. Zhang Zheng, the Liaoning's Captain, told foreign military attaches that his crew members have mastered independently operations of all the weapon systems on the carrier. The Liaoning has a full displacement of more than 50,000 tonnes. The carrier's original design allows it to carry about 30 fixed-wing aircraft.Song Xue said the Navy hoped that the next carrier could be larger to load more aircraft. He also revealed that the Navy is building naval aviation force for the Liaoning, and there will be at least two aviation regiments on one carrier, including fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft, electronic countermeasure (ECM) planes and rotary-wing aircraft. The Liaoning has conducted successful take-off and landing tests of its carrier-borne J-15 fighters, the main striking force of China's carrier group. Song said the J-15 still needs a lot more trial tests before being operational on the carrier, and there will be more J-15 fighters as the Navy conducts more test flights. The officer said China's future carrier group will be composed of carrier, destroyers, frigates, submarines and supply ship. According to Song, more than one thousand Chinese enterprises have participated in the construction and refitting work of the Liaoning. The officer also promised that the Navy will invite foreign military attaches to visit the Liaoning.
On the heels of its first aircraft carrier arriving in a northeastern homeport, China is already setting its sights on developing a next-generation flat-top complete with electromagnetic (EM) catapult technology, University of California (UC) researchers told a defence industry conference on 7 March.
Following the completion of an extensive rebuild programme, aircraft carrier Liaoning was handed over to the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) on 25 September 2012. The 59,439-tonne vessel was purchased from Ukraine and is a Kuznetsov-class ship with a ski jump to launch aircraft.
"China calls it a useful training ship, a useful research and development [R&D] ship," Tai Ming Cheung, director of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), told the Pacific Operational S&T conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.
With aspirations of becoming a maritime power, China wants to build a next-generation carrier from scratch in its domestic shipyards and it is investing funds in R&D to achieve electromagnetic catapult technology.
"They don't want an aircraft carrier that uses ski jumps. That's not considered a world-class carrier," said Cheung, whose IGCC is overseeing the Minerva Project on the Study of Innovation and Technology in China, a five-year effort funded by the US Department of Defense (DoD).
Le premier porte-avions à être doté de la technologie des catapultes électromagnétiques sera le CVN-78 USS Gerald R.Ford en construction actuellement :
China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, would be deployed on preliminary trial on the high seas this year before acquiring full combat capability within two years time. The 990ft Liaoning, named after the province where it was refitted, is likely to have its preliminary trial on the high seas this year, a necessary step before it possesses full combat capability, said ship commander-in-chief Zhang Yongyi. "Before every aircraft carrier truly matures and becomes capable of fighting in a war, it must go through trials on the high seas," Zhang, who is also a deputy to the legislature the National People's Congress, told China Central Television. The ship is currently anchored at its homeport in Qingdao, China's eastern Shandong Province. The Liaoning, formerly known as the Varyag, is a refurbished Soviet ship purchased from Ukraine. It was constructed in the 1980s for the Soviet navy but was never completed. It is the first time for the aircraft carrier to anchor at its homeport, meaning thatthe base for aircraft carrier in Qingdao is operational after four years of construction, Pople's Liberation Army Navy said in a statement. On Saturday, the carrier moved from China's northern port of Dalian, where it was retrofitted and later commissioned, to the port of Qingdao. Prior to that, Liaoning had undergone 12 sea trials. Carrier-based fighters also completed take-off and landing tests on Liaoning late last year. A trial on the high seas is much tougher than Liaoning's previous tests, because it requires the carrier to be fully independent of on-shore protection, said Lan Yun, editor of Modern Ships, a magazine run by a research institute related to the shipbuilding industry. "During past trials, if an accident happened, on-shore experts could immediately help out because the vessel was not too far away," Lan told state run Global Times. "But on the high seas, crew members must solve the problem themselves," he said. Liaoning had traveled hundreds of km away from China's coast before. But this time, Lan said, it may have to reach waters near Japan's Okinawa Islands and even Guam, both located more than 1,000 kilometers away from Qingdao. Such trials often require a vessel to remain at sea for one to three months, he said. If Liaoning's first high seas trial is successful, many more will follow, Lan said. That means the vessel may take another two years before reaching its full fighting capacity, he said. Based on Liaoning's success, China, which this year allocated USD 115.7 billion budget, was expected to construct more carriers to emerge as a major maritime power.
March 4, 2013: China has publically ordered the development of nuclear reactors for surface ships. Or, as sailors term it; “surface nukes.” Four decades ago China developed nuclear powered submarines. The first ones were a disaster. In addition to being very noisy (and easy for American subs to find), their nuclear reactors were poorly built and exposed the crews to dangerous levels of radiation. Learning from their mistakes, they rebuilt these first nuclear boats in the 1990s. This eventually eliminated the radiation problem, and some of the noise problem. Thus the Chinese already have small nuclear reactors designed for use at sea and four decades of experience working with this technology. The current work consists of adapting existing naval reactors (only found in subs currently) to use in surface ships. The U.S. did this, and had its first nuclear powered aircraft carrier in operation six years after its first nuclear sub entered service in 1955.
China has denied that it is building any more aircraft carriers, but government officials admit that the new nuclear reactor program is intended for large surface warships. No timeline was given for the nuclear reactor program. Based on other military technology efforts by China, 5-10 years seems a reasonable amount of time to have reactors ready for surface ships.
"China has several nuclear-powered submarines, and in February 2013 China Shipbuilding Industry Corp received state approval and funding to begin research on core technologies and safety for nuclear-powered ships, with polar vessels being mentioned but aircraft carriers being considered a more likely purpose for the new development"
China’s navy recently conducted a test of a new high-speed maneuvering torpedo that poses a threat to U.S. ships and submarines.
Defense officials said the new torpedo is the latest example of what the Pentagon calls Beijing’s anti-access, area-denial, or AA/AD, high-tech weaponry.
Other new weapons include China’s recently deployed anti-ship ballistic missile, the DF-21D, which is designed to sink U.S. aircraft carriers far from China’s shores.
China’s military showcased last month another high-tech weapon designed to target Navy ships and submarines. U.S. submarines are considered one of the U.S. military’s most important counter weapons to the AA/AD threat.
The torpedo test was disclosed on a Chinese blog, a frequent outlet for official leaks of new weapons systems in the Chinese arsenal.
The blog Tencent, one of China’s largest online outlets, revealed Oct. 15 that China’s navy conducted an underwater test launch of a new precision-guided, maneuvering torpedo in the South China Sea.
China has been blamed for growing tensions in the South China Sea region over the past several months by asserting claim to nearly 90 percent of the waters, bringing it into potential conflict with Vietnam and Philippines and raising concerns in Indonesia and Malaysia about growing Chinese hegemony.
The blog post included a series of photos revealing what was described as a new type of high-speed “intelligent” torpedo that sank a 1,000-ton target ship in the test firing.
“The new-type torpedo that was launched from a long distance and at a great depth nimbly skirted around the jamming ‘acoustic decoy’ and struck right in the middle of the 1,000-ton-plus target ship, sinking it with a loud boom,” the posting reported.
The report said the new torpedo represents a “leap” for the People’s Liberation Army Navy to “the front ranks of the world.”
Rick Fisher, a China military affairs expert, said the new torpedo signals a shift in China’s past practice of relying on Soviet-Russian and stolen American technology to build torpedoes.
China also is said to be using Russian underwater warfare know-how to build a torpedo-killing anti-torpedo. The killer torpedoes are launched against incoming underwater torpedoes that, like the reported new Chinese weapon, are immune to U.S. electronic countermeasures.
“If China is developing torpedoes that are able to out-fox towed decoys like the U.S. Nixie system, then it becomes more urgent that the U.S. Navy deploy its own ‘anti-torpedo’ torpedo,” said Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
The Nixie system is a ship-towed electronic decoy that simulates the signature of a ship in the water. It is intended to divert homing torpedoes from hitting ships carrying the decoy.
“The U.S. has had such a [anti-torpedo] system under development for many years, but it now needs to be preserved in time of tighter budgets, and even accelerated,” Fisher said.
The designation for the new Chinese torpedo and the type of submarine or ship it was fired from were not identified. One photo showed the torpedo fired from a ship. Other photos showed it being loaded on a submarine.
However, the test was conducted near the South China Sea’s Hainan Island. A tunnel entrance to a coastal submarine base on the island was photographed several years ago by satellites.
The base is home to China’s new Type 094 attack submarines and the torpedo test was likely fired from the nuclear powered sub.
The posting said China’s torpedo technology in the past was a “weak area” of military development. But armed with the new “all digital” torpedo, attack submarines will be able to “fight winning battles.”
According to the blog, the torpedo was fired at a preset course “like a kite that was tethered to the submarine, as it was still receiving real-time instructions from the submarine.”
Then at a certain point, the torpedo “guidance device” was activated and the torpedo searched for its target. Within minutes it “automatically adjusted the attack depth and started to charge toward the target ship at a greater speed, successfully piercing the target!” the report said.
The torpedo pierced the target four times before its high-explosive warhead exploded, sinking the ship.
A Gaoxin-6 anti-submarine aircraft, modified from the Y-8 transport plane. (Internet photo)
Facing the challenge of US and Japanese submarines operating within disputed territorial waters, the People's Liberation Army is preparing for a three-dimensional anti-submarine system consisted of aircraft, surface combat vessels and submarines, according to the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po.
Meanwhile, the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force plans to increase the number of its submarines from 16 to 22 by 2021. Using Soryu-class diesel-electric submarines as an example, the paper stated that the size of the new Japanese submarines will become larger. As the first class of Japanese submarines to be equipped with air-independent propulsion system, the Soryu-class diesel-electric submarine can operate under water for nearly two weeks.
The Soryu-class is also much more powerful than its predecessors, the Harushio and Narushio-class submarines, as it is equipped with Type 89 torpedoes and UGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Even though Japan is not permitted under its constitution to have its own nuclear-powered submarine, conventional submarines like the Soryu-class are already a dangerous threat to China's maritime communication lines, the paper said, adding that Japanese submarines have a longer patrol range and more powerful weapons systems.
In addition, the United States is deploying more submarines to the Asia-Pacific region. At the US military base in Yokosuka, there are between five and six submarines under the command of the Seventh Fleet. Next year, the US will deploy four more nuclear-powered submarines to Guam, while strategic targets in China are in range of the 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles equipped by a single Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine.
To counter Chinese submarines in a potential conflict, Japan recently purchased 70 P-1 jet planes from Kawasaki Heavy Industries to replace its US-built P-3C jet. The delivery of the first two P-1 aircraft to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force took place on Mar. 26. In addition to fixed-wing aircraft, the country's new helicopter carrier, the Izumo, is able to carry 14 SH-60K anti-submarine helicopters into battle.
Ships of the World, a Japanese military magazine, indicated that the Self-Defense Force currently has 44 destroyers and nine frigates to form the nation's surface combat fleet against the PLA Navy. While some of those destroyers are used in air defense operations, more of them are designated to combat Chinese submarines. Facing this new challenge, the PLA Navy must adopt new tactics to defend its submarines against a potential joint anti-submarine operation launched by the US and Japan.
Cheng Chi-wen, chief editor of the Taipei-based Asia-Pacific Defense, said that what the PLA Navy needs most is fixed-wing aircraft for anti-submarine operations. Currently, China can only rely on its Y-8 transport aircraft for such a mission as it is capable of carrying torpedoes, depth charges and mines.
Shi Hong, a Chinese military analyst, said China needs more fixed-wing aircraft because the patrol range for helicopters is too short. He added that several Y-8 transport aircraft have been modified into Gaoxin-6 anti-submarine aircraft. With more advanced systems and greater range, the PLA Navy Air Force can conduct anti-submarine operations as far as the Second Island Chain — a series of island groups that runs north to south from the Japanese archipelago to the Bonin and Marshall islands.
In addition to maritime patrol aircraft, anti-submarine helicopters, surface combat vessels and submarines, an Underwater Sound Surveillance System will be a crucial weapon for the PLA Navy to monitor the movements of American and Japanese submarines, Shi said. However, China does not yet have such a sophisticated surveillance system, he added.
A J-15 fighter jet completed a series of difficult take-off-and-landing tests on the Liaoning aircraft carrier, state media reported yesterday.
"The tests were complicated. The test items ranged from easy to difficult levels," the Xinhua report said, adding that the practise runs served as a "foundation for the Liaoning to continue with more in-depth training and experiments".
The development of the J-15 is a key step in the PLA Navy's ambitions to build a "blue water" carrier battle group. Two J-15 jets made successful landings on the Liaoning last year.
Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie was quoted on the website of the People's Daily as saying the various J-15 load-outs would aid understanding about the compatibility of the carrier.
Retired People's Liberation Army colonel Yue Gang said real ammunition might be used in the next stage of training.
"More missions can be carried out if the fighter jet can carry more types of weapons on board," he said. "So far, the tests conducted for the aircraft carrier have achieved satisfactory results and the progress is substantial."
Last month, President Xi Jinping observed a training session on the carrier, and called on the military to continue improving its capabilities.
Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, called on the Liaoning's captain and commissar to help build a strong navy.
From a senior source in the Indian Navy, which has ties to the Russian shipbuilding and ship-repair enterprises in Severodvinsk, our blog has learned that China offers Bangladesh to buy two large diesel-electric submarines of the Russian-built Project 636 from the PLA Navy. According to preliminary information, it is about a Chinese submarine hull numbers "374" and "375" (serial numbers 01701 and 01702) built at "Sevmash" in Severodvinsk in 2002 under a contract for the construction of China's eight submarines Project 636. According to the contract five boats were built for China to "Admiralty Shipyards" in St. Petersburg, one - at the "Red Sormovo" in Nizhny Novgorod, and two - on "Sevmash". Both boats were put Severodvinsk PLA Navy in December 2005 and delivered to China in the summer of 2006. Why China has chosen to offer Bangladesh boat is Severodvinsk construction - is unclear.
According to Indian sources, the Russian representatives and the administration of "Sevmash" and of "CA" Star "aware of these intentions of the Chinese, but simply can not stop them, but it is clear that China has no right to sell submarines built in Russia without the consent of the Russian hand, nor has the rights to exercise and repair and maintenance of these boats from a third party.
Also, the Indian source said that the Indian Navy took a policy decision to hold the second medium repairs of its four diesel-electric submarines of Project 877 EKM (08,773), had previously passed the first repair in Russia. However, only two boats will be on average repair of "CA" Star "in Severodvinsk, and repair of two other boats Indian side intends to implement on their own. Should be noted that the Indian Navy has not yet spent the first three medium repairs on their boats 877EKM, so there is reason to believe that the Indian epic of the repair of boats stretched for a long time.
In addition, the Indian source, it was reported that due to the recent loss of the submarine project Sindhurakshak 08773, leadership of the Indian Navy has decided to crossing the smear has long been a tender for the purchase or construction of six submarines under the program Project 75I, entangled in the very early stages of harmonization of requirements. Request for Proposals (RFR) to the companies participating in the tender must be sent before the end of this year.
Cette information n'est guère surprenante. D'une part, la Chine avait acheté des sous-marins russes type Kilo Projet 636, dans les années 2000, avant tout pour faciliter la conception de sa propre série de sous-marins conventionnels type Yuan. On peut penser qu'elle souhaite se séparer de quelques exemplaires au fur et à mesure de l'ASA des sous-marins de sa propre conception.
D'autre part, le Bangladesh a émis l'intention récemment (février dernier) d'acquérir 2 sous-marins auprès d'un pays "ami" par un investissement de niveau modéré. La Chine avait été citée comme très possible fournisseur. Ces sous-marins d'occasion semblent faire parfaitement l'affaire :
Sections of a ship at Jiangnan Group's Changxing Island shipbuilding facility near Shanghai may be parts of China's first indigenously built aircraft carrier.
Images of the blocks recently began appearing on Chinese military forums and websites and have been corroborated by DigitalGlobe satellite imagery of the Changxing Island site dated 3 March 2013. The structure of the block does not resemble any of the commercial vessels currently under construction in the surrounding docks.
China commissioned its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning , in 2012 after refitting the former Soviet Kuznetsov (Orel) (Project 1143.5/6)-class vessel in Dalian. Liaoning has been repeatedly described as a training platform that would precede the construction and commissioning of homegrown carriers.
The section shown in satellite imagery at Changxing island appears to be around 24-27 m wide at the waterline and 46-52 m wide at the top where it would meet the wider flight deck. It has a space for a hangar that would be 20-22.3 m wide and 4.5-5.1 m high at this section of the forward hull and may become beamier and more spacious towards the centre section.
By comparison, Liaoning and its sister ship Admiral Kuznetsov are approximately 70 m wide at their widest point on the flight deck and 37 m at the waterline. India's Kiev-class carrier Vikramaditya (ex- Admiral Gorshkov ) is smaller with a 51 m-wide deck and width of 32.7 m at the waterline.
IHS Jane's Fighting Ships notes Liaoning 's hangar as being 29.4 m wide and 7.5 m high while Vikramaditya 's hangar is reported as 22.5 m wide.
The images show the section at the head of the smaller of the four building docks at the Changxing Island facility. The dock is 360 m long and 80 m wide. Aside from constructing warships, Jiangnan currently has a large order book of over 70 merchant ships across its three facilities.
By using this dock, the shipyard may be trying to limit any potential impacts on the carrier's build time of having to share with civilian vessels under construction. This would have been the case if one of the three larger docks at Changxing Island had been used.
The images may also help to explain recent CSIC announcements, which sources in China have said may be linked to the carrier programme. CSIC suspended trading on 16 May and justified the move by saying it was in negotiations with government departments for an "unprecedented contract for military fitting" and so "did not want to distort the stock market". To "maintain fairness in information release", CSIC said it would cease trading until a major announcement in mid-August.
The images are also supported by the existence of a scale model of the Jiangnan yard at Changxing that was unveiled in 2009 and displayed an aircraft carrier in a dry dock. In the same year, the shipyard put up a banner announcing it had "the determination, confidence, and capability to take on China's first large-scale surface warship!", while in 2010, more than 200 high-ranking PLAN officers visited the yard.
In 2011 Reuters quoted a high-ranking Chinese political figure as saying that two carriers were being built at the yard. In the same year, He Guoqiang, a standing member of the Chinese Communist Party's politburo, visited Jiangnan and stressed the need for "innovation and conquering hurdles in key technologies".
However, in April 2013 Rear Admiral Song Xue, deputy chief of staff of the PLAN, told foreign defence attaches that China's next carrier "will be larger and carry more fighter [aircraft]" but denied that construction was under way at Changxing.
Type 032 QING Class Diesel-Electric Ballistic Missile Submarine was built as replacement for the Golf class submarines of the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy). China will use Type 032 QING Class submarine to test launch strategic submarine launched ballistic missiles.
At submerged displacement of 6,628 tons, Type 032 QING Class Diesel-Electric Ballistic Missile Submarine is the worlds largest diesel electric submarine.
BEIJING - China's first group of five pilots and landing signal officers received their certifications in the latest sea trials of the Liaoning, the country's first aircraft carrier.
The Liaoning finished its 25-day test and training mission on Wednesday and returned to a navy port in the east China city of Qingdao. During the training, pilots executed several continuous take-off and landing exercises, making China one of the few countries in the world that can train its own carrier-borne jet pilots.
Using the J-15, China's first-generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet, pilots finished China's first training mission stationed aboard the carrier as well as the first 105-meter short-distance ski-jump takeoff exercises, an important breakthrough in the sea trials.
Pilots and landing signal officers were tested on a range of skills. They passed the certification process following expert reviews and a flight data assessment.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy also performed exercises related to the carrier's operations, system guarantees and logistics. Based on the smooth operation of staff, jet fighters and the carrier, as well as the sound cooperation between fighters and the carrier, the Liaoning is now considered capable of carrying carrier-borne jet fighters.
Zhang Yongyi, deputy commander of the PLA Navy and commander-in-chief of the aircraft carrier tests and sea trials, said these results show that China has fully mastered the skills needed for taking off from, and landing on, the aircraft carrier and that it has successfully established a training system for carrier-borne jet pilots.
The Pentagon attempted to allay fears Tuesday it had lost an edge in technology development following a Monday revelation China had hacked more than two dozen weapons programs from the U.S.
“Suggestions that cyber intrusions have somehow led to the erosion of our capabilities or technological edge are incorrect,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a Tuesday statement. “We maintain confidence in our weapons platforms. The Department of Defense takes the threat of cyber espionage and cyber security very seriously, which is why we have taken a number of steps to increase funding to strengthen our capabilities, harden our networks, and work with the defense industrial base to achieve greater visibility into the threats our industrial partners are facing.”
On Monday, The Washington Post published a classified addendum to of a January report from the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board on U.S. cyber posture. The report named several weapon systems — including the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter, the Littoral Combat Ship, V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, electromagnetic railguns and the U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) — that may have had designs stolen.
A Pentagon report to Congress issued earlier this year blamed China for an extensive espionage campaign to give the nation’s growing defense industry a leg up in technology development.
“It is a key concern that we have,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney in a Tuesday briefing with reporters. “ It is an issue that we raise at every level in our meetings with our Chinese counterparts and I’m sure will be a topic of discussion when the President meets with President Xi [Jinping] in California in early June. It was certainly a topic of conversation when National Security Advisor [Tom] Donilon was having meetings in China, from which he is just returning now.”
16.04.2013 The structure of Navy People's Liberation Army (PLA) will soon include three new guided missile destroyer project 052D. On this day the newspaper reported, "Huanqiu Shibao". She has published satellite images of the shipyard "Shanghai Shipbuilding Co", which is part of the State Shipbuilding Corporation, which depicts the case of three new destroyers. According to Chinese experts, ships almost finished and in a few months will be ready to go to sea for sea trials, according to ITAR-TASS. Multipurpose missile destroyer 052D is a deep modernization of the well-proven ship project 052S (pictured). Its length is increased to 160 m, width - 18 m on board posted new vertical launch missile systems, a total of 64 modules. Also replaced the bow gun system to a more powerful 130 mm caliber with reduced visibility. The ship is equipped with air defense "Hongqi-9" also has cruise missiles "ship - the land of" anti-ship missiles and long range. Destroyer 052D has a modern integrated fire control, and a new multi-function radar with active electronically scanned array (AESA MFRLS with). According to experts, the project will be the last 052 upgrade to the family of third generation Chinese destroyers. According to media reports, now the country is working to create a fourth generation combat ship. As reported earlier, the agency ARMS-TASS, destroyers project 052D are designed to provide air defense and antisubmarine naval forces, fighting the enemy surface forces, supporting the landing and perform other tasks. The ships are a development project destroyer Guangzhou 052B. Architecture polubachnaya hull with extended forecastle. The housing has a large freeboard, monoblock superstructure, two masts and one pipe. The design incorporates a limited light alloys. On the ship, introduced elements of stealth technology providing "stealth". Provide protection from weapons of mass destruction.
Until the new MA60 MPA enters service, the PLAN will continue to rely on their B-6 bombers for long range patrols over the South China Sea. A role that the Chinese Tu-16 is clearly ill-suited for.
Bombers cruising in South China Sea
(Source: China Military Online) 2013-03-07
Recently, a bomber regiment of the aviation force under the South China Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) successfully completed the patrolling mission over a sea area of the South China Sea after several hours of continuous flight. It is the first time for the regiment to conduct patrolling and cruising over the sea area. (chinamil.com.cn/Gao Hongwei)
China’s second stealth fighter, dubbed J-31, makes its maiden flight Wednesday in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Photo: Pan Bin Sun Cong, chief designer of the J-15 carrier-borne fighter jet and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, accepted a special interview with Xinhua News Agency on March 2.
The J-15, nicknamed "lying shark", is China's first generation of carrier-borne fighter jet. When the piloted J-15 fighter landed on the Liaoning aircraft carrier for the first time and successfully took off, Sun was filled with excitement.
J-15 carrier-borne fighter jet has filled the technological gap in the related fields. Compared with land-based aircraft, the carrier-borne aircraft raised more and higher requirements in technological aspects.
Sun said the carrier-borne fighters must have the same combat capability as the land-based fighters in terms of bomb load, combat radius, and maneuverability; it must have good low-speed performance. It also raised higher requirements in terms of blocking landing in the sea and ski-jump takeoff.
"The engine is the key. If we can halve the fuel consumption, the combat radius will increase." Sun said that a J-15 equipped with domestic engines can have a combat radius of more than 1,000 kilometers. Considerable progresses have been made in fire control radar and guided missiles. "The indicators of J-15 are generally close to US F/A- 18 Hornet , reaching world-class standards."
To make sure the aircraft slides at a relative velocity of about 60 meters per second in a fixed and constant posture on the glide slope and land precisely on the fight deck, many key technological difficulties including the operation methods of the pilot, the technical design characteristics, and other aspects need to be overcome.
Sun is also the chief designer of the J-31. He hopes the J-31 can pair up with J-20 in the future in tasks of both high and low altitudes, to maintain continuing striking capability. He also hopes the improved version of J-31 can become China's next-generation carrier-borne fighter jet.
At present, Sun and his team are exploring key technologies of the next generation of fighter planes, and "will make breakthroughs in terms of whole time-domain, whole airspace, and greater combat radius".
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