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Triton said:I wonder if the government of the Ukraine ever believed that the Varyag would be converted into a floating hotel and casino when it was purchased by Chon Lot Travel Agency for $20 million or if it knew all along that the ship had been acquired by the People's Liberation Army Navy.
China's only aircraft carrier has anchored and started training for the first time at the nation's new dedicated base in the South China Sea.
The Defence Ministry confirmed for the first time on Thursday that the navy now has the ability to dock and service aircraft carriers at its Sanya base.
Analysts said it indicated China would locate its future carriers in the South China Sea, increasing tensions with nations such as the Philippines and Vietnam, which also have territorial claims in the region.
"The docking and training of Liaoning at the Sanya naval base has a significant impact on China's long-term carrier development plan," Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said.
"The Sanya trip shows Liaoning has its second home in the southern-most part of China."
The Liaoning docked for the first time at the base in Hainan province yesterday and would carry out training exercises there, Xinhua reported.
Defence Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Yang Yujun said in Thursday's regular press conference that the carrier would be based in Sanya and training in the South China Sea for a "considerable" period.
Professor Ni Lexiong , a naval expert at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said the South China Sea was of strategic and military importance. "Sanya is the entrance for much of the energy resources coming into the country by sea," he said.
Shipping and tankers coming from the Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Straits of Malacca pass through the area, he said.
China plans to build up to four medium-sized aircraft carriers by 2020, a military source said.
The Liaoning left its home port of Qingdao for the South China Sea on Tuesday. It is the first time the carrier has conducted a cross-sea training voyage since it was commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy in September last year. Previous drills were carried out nearer its home port.
It was escorted by two missile destroyers, the Shenyang and Shijiazhuang, and two missile frigates, the Yantai and Weifang.
Naval expert Li Jie said the vessels formed part of a battle formation and more ships would join the fleet in the future.
The report heralds the prowess of the Liaoning, along with its accompanying battleships, the “Shenyang” and “Shijiazhuang” missile destroyers as well as the “Yantai” and “Weifang” guided missile frigates.
The “combat effectiveness” of the fleet, once additional warships are added, will transform its firepower to a level, “very close to a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in its heyday,” states the report. Beijing plans to rival “the usual practice adopted by the U.S. Navy” by supplementing the combat force with a further two destroyers, an assault nuclear submarine and one supply ship.
“Given the consideration of the smaller tonnage and bomb load of the warships of the PLAN than those of the U.S. warships, the combat effectiveness of this taskforce is probably close to the current carrier strike group (CSG) of the U.S. (1-2 cruisers, 2-3 destroyers and other supporting warships),” states the report.
Some will see no coincidence in the timing of the report given the current stand-off between China and the U.S. over the disputed Senkaku Islands. It dovetails with a separate announcement that Beijing, “has begun mass producing and delivering its J-15 carrier-based multirole fighter jet.”
Jemiba said:It's probably me, but I cannot fing any mention of a CGN in that article:
"... further two destroyers, an assault nuclear submarine and one supply ship"
With regards to fighting power, conventional or nuclear propulsion seems only to
matter for the accompanying attack submarines.
The guys over at the Sino Defense Forum have been China watchers before being a China watcher was cool. A quick look at the Chinese Carrier Strike Group follows.
CV-16 Liaoning (50~60,000 tons)
3 x Type 054A Frigate (4000 tons ea.)
2 x Type 051C (7100 tons ea.)
1 x Type 052C (7000 tons ea.)
1 x Type 071 LPD (17,000 tons ea.)
3 x Type 093G SSN (Unknown tonnage)
That's a 103,000 tons minimum CSG. Note (1) the lack of an air wing aboard CV-16 at this time. Once operational the Liaoning is expected to host approx. 24 ~ 36
J-15s. Note (2) the lack of any replenishment vessels. Note (3) only the 052C is AEGIS capable and likely co-ordinates the entire fleet air defense. This in of itself is
a weakness as it denotes a single point of failure but also tells us that the battle management software across the fleet is standardized and highly advanced to
allow for this type of co-ordination.
At this time, it is unknown what type of mission this formation is designed for. However, we know that this is a real dedicatd CSG and not just cobbled together for
a photo op. The PLAN is now able to field a near bluewater CSG in addition to covering all of its home bases.
[snip]
fightingirish said:So we might get some new pictures. B)![]()
JFC Fuller said:Thanks Deino! Shame they put that text box right over where one would expect to see a dipping sonar hatch.
President Xi bestows military honors
BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has signed an order of commendation to honor the crew of the first aircraft carrier-based fighter jet.
According to the commendation order, a test squadron of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force were granted a honorary title for successfully conducting the take-off and landing tests of J-15 fighters on the Liaoning, China's sole aircraft carrier.
The order spoke highly of the squadron in the exploration and development of the J-15 fighter jet. Two test pilots of the squadron sacrificed their lives during the tests.
The commendation order urged all military personnel to learn from the squadron in cultivating combat-ready awareness, honing their skills and rooting out undesirable work styles.
Dai Mingmeng, the first J-15 pilot to have conducted a successful take-off and landing on the Liaoning, was granted a honorary title individually.
One unit and another 24 individuals were also awarded by commendation orders sighed by Xi,, in his role of chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday.
PLA Unit 91053 was awarded a third-class merit citation for outstanding contribution to major tasks.
Zheng Hui, senior engineer with the Headquarters of the General Staff; Zheng Yonghuang, chief engineer of the PLA 63620 Unit; Wang Hongli, commanding officer of the PLA 92474 Unit; Zou Jianguo, a pilot; and Cai Hongxia, chief head nurse of the 261 Hospital psychiatry department, were awarded first-class merit citations.
Liu Xiaoming, a late military instructor at PLA Information Engineering University was posthumously awarded a first-class merit citation.
Six individuals were awarded second-class merit citations and another 12 were awarded third-class merit citations.
新华网北京8月27日电
中央军委主席习近平日前签署命令,给1个单位、1名个人授予荣誉称号。
授予空军某试飞大队“英雄试飞大队”荣誉称号
命令指出,长期以来,该大队坚持以发展民族航空事业和建设强大空中力量为使命,教育引导试飞员把个人理想融入强军实践,官兵始终保持了旺盛斗志;积极探索理论、参与设计、试验飞行,圆满完成各项试验试飞任务,填补我国航空领域13项空白;自觉抵制诱惑、坦然面对生死,多次挑战装备和生理极限,有2名同志献出生命。特别是为圆满完成歼-15飞机在辽宁舰上成功实施阻拦着舰和滑跃起飞任务做出重大贡献。
The original source never said or hinted the two died testing J15. What it did say:
-This is to honour the long time contribution from this unit
-Two pilots from this unit died on their job
-This unit made great contribution to J-15 carriar program.
In fact, the word 圆满 indicate that the two deaths were not related to J15, at least not at sea. Otherwise it cannot be called 圆满。
God damn reporters are lazy/fucking incompetent, particularly when they don't actually speak the language.
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-08-27/175430753133.shtml
The original news article in Chinese is here. It mentions two "comrades" gave their lives, but does not identify them as pilots. The video goes into detail as to who was given commendations.
This is fake news. Actually the unit citation said two test pilots had died in the history of this unit. The accidents actually happened in the 1990's. They have nothing to do with the carrier. It's a case of poor understanding of Chinese, and a classic case of how rumors and fake news spread these days, everyone quoting everyone else. Another recent example was the alleged failure of the Wu-14 supersonic flight test.
Yes, I do mean that. The original Chinese is quite clear. The English services of Chinese news organizations are notoriously poor.
From former test pilot Xu Yongling, the two test pilots died three years ago, had nothing to do with the carrier. Probably test flying the J11BS?
Yes there was a malfunction, and here is the paragraph describing the incident, with my translation. smile Since PLA reportings tend to exaggerate the efforts of recipients of awards I wouldn't be surprised if the actual incident is less intense as it sounded. If it's truly a major steam release event there is absolutely no way that those guys conducted the repair in the manner describe.
一次航母试航过程中,后机炉舱给水管泄露,大量滚烫的炉水和蒸汽喷涌而出,机舱瞬间就淹没在水汽当中。得知情况后,楼富强立即到达现场,“班长以上人员留下,其他人员马上撤离!”下达完命令后,他一拉衣领就冲了进去,头发淋湿了,身上烫伤了,衣服刮破了……在他的带领下,大家奋
不顾身,看不到破损的部位就用手摸,底板架太高就跳到热浪袭人的舱底抢修,最终恢复了动力,保证了舰艇的平稳运行。
"During a sea trial, aft boiler room feed water pipe developed a leak, large amount of boiler water and steam was released, the room is filled with vapor. After being notified, Lou Fuqiang immediately arrived at the scene and ordered that people ranked squad leader and above to be stayed and everyone else evacuate the area. He lifted HIS OWN collar and went in, his hair got wet, he got burns, his shirt ripped, under his leadership everyone put up a selfless effort. They use touch when they can't see, they went down to the bottom of the room where catwalks are too high, and finally restored power, and ensured the smooth operation of the ship".
According to the Chinese version, it was a leakage from one of the hot water pipes that caused hot water and steam pouring into the boiler room, the said sailor pulled up his own collar (probably to protect himself from the heat) (not as mentioned in English version where he pulled someone by his collar) and rushed into the boilder room to carry out emergency repair. Together with others they managed to restor the boiler power to ensure the ship continue its operation.
chuck4 said:Chinese phase array radar, Chinese CIWS and point defense missiles. The recovery system and ILS is still Russian, I believe. They seemed to have followed the original ship design as closely as they can while substituting intended weapons and sensors for Chinese items.
Oh, the boilers and engines are probably Chinese too. The ship didn't come with these.
Xu Zengping disclosed that the militarily sensitive original engines of the carrier were intact when Ukraine sold the vessel in 1998. This is contrary to what Beijing told the world at the time.
The "four intact engines had been perfectly grease-sealed" after work stopped on the vessel in 1992, presenting an enticing engineering package for a country seeking a leg up for its military.
It is the first time anyone linked to the deal has confirmed publicly the engines were in place at the time of purchase. Earlier reports said the vessel's power generation system was removed at Ukraine's Nikolayev South Shipyard on the Black Sea along with its electronics and weaponry before Xu bought it in 1998 for US$20 million.
"When I was taken to the carrier's engine room by the shipyard's chief engineer, I found all four engines were brand new and carefully grease-sealed, each of them originally costing US$20 million," Xu said. He said a refit finished in 2011 restored the four engines to operating condition.
kaiserbill said:It appears China got an absolute bargain on this whole deal.
Grey Havoc said:kaiserbill said:It appears China got an absolute bargain on this whole deal.
No doubt more than a few 'inducements' were received by various Ukrainian officials and politicos, but even so a bargain indeed.
sferrin said:Makes you wonder why the US just didn't outbid them.