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2006-02-23 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Chinese progress towards an aircraft carrier
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Posted by lotp 2006-02-23 11:41|| || Front Page|| [11127 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Good luck with that carrier. It was a piece of shit then, it is even a bigger and more expensive piece of shit now.
Posted by mmurray821 2006-02-23 11:58||   2006-02-23 11:58|| Front Page Top

#2 Aircraft carrier? Wanna buy one?
Posted by Jacques Chirac 2006-02-23 12:07||   2006-02-23 12:07|| Front Page Top

#3 Just 'cause they may eventually own a carrier doesn't mean they'll be able to operate one.
Posted by Dar">Dar  2006-02-23 12:33||   2006-02-23 12:33|| Front Page Top

#4 They probably reverse-engineered the Varyag years ago . . . not that that'll get them very far.
Posted by Mike 2006-02-23 13:57||   2006-02-23 13:57|| Front Page Top

#5 They got _two_ carriers, the Minsk and the Varyag. This article concerns the Minsk, which was being used as a theme park.

I don't know much about the Varyag or what they're supposedly doing with it now.

One thing that seems to have escaped most people is that China may have other things on their mind than just Taiwan... and the Varyag, or something reverse-engineered from it, could be useful as a "lily pad" in much the same way a US carrier was used post-911.
Posted by Phil 2006-02-23 14:12||   2006-02-23 14:12|| Front Page Top

#6 Big targets make bigger booms. These days, a carrier without an Aegis phased array radar screen is nothing but a sitting duck. A Russian built air craft carrier epitomizes the term, "white elephant."
Posted by Zenster 2006-02-23 14:56||   2006-02-23 14:56|| Front Page Top

#7 Mike, you're right. Interestingly, they are doing the same thing with the US tech firms (Cisco, Dell, Yahoo, Google), they reserve engineer these companies' products and give them a kick out the door.

We are so gullible.
Posted by Captain America 2006-02-23 16:49||   2006-02-23 16:49|| Front Page Top

#8 Doesn't China have an alleged aegis-equivalent destroyer class?
Posted by Phil 2006-02-23 17:18||   2006-02-23 17:18|| Front Page Top

#9 Here's an article, with pictures, of a recent Chinese anti-aircraft destroyer.
Posted by Phil 2006-02-23 17:23||   2006-02-23 17:23|| Front Page Top

#10 Doesn't China have an alleged aegis-equivalent destroyer class?

More importantly, does China's shipboard radar have anything remotely equivalent to the Aegis phased array system's tracking and fire control capabilities? I would be very surprised if they did. The processing power behind the Friend or Foe ID and targeting computations made by Aegis is simply phenomenal.
Posted by Zenster 2006-02-23 18:08||   2006-02-23 18:08|| Front Page Top

#11 This quote from your article, Phil, is what makes me wonder:

The Soviets seem to have had considerable trouble in exercises with their Gorshkov phased array radar, as mechanical scanning Top Sail/Top Pair radars replaced it on the next Soviet carrier, the Tblisi. Sea operations attempting to successfully target incoming threats using external ship or aircraft platforms also seem to have failed.

The Chinese aren't much better than the Rusians at systems integration, which is what complex targeting and fire control equipment is all about.
Posted by Zenster 2006-02-23 18:20||   2006-02-23 18:20|| Front Page Top

#12 Only the US ever figured out how to stabilize those beheamoths. A lot of Russians died trying to figure it out, and they never could, which is why their biggest carriers were only 2/3rds Nimitz class in size. Anything bigger and they wouldn't make it out of the port.

It takes many years to learn how to operate and maintain a surface and a submarine fleet, and it is a slow and deadly process. I'm pleased to see that the Chinese are using every shortcut available. This means that in short order we should see more and more Chinese naval disasters involving the phrase "...with all hands."
Posted by Anonymoose 2006-02-23 19:46||   2006-02-23 19:46|| Front Page Top

#13 I could be wrong but I believe Richard Fisher wrote an article describing how the PLAN will generally dev two types of carriers - one for anti-USN CV/Sub conventional/standard tacair opers, and one for dedicated support of amphibious opers.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2006-02-23 21:29||   2006-02-23 21:29|| Front Page Top

#14 I hope there wasn't one chinese worker within 10 miles of any of the US's carrier building plants; I'm still wondering why they even let Wen Ho Lee anywhere near Los Alamos! Can the US build anything without having a foreign national involved?

Rummy got a taste of this when the Chicoms told him; "Up Yours" when he wanted to visit some of their sites, deemed "Too Chinese" for him to see!
Posted by smn 2006-02-23 22:10||   2006-02-23 22:10|| Front Page Top

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