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Water Dragons Of The Middle Kingdom


JasonJ

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Thats still roughly a brigade level force. Compared to anyone but the US its a lot of lift, but compared to land based formations not a huge amount. Amphibious capacity is pricy.

 

If past performance is any indication, a brigade might be enough for the Republic of Chinese to start evacuating their gold reserves.

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Thailand to buy PRC Type 71 LPD

thaitype71e.jpg

 

 

 

中国军火出口再获大单,北京时间9月9日,泰国海军代表与中国船舶工业集团公司(CSSC)签订价值1.3亿美元的合同,为泰国海军建造071E船坞登陆舰。

071E登陆舰将在位于上海的沪东中华造船厂建造。自2006年至今,该船厂已为中国海军建造8艘071型登陆舰。071E是该级舰的出口型号。071满载排水量25,000吨,可运输人员、装甲车和直升机,具备较强的垂直登陆作战能力。

071型登陆舰项目启动于2002年,被指与当时的台海局势有关,由于深受欢迎,中国海军后在首批3艘基础上再追加5艘。随着075型两栖攻击舰的出现,071放松出口限制水到渠成。

071E曾在2018年11月巴基斯坦卡拉奇第10届国际国防工业展览会上公开,其与071较为明显的区别在于前者在主炮后增加类似HQ-10舰载末端防空导弹系统。

尽管泰国海军拥有一艘“查克里·纳吕贝特”号航空母舰,但缺乏大型登陆舰,此番引进中国071E,将有助于增强该国海军实力。

除引进071E外,泰国近来与中国的军事联系可谓非常密切。泰国海军此前还与中国军工企业签署订购3艘S-20T麒麟级常规潜艇合同,总价值高达10.3亿美元。

S-20T是在中国海军自用型039A型潜艇基础上研制而成,后者排水量介于2,300吨至2,600吨,乘员约65人,装备6具533毫米鱼雷发射管,可发射鹰击-83反舰导弹。

另外,泰国皇家陆军于2017年耗资1.5亿美元从中国购买28辆VT-4主战坦克,后又花费5,800万美元追加订购10辆。

最新公开信息显示,中国和泰国空军于8月中旬至9月上旬在泰国举行“鹰击-2019”联合训练,中国空军派出歼-10A/B/C战机、空警-500预警机、运-9运输机等,泰国出动JAS-39C/D战机和SAAB-340预警机。

中泰军事交流如此频繁,足见两国关系密切,但这对深耕泰国多年的美国来说,传统军事盟友逐渐靠近中国不是什么好事。

http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2019-09-11/60148837.html

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Apparently the Republic of Chinese Navy is not operating just one improved Gato-class submarine, but 2. Neither of them are capable of firing torpedoes.

 

Their lack of military utility aside, they may just be the most interesting museum submarines in the world.

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Apparently the Republic of Chinese Navy is not operating just one improved Gato-class submarine, but 2. Neither of them are capable of firing torpedoes.

 

Their lack of military utility aside, they may just be the most interesting museum submarines in the world.

 

You are quite misinformed. The 2 Guppy II boats are used for training, something they can do perfectly if properly maintained (which they are) and there's no shortage of old training ships of that age, the originality being that they are subs when other countries use simulators for the purpose.

 

Against the PLAN Navy, as reserve combat boats, they are still viable given the lack of ASW capabilities of the continental navy at this point. There are pointers that this will be addressed in the short term but when you need every weapon you have to defend your beaches, these will do.

 

The ROC Navy has 2 70s vintage submarines which have been regularly update and represent the only offensive weapon of the navy.

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Their viability as reserve combat boats in a 21st Century naval war would be enhanced if the Republic of Chinese were willing purchase the "ability to fire torpedoes" option. They apparently have opted not to.

 

Then again, I could see why, as the torpedoes their 2 improved Gato-class submarines were designed for were the descendants of fish with magnetic trigger issues waiting to happen in various ways.

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Their viability as reserve combat boats in a 21st Century naval war would be enhanced if the Republic of Chinese were willing purchase the "ability to fire torpedoes" option. They apparently have opted not to.

 

Then again, I could see why, as the torpedoes their 2 improved Gato-class submarines were designed for were the descendants of fish with magnetic trigger issues waiting to happen in various ways.

 

Again, don't underestimate old hardware, WW2 vintage torpedoes will sink a modern ship just as well as modern ones, if they hit, and a hit is achieved by firing a spread. But Guppy II boats could fire Mk-37 torpedoes that could be wire guided, so the capability has been always been there.

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Neither of the 2 improved Gato-class submarines in Republic of Chinese Navy service are capable of actually firing torpedoes, which makes it rather difficult to underestimate the potential effectiveness of WW2-era torpedoes launched by them.

 

Their lack of torpedo-firing capability or even a deck gun limits their potential use against slow and vulnerable Chinese merchant shipping as well.

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Neither of the 2 improved Gato-class submarines in Republic of Chinese Navy service are capable of actually firing torpedoes, which makes it rather difficult to underestimate the potential effectiveness of WW2-era torpedoes launched by them.

 

Their lack of torpedo-firing capability or even a deck gun limits their potential use against slow and vulnerable Chinese merchant shipping as well.

 

First, they are not Gato class, one is a Tench, the other a Balao, both updated to Guppy II standard. Second, in 40+ years since transfer, the ROC Navy has had time enough to restore the combat capability of the torpedo tubes (which were just welded shut) and it's more likely than not that they had done so,

 

Edited to add: but on researching a bit, although the boats are in top conditions, it's not clear they are combat capable:

 

https://maritime.org/taiwan/

Edited by RETAC21
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One would think that 40 years would be enough time to make them capable of actually firing at an enemy target. That they have not is illustrative in various ways.

 

Perhaps they can fulfill their reserve combat role for the Republic of Chinese as rams.

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Possibly, although I would be hesitant to operate vintage submarines dating back to 1944 at anywhere near their diving or maneuvering limits in the course of such training for mean time before failure engineering reasons if anything.

 

When the time comes for the Republic of Chinese to choose between fight or flight against a possible invasion, these improved Gato-class submarines maintained in perfect operating condition but rendered incapable of actually firing against enemy targets seem optimized for the latter in various ways.

Edited by Nobu
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Possibly, although I would be hesitant to operate vintage submarines dating back to 1944 at anywhere near their diving or maneuvering limits in the course of such training for mean time before failure engineering reasons if anything.

 

When the time comes for the Republic of Chinese to choose between fight or flight against a possible invasion, these improved Gato-class submarines maintained in perfect operating condition but rendered incapable of actually firing against enemy targets seem optimized for the latter in various ways.

 

Submarine hulls have a limited life, my guess is this boats don't go very deep. US Fleet boats weren't particularly silent or fast, if I had to flee, i'd rather go by plane.

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Possibly, although I would be hesitant to operate vintage submarines dating back to 1944 at anywhere near their diving or maneuvering limits in the course of such training for mean time before failure engineering reasons if anything.

 

When the time comes for the Republic of Chinese to choose between fight or flight against a possible invasion, these improved Gato-class submarines maintained in perfect operating condition but rendered incapable of actually firing against enemy targets seem optimized for the latter in various ways.

Submarine hulls have a limited life, my guess is this boats don't go very deep. US Fleet boats weren't particularly silent or fast, if I had to flee, i'd rather go by plane.

I would tend to agree, but after the balloon goes up, fleeing by air may be complicated by loss of Republic of Chinese control of its airspace. These 2 boats with a range of 16,000 miles give their senior military leadership and their families multiple fleeing options.

 

Priorities and all that.

Edited by Nobu
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