China Military News

[Tiamat]

Didn't the Russians sell them an old carrier - cough-couch Aircraft Carrying Cruiser?

Any news on the smokey landing ship?

Yes, China bought one of the Russian Aircraft Carrying Cruisers to have some sort of starting point. But that was years ago.
China IMO wisely went with CATOBAR not with stinking useless stupid ramps (yeah, RN QE in my books SUXXOR DA MAXXOR). But catapults are difficult. Especially electromagnetic ... the PLAN took a VERY ambitious route. I suppose that enought time and throwing money will produce a working system ... or maybe not ...

Haven't heard anything else yet on the Chinese landing ship that decided to have a duck BBQ, don't know if we even will for a while, they tend to be tight lipped about such things.


As for the carrier in question that was sold off, it was the Soviet Kuznetsov-class Carrier/Missile Cruiser Riga, also named as the Varyag. It was about 65 percent complete or so when it was sold off to the Chinese. China finished construction and renamed it the Liaoling. It still has the launch ramp which I'm not a particular fan of.

Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Hilariously enough, some Russian politicians have suggested they now want that aircraft carrier back.

As Russia's only aircraft carrier falls apart, some Russians want to undo a shady ship deal with China from 25 years ago

The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning began life as a Soviet warship. Now a Russian lawmaker thinks it could be of use to Moscow again.

www.businessinsider.com

"We want our aircraft carrier back comrades, we practically sold that thing off for a few bottles of cheap vodka!"




EDIT: I swear everytime I see an aircraft carrier with one of those stupid ramps it makes me think of someone trying to stick up a certain reproductive organ to impress someone, or rather....nevermind.

 

[Sailor.X]

Didn't the Russians sell them an old carrier - cough-couch Aircraft Carrying Cruiser?

Yes they did. And it was a sotty piece of crap as well.

 

[Buba]

BTW - China is less than 15 years into carrier operations and carrier building. This is a decades long project.
How good were the USN, ISJn, or RN in the early 1930s?
That linked video struck a negative chord with me - the mention of carrers being diesel powered killed the dude's credibility for me.

BTW - it was not Russia who sold China the Liaolang 001 - it was Ukraine.

 

[Zachowon]

BTW - China is less than 15 years into carrier operations and carrier building. This is a decades long project.
How good were the USN, ISJn, or RN in the early 1930s?
That linked video struck a negative chord with me - the mention of carrers being diesel powered killed the dude's credibility for me.

BTW - it was not Russia who sold China the Liaolang 001 - it was Ukraine.

I mean, US and France are the only ones with Nuclear

 

[Jormungandr]

BTW - China is less than 15 years into carrier operations and carrier building. This is a decades long project.
How good were the USN, ISJn, or RN in the early 1930s?
That linked video struck a negative chord with me - the mention of carrers being diesel powered killed the dude's credibility for me.

BTW - it was not Russia who sold China the Liaolang 001 - it was Ukraine.

However, carriers at the beginning of the 20th were still in the experimental stage, and the 30's were only when carriers had pretty much all the bugs and flaws ironed out (much like with tank development) and became formidable fleet assets (as in the US Navy, British Navy, et cetera) during and up to the years of WW2. They were only improved upon from there.

China in the 2000's has no such excuse, since they've got over a century of basic "do's and don'ts" to draw on, thanks to other nations' histories. Hell, they don't even have to be fucking technology thieves to know and learn from these lessons.

This is just a case of "China being China", cutting corners, and being incompetent/corrupt as per usual.

 

[Buba]

I mean, US and France are the only ones with Nuclear

Not knowing one's turbines from diesels is damning. Paints himself as an ignorant blowhard.

China in the 2000's has no such excuse, since they've got over a century of basic "do's and don'ts" to draw on, thanks to other nations' histories. Hell, they don't even have to be fucking technology thieves to know and learn from these lessons.

Yes and no. Knowing things is one thing. Doing them is another.

 

[Tiamat]

If you're curious to watch some videos on carrier development during the 1930s and their use in WW2, a good source is Drachinifel on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/@Drachinifel

 

[Scottty]

Yes they did. And it was a sotty piece of crap as well.

But still better than anything the PRC could build themselves?

 

[Tiamat]

But still better than anything the PRC could build themselves?

It probably had more to do with they were getting a mostly-built frame of a carrier for a garage-sale price.

But if those pics that have been posted of Chinese carriers with huge cracks on their tops are legit, I would say yes.

 

[Buba]

But still better than anything the PRC could build themselves?

I'd venture that it saved the PLAN a decade. They skipped the helicopter carrier stage.

 

[Zachowon]

Not knowing one's turbines from diesels is damning. Paints himself as an ignorant blowhard.


Yes and no. Knowing things is one thing. Doing them is another.

I mean, most likely going off of how it is powered.

 

[Tiamat]

Taiwanese civilians are prepping for war with China.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Pakistan interested in purchasing China's J-31/FC-31 Stealth Fighter.

China's FC-31 Stealth Fighter Officially Being Sought By Pakistan

The chief of the Pakistan Air Force says that the Chinese new-generation fighter is “all set to become part of the fleet in the near future.”

www.thedrive.com

 

[Tiamat]

Pakistan interested in purchasing China's J-31/FC-31 Stealth Fighter.

China's FC-31 Stealth Fighter Officially Being Sought By Pakistan

The chief of the Pakistan Air Force says that the Chinese new-generation fighter is “all set to become part of the fleet in the near future.”

www.thedrive.com

Another reason Pakistan may be interested in purchasing this aircraft "in the near future"...

The Promise and Peril of Pakistan’s Economic Recovery Effort

In the first half of 2023, Pakistan appeared to be moving toward a catastrophic economic default. An IMF loan program Pakistan entered into in 2019 had gone off track after the Fund found Islamabad’s commitment to reform lacking, leading to a suspension of loan disbursements. The derailment of...

www.usip.org

"China also played a pivotal role in preventing Pakistan's default in the months leading up to the SBA. Between January and June 2023, Pakistan faced the repayment of $3.5 billion in maturing commercial loans to Beijing, as well as the return of $5 billion in loaned foreign exchange reserves, including $3 billion to China. China rolled over and refinanced almost $7 billion, easing Pakistan's critical debt obligations."

 

[Lord Sovereign]

I'd imagine such an aircraft would be quite a step up over whatever India's got, who remains Pakistan's most likely adversary in war.

 

[Zachowon]

India is making its own domestic fifth generation

 

[Tiamat]

India is trying to develop a fifth-generation aircraft, the HAL AMCA, but there is some skepticism about how far they can go in developing and fielding such an aircraft without more foreign collaboration and investment. India did announce they're doing a joint collaboration with GE on the engines for the aircraft in development.

HAL AMCA - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Buba]

India is making its own domestic fifth generation

India has been making its own domestic jet fighter since the 1980s (or was it 70s?). Read about the Tejas saga ...
I offer to have a sex change operation the moment India puts its indigenous Vth gen fighter into units. As I am in my 50s I do not expect to live long enough to have to deliver

 

[JagerIV]

India has been making its own domestic jet fighter since the 1980s (or was it 70s?). Read about the Tejas saga ...
I offer to have a sex change operation the moment India puts its indigenous Vth gen fighter into units. As I am in my 50s I do not expect to live long enough to have to deliver

Yeah, India has seemed to improve greatly in the last 20 years, but that's from the bottom of third worldism. Average level of human development and institutional quality I believe is not particularly high in India itself. Of course, on the other hand the top 1% of a country of a billion and a half people is still 15 million people, so a specific limited scope design project might be able to push above the average development level.

 

[Jormungandr]

Yeah, India has seemed to improve greatly in the last 20 years, but that's from the bottom of third worldism. Average level of human development and institutional quality I believe is not particularly high in India itself. Of course, on the other hand the top 1% of a country of a billion and a half people is still 15 million people, so a specific limited scope design project might be able to push above the average development level.

They're also more focused on putting shit into space instead of, you know, actually developing or stopping their country degrading even further e.g. water ways, poverty, rail transportation, infrastructure, stopping savagery (which, amusingly, Western feminism is quiet on because it's outside of a safe area to soapbox in the West) in villages and towns, et cetera.

India has great potential, but they really need to pull their heads out of their arses priority-wise.