Anti-Submarine Aircraft of Royal Australian Airforce Flies Over Disputed South China Sea

An Australian military surveillance plane flew near disputed areas of the South China Sea, emerging Wednesday after the crew warned China's navy it was on a freedom of navigation mission.

Tensions in the region have mounted since China transformed reefs in the South China Sea into small islands capable of supporting military facilities, a move the United States says threatens free passage in an area through which one-third of the world's oil passes.

In October, Washington infuriated Beijing when the USS Lassen guided missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of at least one land formation claimed by China in the disputed Spratly Islands chain.

Now a Royal Australian Air Force patrol plane has carried out patrols in air space around the area.

"A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion was conducting a routine maritime patrol in the region as part of Operation Gateway from Nov. 25 to Dec. 4," a defence department spokesperson told AFP.

"Under Operation Gateway, the Australian Defence Force conducts routine maritime surveillance patrols in the North Indian Ocean and South China Sea as a part of Australia's enduring contribution to the preservation of regional security and stability in Southeast Asia."

The comments follow audio released by the BBC late Tuesday after a reporting assignment in the Spratly archipelago.

In the scratchy radio recording, an RAAF pilot is heard speaking to the Chinese navy.

"China navy, China navy," the voice said.

"We are an Australian aircraft exercising international freedom of navigation rights in international airspace in accordance with the international civil aviation convention and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — over."

The BBC said it recorded the audio from a RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft on Nov. 25. It said the message was repeated several times but no response was heard from the Chinese.

The Australian newspaper said it understood that the aircraft did not fly within the 12-nautical-mile limit China claims around the artificial islands it has built up.

The BBC hired a small plane and took off from the Philippines, which also claims some of the scattered atolls and reefs in the region, to film Chinese claimed land and construction and to see whether they were challenged.

It said they were warned several times, with radio communication from the Chinese navy telling them "you are threatening the security of our station."

China insists on sovereignty over virtually all the resource-endowed South China Sea, but Washington has repeatedly said it does not recognize the claims.

In a communique after talks in Sydney in November, US allies Japan and Australia called on "all claimants to halt large-scale land reclamation, construction, and use for military purposes" in the South China Sea.

Chinese Navy Deploying Another Guided Missile Destroyer "Hefei" to its South China Sea Fleet

China has added another of its most advanced destroyers to the South Sea fleet, according to China Military Online.The guided missile destroyer Hefei (hull number 174), the third in the Type 052D class (also known as the Luyang-III class), was commissioned in a ceremony on Sunday at the naval port at Sanya, in China’s Hainan province.

As The Diplomat repeated previously, the first two Type 052Ds were commissioned in March 2014 (the Kunming) and August 2015 (the Changsha). Like the Hefei, those two ships were also deployed as part of China’s South Sea fleet, which operates in the South China Sea, where China has maritime disputes with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Vice Admiral Wang Dengping, the deputy political commissar of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) attended the naming ceremony for the Hefei on Sunday. China Military Onlineparaphrased Wang as saying that “as the most advanced guided missile destroyer independently designed and built by China, the destroyer Hefei will play an important role in further enhancing the systematic combat capability of the PLA Navy and maintaining China’s maritime rights and interests.”

China Daily expanded on that, saying that the three new “world-class guided missile destroyers” were “extensively improving the country’s maritime combat capacity.” The Hefei’s captain, Commander Zhao Yanquan, told China Daily, “Compared with the Wuhan, a Type 052B ship on which I was deputy captain, the new ship is especially stronger in terms of target detection capacity and air defense capability.”

According to a report on the PLAN from the Pentagon’s Office of Naval Intelligence, the Type 052D “embodies the trend [in China] toward a more flexible force with advanced air defenses and long-range strike capability.” The entire Type 052 series (including the Type 052B and C as well) is “considered to be modern and capable designs that are comparable in many respects to the most modern Western warships.”

ONI reports that the Type 052Ds are equipped with a long-range variant of the HQ-9 surface-to-air missile (with a range of 80 nautical miles as opposed to the standard 55 nm). The class also boasts vertically-launched YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, which pose a potential threat to U.S. aircraft carriers. Andrew Erickson, a noted expert on the PLAN based at the U.S. Naval War College, described the YJ-18 as a “a potent new-generation supersonic anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) that could pose unprecedented challenges to the air defenses of U.S. and allied ships.”

According to Chinese media, the Type 052D class ships also carry “a single-barrel, 130 mm naval gun, a close-in weapon system, anti-aircraft missiles, and surface-to-surface cruise missiles.” A researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute told China Daily that, compared to other vessels in the Chinese navy, the Type 052D has “the best radar capability” and “the best missile combination for hitting enemy surface vessels, submarines, aircraft and ground targets.”

The PLAN has plans to add an additional nine Type 052Ds, for a total of 12. Construction has been completed on seven.

S-400 will Bolster China's Capabilities in Response to Any Aerial Threat

A deal between Russia and China for procurement of the new S-400 air defense system will serve as a force multiplier for Beijing in its quest to dominate the skies along its borders, experts said.

The 400-kilometer-range system will, for the first time, allow China to strike any aerial target on the island of Taiwan, in addition to reaching air targets as far as New Delhi, Calcutta, Hanoi and Seoul. The Yellow Sea and China's new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea will also be protected. The system will permit China, if need be, to strike any air target within North Korea.

The S-400 will also allow China to extend, but not dominate, the air defense space closer to the disputed Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, said Vasiliy Kashin, a China defense specialist at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Moscow. China refers to the islands as the Diaoyu, and tensions between Beijing and Japan have been increasing for several years as China continues to claim the islands.

China's current inventory of S-300s, at a range of 300 kilometers, only allows it to strike targets along Taiwan's northwestern coast and cannot reach capital cities in India and South Korea, said Alexander Huang, chairman, Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies, Taipei. The S-400 will challenge Taiwan's ability to conduct air defense operations within its own ADIZ, which covers the Taiwan Strait.

"Of course, these new systems will also give China extra capability to deter and deny hostile air threats, making regional forces more cautious when operating near China," Huang said.

Rosoboronexport CEO Anatoly Isaikin announced the sale on April 13. He told news media outlets that the S-400 was in demand in the international market and that China would be the first export customer. No specifics were revealed, but the actual contract was most likely signed in the last quarter of 2014, Kashin said. He said the deal will include four to six battalions at about US $3 billion.

The S-400 is capable of intercepting missiles and air breathing targets, he said. Rosoboronexport did not clarifies any additional information.

The S-400 is a decent system and an evolutionary progression of China's air and missile defense modernization, said Mark Stokes, executive director of the Project 2049 Institute. "It would be interesting to know what specific missile variant is being exported, and where the systems would be deployed," he said.

Deployment of S-400 systems opposite Taiwan could drive Taiwan to increase investment into asymmetric capabilities designed to exploit vulnerabilities in China's air defenses, he said.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) is not surprised by the revelation and the military is keeping a close watch on developments, said Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he, MND spokesman. Russia and China have cooperated closely on military issues for decades, he said, including arms sales and exchanges of defense technology.

"To cope with the potential threat of this new system, the ROC [Taiwan] armed forces has already completed its analysis of the missile threat, and tweaked its tactics and strategies to reflect countermeasures for engaging the S-400," he said.

Flight training by Taiwan's armed forces would still continue as planned and remain unaffected by the new system, Luo said .

"In the future, the ROC military will continue to keep a close eye on China as the S-400 begins deployment and take precautions for any possible new contingencies."

Kashin said China is gradually improving its long-range air defense missile production capabilities, but still lags behind Russia in this area. Chinese systems sometimes compete effectively on international markets, "but that was achieved not so much by the system capabilities but by Chinese willingness to provide favorable financial conditions and to transfer technology," he said.

China would no doubt attempt to reverse engineer the S-400, as it has done with previous sales of the S-300, but reverse engineering is time consuming, Kashin said, and Russia is now working on the next-generation S-500. The S-500 is expected to enter serial production in 2017; roughly, the same time China receives its first S-400 delivery, Kashin said.

China Buys 24 Su-35 Flanker-Es From Russia

China has signed a contract to buy 24 Sukhoi Su-35 multipurpose fighter jets from Russia, becoming the first foreign buyer of the advanced warplane, according to manufacturer Rostec. The deal, estimated to be worth $2 billion, is a significant boost to Russia’s arms exports.

“The long negotiation on the Su-35 sale to China has been completed. We have signed a contract,” Sergey Chemezov, the head of the Russian state-owned high-tech giant Rostec, told Kommersant business daily.

Chemezov didn’t disclose the details of the deal, but Kommersant cited sources in the Russian arms industry as saying that China had purchased 24 Su-35s at a price of about $83 million each.

The Su-35 (designated Flanker-E+, not to be confused with the Su-27M, which used to be called the same name before its discontinuation) is a long-range “4++ generation” fighter jet. It is armed with an internal 30mm cannon and has 12 hardpoints with a combined capacity of 8,000 kg, compatible with a wide range of unguided and guided missiles and bombs.

The Russian armed forces are the primary operator of the aircraft, with 36 series Su-35s currently in their possession and more to be produced. China first showed its interest in buying Su-35s in 2008 during the Airshow China international expo. Formal negotiations started in 2011.

According to Kommersant, the deal does not involve domestic production of Su-35s in China, a condition usually desired by Beijing due to its strategic goal of producing an entire range of the weapons it uses on its own territory.

The deal would ensure Chinese Air Force superiority in the region amid brewing conflicts with other nations, such as the Philippines and Japan, over territorial disputes. China’s own production capabilities of advanced warplanes, including the J-11, are not yet sufficient to maintain the necessary strength, according to Chinese media.

China is currently among the world’s top five buyers of Russian arms, restoring its position after a slowdown in late 2000s. Beijing buys advanced Russian jet engines, submarines and surface-to-air missiles, among other high-tech military items.

Source: RT News

Chinese PLAN's Military Options For Civilian Cargo Ships

The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is looking for new ways to expand its maritime logistical capabilities. While the PLAN has focused on both denying enemy naval forces access to waters near China, as well as operating in said water, China needs a significant maritime transport capability to move forces and materials that can decisively influence events on lands separated from the Mainland by oceans. This can be achieved with both specialized platforms, as well as through ships taken up from trade (STUFT), which is the practice of naval forces adding merchant marine ships to their order of battle in wartime.

"H1138", built at Huangpu Wenchong shipyards in its first military contract, is China's answer to the U.S. Mobile Landing Platform, which allow for larger and cheaper platforms to stage amphibious operations involving hovercraft and other amphibious/littorial vehicles, compared to conventional amphibious warfare ships. The H1138 is 50,000 tons, with a deck area of almost 4,000 square meters.

The "H1183" is a 50,000 ton displacement cargo ship with a giant staging platform installed at its waterline, which can accomodate a wide variety of hovercraft, helicopters, fast craft and armored fighting vehicles. Soon after its May 2015 commissioning, the H1183 was spotted carrying a Zubr class heavy amphibious assault hovercraft. The H1183 was launched by Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard, as the smaller Chinese equivalent to the U.S. Mobile Landing Platform. Its 33 meter by 120 meter submergible platform is large enough to carry up to three Type 726 hovercraft, which can transport one main battle tank from sea to land. MLP type vessels are intended to complement traditional landing platform docks by providing additional, cheaper sealift capacity for seabasing away from existing land bases, peacetime prepositioning, special force operations and disaster relief.

A Soviet designed Chinese Zubr hovercraft is carried by hull "H1183" MLP. The H1183 can carry multiple Zubrs, each of which can travel 60 knots over water, carry 150 tons of tanks, artillery and infantry, and is armed to the teeth with Gatling cannons, hundreds of 140mm rockets, MANPADS missiles and mines. MLPs could carry these gigantic attack hovercrafts to anywhere in the world, without being restricted by the Zubr's 300 mile range.

On June 17, Chinese government issued orders for civilian shipbuilders to ensure that five types of civilian ships, container, roll-on/roll-off, multipurpose, bulk carrier, and break-bulk cargo carriers, will be technically compliant for emergency mobilization during wartime. The official China Daily newspaper notes that the Royal Navy took similarily advantage of augmented civilian shipping during the Falklands War. Additionally, the U.S. military used Special Middle East Shipping Agreements to book air cargo space during the Gulf War.

China has one of the world's biggest shipbuilding industries by volume, which produced 39.05 million dry weight tons in 2014.

These technical changes will likely include the ability to install military grade communications and defense systems when needed, as well as stronger damage control mechanisms such as additional firefighting equipment. Such militarized new ships would likely be used not for limited skirmishes in the South or East China Seas, but rather in support of sustained maritime, amphibious and regional power projection campaigns, such as around the Taiwan Straits, Gulf of Aden or North Korea. Given China's status as one of the world's largest shipbuilder by displacement, including those five categories of transports, and a large merchant marine fleet, the PLAN will not come up short when mobilizing immediate SHUFT capacity.

While most people would be familiar with RO/RO ferries and transports as a way to get across the English Channel, or onto Nantucket, the PLA uses mobilized RO/RO ferries as a way to cheaply and quickly move troops and vehicles by sea.

Roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) carriers are especially interesting given that while they normally transport cars and other automobiles, which drive onto and drive off of them at ports. As shown by U.S military practice during the Gulf Wars, RO/RO carriers can be easily mobilized to dock at a captured or friendly port to quickly drop off a battalion from its ramps. If Chinese amphibious or special forces capture an enemy port, a RO/RO carrier could be brought in to quickly disperse mechanized infantry to seize the surrounding city in a rapid campaign. RO/RO carriers would also allow for the speedy deployment of follow on logistic equipment, and anti-access systems like surface to air missiles. \While China's global economic and infrastructure projects are primarily motivated by civilian concerns, it would be likely that the PLA would mobilize them for wartime usage. 

WZZ51/Type 92 armored personnel carriers, armed with 25mm autocannons, quickly roll onto a commandeered RO/RO ferry during exercise. A properly trained battalion of several dozen tanks or other armored vehicles could exit a RO/RO ferry in half an hour, to launch a rapid amphibious attack.

Chang Bogo-class submarines for Indonesia

Chang Bogo class submarines of Indonesian Navy under construction in S. Korean Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. It's based on German Type 209/1200 submarines.

The Republic of Korea submarine ROKS Lee Eokgi (SS 071) leads a formation of U.S. and coalition forces during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010 exercises.

DSME signed a contract with Indonesia on for the supply of three Improved Chang Bogo class submarines. These submarines will be equipped with Atlas Electronic CSU 90 hull-mounted passive and active search-and-attack sonar and flank sonar arrays, Indra's Pegaso RESM system and Aries low-probability of intercept radar, L-3's MAPPS integrated platform management systems and Sagem's Sigma 40XP inertial navigation systems. These subs will be of 1400 tons displacement.

The Chang Bogo class submarines are armed with 8 bow 533 mm torpedo tubes and 14 torpedoes. The ships are also armed with Sub-Harpoon missiles and can be armed with 28 Mines in place of Torpedoes and Harpoon. The class is armed with SUT - Surface and Underwater Target Torpedoes.

Type 052D (Luyang-III) Multirole Destroyer: PLAN's Prime Surface Combatant

J-20 Mighty Dragon: Coming To Rule The Dragons' Sky

The new prototypes of J-20 Mighty Dragon had emerged last years' November & December months sequentially. It has been a shocking news for those nations who have disputed issues over South China Sea & mostly covered Diaouy/Senkaku Island dispute, for Japan. The raising military might of China draws the significant attention in the Pentagon, amid while, this 5th generation stealth fighters' new prototypes emerging very shortly with new and improved stealth features. Here, below some photos of the new prototypes J-20 2013 & J-20 2015:

J-20 Prototype No. 2013:

J-20 Prototype No. 2015:

How J-15 Flying Shark Arises!!!

It has finally happened. We finally have news confirmation from Xinhua and also have pictures of J-15's first take/off and landing from Xinhua. The news of first landing came a couple of days ago, but this is the first time we have seen the photos.

First Chinese made Carrier Borne fighter, J-15 Flying Shark

 

Here is a timeline of China's naval flanker program just to give you an idea:


2001, Assemble the T-10K-3 prototype that PLAN purchased from Ukraine. Use this for long term technical study.

January 2007, AVIC1 and PLAN’s major program (J-15) research work started.

July 2007, AVIC1 SAC had a large program tackling meeting
January 2008, blueprint work finished, start prototype research & production stage.

August 31st 2009, J15-0001 had maiden flight.

 

May 6th 2010, maiden take-off flight from the simulated jet-ski at CFTE. Continued production of single digit number of prototypes for future testing.

August 10th, 2011, China’s first aircraft carrier went out for sea trials. J-15-0005/CFTE-554 and J15-0008/CFTE-556 prototypes made numerous fly-overs, low altitude touch and go landing along the way.

 

July 2012, Finished certification test flights, given permission to product single digit number of batch 0 J-15s for initial testing/trials works.

September 25th, 2012, PLAN first aircraft carrier was named Liaoning and had its first sailing after commissioning in October.

November 3rd, 2012, J-15S-0001 had maiden flight.

Early November, 2012, Liaoning had second sailing after commissioning.

 

November 20th, 2012, a PLANAF pilot made the first carrier landing trial.

November 23rd, 2012, Two PLANAF pilots flying 2 J-15s finished carrier op controlled first official takeoff and landing trials. 

 

This marks successful completion of first stage of the Carrier aviation project.

PLA Navy amphibious task force reaches Malaysia 'to defend South China sea'

A fully equipped PLA amphibious task force has reached China's southernmost claimed possession in the South China Sea in an unprecedented show of force that is raising eyebrows across the region. The four-ship flotilla headed by the landing ship Jinggangshan visited James Shoal - some 80 kilometres from Malaysia, less than 200 kilometres from Brunei and 1,800 kilometres from the mainland coast - close to the outer limits of China's "nine-dash line", by which it lays claim to virtually the entire South China Sea.

Chinese Navy's amphibious landing ship Jinggangshan is seen during a training with a hovercraft in waters near Hainan Province on March 20, 2013. Photo: Xinhua

A Xinhua report yesterday described marines and crew gathering on the deck of the Jinggangshan - one of the PLA Navy's three 200-metre landing ships - to pledge to "defend the South China Sea, maintain national sovereignty and strive towards the dream of a strong China".

"It was a surprisingly strong message in sending out this task force, on such a new operational role from previous PLAN [PLA Navy] patrols in the region," said Gary Li, a senior analyst with IHS Fairplay in London.

"It is not just a few ships here and there, but a crack amphibious landing ship carrying marines and hovercraft and backed by some of the best escort ships in the PLAN fleet," he said, adding that jet fighters had also been used to cover the task force.

"We've never seen anything like this that far south in terms of quantity or quality ... it is hard to know whether it is just coincidence, but it does seem to reflect [President] Xi Jinping's desire for more practical operationally based exercises."

The landing ships are considered some of the most sophisticated vessels in the PLA and are thought to be key to any strategy to invade Taiwan. Their deployments are closely watched by regional rivals. The first of the landing ships, Kunlunshan, has been used in anti-piracy work off the Horn of Africa. Photos circulating on mainland websites show marines storming beaches, backed by hovercrafts and helicopters dispatched from the Jinggangshan during several days of exercises that saw them visit all of China's holdings in the Spratly Islands.

The PLA took six Spratlys reefs and shoals from Vietnam in a sea battle 25 years ago this month. The ships are due to head back north, crossing into the western Pacific for further drills via the Bashi channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, Xinhua said. News of the Jinggangshan's appearance off James Shoal last night sparked chatter among military officials in the region.

"That is quite a show of sovereignty - an amphibious task force," said one military attaché monitoring developments. "It has got everyone talking.

"The Spratlys is one thing, but turning up at James Shoal is quite another. Once again, China is showing it is quite unafraid to send a message to the region - and in a year when Asean is chaired by Brunei, turning up down there in such a fashion is pretty strong symbolism."

PLA deployments into the South China Sea in 2009 and 2010 sparked fears across the region of a new assertiveness by Beijing. Those concerns in turn prompted fresh moves by several Southeast Asian nations to force the long-simmering South China Sea dispute back on to the regional agenda - and forge closer ties with the US.

 

Source: South China Morning Post