China Defense Blog

Thursday, July 02, 2015

Photos of the day: Air rehearsal to commemorate 70th anniversary of end of WWII

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Next up at the Stride 2015 - Zhurihe A "red-vs-blue" confrontational exercise, 1st Heli-Assault Brigade, Nanjing MR

This is 1st Heli-Assault Brigade's first "baptism of fire" at Zhurihe, China's premier operational level "red vs blue" proving ground. It should be interesting to see how fine-tuned the PLA air assault tactics are after 10 years of trial and error in adopting this new combat operation.

The 1st Heli-Assault Brigade (or 直升机机降突击旅 in Chinese) started as the 1st Heli-Assault battalion battle group in 2005, expanded into a full assault brigade in 2008. According to its commander 厉振彪 Li ZhenBiao, due to shortage of organic vertical assets, flatbed trucks were pressed into service to simulate airdrops. Their first military exercise was feasible only by 2009 when additional helicopters found their way to the Nanjing MR. Despite taking part at this year's Zhurihe, the outfit is still fairly new by PLA standards, doubts about their effectiveness will remain for some time to come.

Here are CCTV captures of its first military exercise in 2009

Photo of the day: Night assault, 2nd Battalion, 369th Regiment, 123rd Heavy Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division, Guangzhou Military Region

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Thailand to buy 3 submarines from China

If this deal is realized, it will be the second Chinese submarine export success this year after the earlier Pakistan order.

http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/thailand-buy-3-submarines-china

Published: 8:29 AM, June 26, 2015
(Page 1 of 2) - NEXT PAGE | SINGLE PAGE

BANGKOK — The Thai navy has picked Chinese submarines costing 12 billion baht (S$447.5 million) each to be commissioned in the force, a source on the procurement committee says.

The majority of the 17-strong committee voted to buy three Chinese submarines, saying it was the “best value for money”.
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The rest were split between submarines from Germany and South Korea.

The navy also received offers from Russia, Sweden and France.

The source said China beat other competitors as it offered subs equipped with superior weaponry and technology. Its subs are also able to stay underwater longer.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon backs the submarine project, citing a growing territorial threat and an increasing number of maritime missions. He said many neighbouring countries are also deploying submarines.

General Prawit said he would forward to the cabinet the navy’s submarine procurement decision once it becomes available.

Before the procurement panel made its decision, Gen Prawit was quoted by a navy source as saying that if the submarines were not bought by the current government, the navy might not have the chance to get them again.

In 2011, the navy looked into the purchase of six German-made submarines at a cost of 7.7 billion baht.

However, the project was rejected by the then Yingluck Shinawatra government.

The Chinese Type 039A "Yuan" class and its export variant the S-20

Monday, September 13, 2010

Made-in-China warships off to Gulf of Aden

Hunt begins for Somali pirates
Armed task force sets sail on security mission

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/195695/hunt-begins-for-somali-pirates

Two Thai navy ships with 351 sailors and 20 special warfare troops on board have set sail for the Gulf of Aden to take part in the hunt for pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The mission marks the first time Thailand has sent forces overseas to protect its own interest.

The HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan left yesterday with two helicopters lashed to the decks from Chuk Samet port at Chon Buri's Sattahip naval base to join a 28-country effort to police the shipping lanes off the Somali coast, which has become a piracy hotbed.

"The key mission of this 98-day operation is to protect Thai cargo ships and fishing vessels in those waters," said Adm Supakorn Buranadilok, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Fleet.

The navy expects up to 60 Thai ships to pass through the Gulf of Aden during the course of the operation.

The navy's SEALs unit will be part of the fleet involved in the mission.

The budget for the mission has been set at 270 million baht.

The ships are expected to take 17 days to reach the Gulf of Aden on a journey covering 4,573 nautical miles.

The ships are expected to return about Dec 12.

Two navy ships with 371 sailors and special warfare marines on board set sail from Thailand to take part in international operations to protect ships from pirates in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia. JETJARAS NA RANONG

Political chaos and civil war in Somalia have allowed piracy to flourish off the country's 3,100km coastline.

Somali pirates were involved in more than half of the 406 reported pirate attacks worldwide last year.

They mounted 217 attacks in 2009, hijacking 47 ships and taking 867 crew members hostage with ransoms believed to total US$50 million (1.6 billion baht).

A number of Thai ships have been hijacked by Somali pirates over the past five years.

Photos of the day: 15th ABC in Belarus

May 25, 2015. A special airborne operation troop of the Chinese Air Force left for Belarus on June 15, 2015 to take part in the China-Belarus "Dashing Eagle 2015" counter-terrorism exercise, to end on June 27.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

PLAN commission of the day: Y-8GX6 (Y-8Q) ASW Aircraft (High New 6) commissioned with the North Sea Fleet

To some, the lacking of a dedicated turboprop anti-submarine like the US P-3 Orion is the area of greatest deficiency for the PLAN, especially in the neighborhood filled with advanced nuke and AIP equipped subs. If High New 6 platform is proven to be successful, we expect to see more of them in the future. After all, the PLAN has three fleets and they can all use additional ASW assets.