Saturday, August 25, 2018

CV17 Shandong sailed off to her second sea trials



Credit goes to 蓝鲨小队  link here 


Photos of the day: Hawking goods in Moscow

Chinese hawkers are now aggressively promoting their latest war gears to Putin's military at this year's International Miltary-Technical Forum «ARMY-2018» in Moscow  Link: http://www.rusarmyexpo.com/ Who would have guessed that five or ten years ago.

Noted that a model of an amphibious assault ship that resembles the French Mistral-class is on display,  suggesting that it is available for export.  The Russian can use two of them.... so I was told. 


 






Monday, August 20, 2018

China to take part in Vostok-2018 strategic drills in Russia

In another related news, China will send 3,200 personnel to yet another drill in Russia in Sept 11th.   Vostok-2018 is much larger in scope comparing to the Peace Mission-2018 below

Military & Defense
August 20, 10:45 UTC+3


China to take part in Vostok-2018 strategic drills in Russia

According to the Chinese Defense Ministry, the drills are aimed at strengthening strategic military partnership between China and Russia

Vitaliy Nevar/TASS

http://tass.com/defense/1017824

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. /TASS/. China will take part in the Vostok-2018 (or East-2018) strategic military drills in Russia, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Read also
Russia and China agree to boost military cooperation

"In accordance with an agreement reached by China and Russia, the parties will hold joint military drills at the Tsugol training range in Russia’s Trans-Baikal Region on September 11-15," the statement reads.

According to the Chinese Defense Ministry, the drills are aimed at strengthening strategic military partnership between China and Russia and increasing the two countries’ ability to jointly respond to various security threats, ensure regional peace, stability and security.

China’s Defense Ministry said the drills would involve about 3,200 Chinese military personnel, more than 900 pieces of weapons, as well as 30 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

The Vostok-2018 drills, scheduled to take place in August and September, will involve Russian troops deployed to the Eastern and Central Military Districts, as well as the Northern Fleet.



From China with love

After spending some R&R in Russia as part of the International Army Games of 2018 back in July, the PLA is now returning for more.   This time under the banner of "Peace Mission-2018"

Participating units are: 

The Army:  A tactical battle-group (battalion) from the 76th Group Army and a SpOps detachment, 4xMi-171 Transport helicopters, 4xWZ-10 Attack Helicopters

The PLAAF:  2xJ-11 fighters, 4xJH-4 Fighter-bombers, 6x Y-9 Transport.  2x Il-76 Transport







Chinese participating troops arrive in Russia for Peace Mission-2018

Source
    China Military Online
Editor
    Huang Panyue

Time
    2018-08-20

The last batch of Chinese participating troops arrives in Russia for the Peace Mission 2018 on the evening of August 18, 2018. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Luo Shunyu)

By Luo Shunyu and Pan Kai

RUSSIA, Aug. 20 (ChinaMil) -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) joint military exercise "Peace Mission-2018" will be held in Russia from August 22 to 29 among the SCO member countries.

The Chinese participating troops, selected from the army and the air force units under the PLA Western Theater Command as well as some forces attached to the Central Military Commission (CMC), arrived in Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals, Russia, on the evening of August 18, 2018.

The Peace Mission-2018 joint military exercise will see participation of almost all member nations including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan, and 10 observers from Uzbekistan will also be present.

The exercise, involving a total of over 3,000 troops, will focus on the Army, Air Force and new combat forces. China has sent more than 700 troops to participate, including an army armored tank battle group, an air force battle group and a special operations detachment.

It is the seventh joint anti-terrorism military exercise under the SCO framework, involving more troops, equipment and new combat forces than any previous SCO joint military exercise.

Peace Mission is a biennially-held counter-terrorism exercise involving each SCO member and it contains three stages: strategic consultation, joint anti-terrorism war preparation and war implementation. Its purpose is to examine the coordination and combat readiness of SCO members for joint counter-terrorism operations.


Soldiers from Chinese participating troops are ready for the Peace Mission 2018. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Luo Shunyu)


















 

Photo of the day: PLAN's fourth KJ-500 AWAC spotted

Serial number 81036.  The PLAN continues to deploy land-based AWAC as a stop gap before KL-200 Y-7 AWAC is ready to enter service with her CVBGs




Capture from page 31 of  the "2018 annual China military report by DoD" link here

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Photos of the day: Norinco AH-4 155 mm/39 calibre Lightweight Howitzer in Kuwait

Thus far two Middle East Armies have adopted this 155 mm/39 caliber Lightweight Howitzer.  It has a transport weight about 3,000 kg (total combat weight ~4,500 kg) with a crew of seven, capable of firing both Chinese and NATO rounds, including the laser-guided GP6.  

The AH-4 is the second major artillery system adopted by the  Kuwait army, the first one being the PLZ-45 155 mm self-propelled howitzer

Photo source 现代兵器








PLZ 45 155 mm self-propelled howitzer 







Saturday, October 29, 2016

Close up photos of the day: AH-4 155mm Light-weight Howitzer












Wednesday, June 22, 2016

AH-4 "Chinese M777" 155mm Light-weight Howitzer scored its first Middle East export order.

Thanks Chenium for this update.


According to the current issue of "Modern Weaponry" magazine, the AH-4 was able to beat out BAE's M777 for its first win.   Not sure what criteria the win was based on, should be interesting to find out. 








Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Zhuhai Surprise: Norinco AH-4 155mm Light-weight Howitzer, AKA Chinese M777

According to Norinco, this AH-4 weighting in about 3,000kg, just a bit lighter than the US M777 counter part and chambered to fire all standard NATO 155mm rounds.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Trimaran to the rescue

Last week People's Liberation Army 425 Hospital, South Sea Fleet S&R Detachment and Hainan Maritime Safety Administration conducted a joint downed pilot rescue drill in open sea.   The noteworthy item of this drill is the seldom-seen PLAN high-speed S&R trimaran (South Rescue 511) taking part.

This new class of trimaran was spotted in Feb 2013 in service with the South Sea Fleet but enjoyed very little media coverage since.













 Photo from 2013.  South Rescue 511's sister ship North Rescue 335