Sunday, May 31, 2020

Historical Photos Of The Day: CNS Nanchang Circa 1970s

She was commissioned by the IJN April 30, 1941 and decommissioned in 1979 as CNS Nanchang







Saturday, May 25, 2019


Historical photos of the day: DDG Nanchang, first of her name

DDG Nanchang the lead ship of the Type055 class of destroyer is the third PLAN naval vessel bears that name.  First PLAN Nanchang was a recommissioned 993-ton IJN gunboat Uji.  The KMT took procession of her in Sept 13th, 1945 after the end of WWII.  Then, her entire crew defected to the Communist cause 6 days later on Sept 19th. 




The second ship that bared the name of Nanchang was DDG 163, Luda class.  She was decommissioned in Sept 8th, 2016 after 34 years of service.


In some ways,  the story of Nanchang mirrors that of the PLAN; from ragtag to not-so-great then ending up world class.


Thursday, April 25, 2019


DDG 101




Terraforming Woody Island.

Sure, this is not as a great as growing potato in Mars but the China Marine is now able harvest 1500 kg of veggie out of half acre of sandy beach at Woody Island.  The knowledge gained will help to terraform more sandy areas elsewhere such as the Gobi Desert (here)


Sources (here) and (here)












Saturday, May 30, 2020

An update on China "Navy" in Tibet.

Chinese garrison of Pangong Tso received their new Type928D Patrol Craft back in Oct 2019.  The improved Type928D can carry a crew of 10 plus a single fixed gun mount (12.7mm) to a mix speed of 70km/hour









PAP Unit Of The Day: Shanghai PAP Corps

Shanghai is one of the four municipalities of the PRC, as such, it "enjoys" the protection of a dedicated provincial-level PAP Corps.    Shanghai PAP Corps has organic mechanized infantry, light artillery, NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical), engineering, combat pioneer, and other specialist units.  It is Shanghai's equivalent to US National Guard.

Source (here)

 LG5 40mm "sniper" grenade launcher



Flamethrower, an elegant weapon... for a more civilized age.









Civilian GongAn SWAT, not part of the PAP 




Friday, May 29, 2020

Confirmed Y-20/Y20A of the China Airforce

Counting fat birds on a Friday night....
After a quick check, here are photos of  the 14th confirmed Y-20/A of the China Airforce .
11051
11052
11053
11055
11056
11057
11058
11059

11150
11151
11153

20041
20042
20043

Of course there are many more Y-20s out there according to high-resolution satellite images posted elsewhere.  Posted here are all photos taken on the ground.














Wednesday, May 27, 2020

China's 2nd aircraft carrier Shandong conducts testing, training mission in wake of COVID-19

http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/view/2020-05/28/content_9823516.htm



Source
    Global Times
Editor
    Huang Panyue

Time
    2020-05-28 08:30:06

Aircraft carrier Shandong. Photo: Screenshot from China Central Television

China's second aircraft carrier, the country's first domestically built one, the Shandong, is now conducting testing and training missions at sea, the state broadcaster confirmed on Wednesday, after local residents saw the warship leaving a shipyard on Monday.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy warship Shandong is conducting testing and training missions in an undisclosed location while its troops studied Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech on Tuesday when he was attending a plenary meeting of the delegation of the PLA and People's Armed Police Force, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Wednesday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Tuesday stressed achieving the targets and missions of strengthening the national defense and armed forces for 2020.

As China's first domestically made aircraft carrier, the Shandong has been actively conducting real combat-oriented training since its commissioning in December 2019, the report said.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the aircraft carrier neglected neither epidemic control nor testing and training, as professional training has been conducted for individual sailors, battle positions and departments, CCTV reported.

"Troops on the aircraft carrier need to form independent comprehensive combat capability and integrate into the combat group system as soon as possible," Li Yongxuan, executive officer of the Shandong, said on CCTV.

"We will do our best to make our aircraft carrier capable of fight and win," Li said.

Xi's important speech pointed the direction to push ahead with various tasks for the troops under the condition of regular prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic and boosted the confidence of the troops, the report said.

The troops are determined to achieve the targets and missions of strengthening the national defense and armed forces for 2020, according to the report.

The CCTV report came after a series of photos and videos uploaded on China's social media platforms showed the Shandong leaving the Dalian Shipyard in Northeast China's Liaoning Province on Monday.

According to a navigation restriction notice released by the Maritime Safety Administration on Friday, entry into a vast area of the Yellow Sea is prohibited due to a military mission from Monday to June 2. It did not mention if the aircraft carrier would be taking part in the mission.

The Shandong was commissioned by the PLA Navy on December 17, with a ceremony held at a naval base in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, after which it sailed back to the Dalian Shipyard in late December for maintenance.

Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie told the Global Times that after the long distance round trip from Dalian to Sanya, the Shandong needed time to make improvements and calibrations based on possible problems it encountered.

This training mission will likely test if every adjustment is working well, Li predicted, noting the Shandong is now laying the foundation for forming initial operational capability.

When the Shandong left the shipyard, no aircraft was spotted on the fight deck based on photos and videos taken by local residents. But the CCTV report showed J-15 fighter jets on the carrier.

This probably means the fighter jet takeoff and landing missions are part of the training, a military expert who asked not to be named told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

CCTV capture of the day: China's Strategic Support Force, not your everyday internet keyboard warrior anymore

From this CCTV report,  new members of the Strategic Support Force have to endure the crucible of "hell week" just like the next guy.  It's a 7 day/6 night of extreme training a bit longer than their US counterparts and takes place  middle of no where as well.

The Strategic Support Force commissioned in December 31, 2015 (see article below) as part of that round of re-org.

Source (here)




 The guy in the back is sporting a Type03 rifle, interesting.



http://english.chinamil.com.cn/news-channels/pla-daily-commentary/2016-01/06/content_6846500.htm

Expert: PLA Strategic Support Force a key force to win wars
Source: China Military OnlineEditor: Yao Jianing
2016-01-06 16:440

BEIJING, January 6 (ChinaMil) -- The inaugural ceremony for the PLA Army’s leading organ, the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force was held in Beijing on December 31, 2015. The newly-established PLA Strategic Support Force seems quite mysterious. What on earth does this military force look like?

For this question, military expert Yin Zhuo said that the major mission of the PLA Strategic Support Force is to give support to the combat operations so that the PLA can gain regional advantages in the astronautic war, space war, network war and electromagnetic space war and ensure smooth operations.

Specifically, the tasks of the PLA Strategic Support Force include object observation and reconnaissance, feedback of object information; daily navigation, management over the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and space reconnaissance means, as well as defending electromagnetic space and cyberspace. “All these are the new fields that determine whether the PLA can win in the future battlefield.”

During a war, the reconnaissance force for the electronic space can help the PLA understand the enemy's trend, help the troops plan the combat operations, and ensure victory on the battlefield. In peacetime, the security of electromagnetic space and cyberspace becomes increasingly important as China's information degree increases.

Yin Zhuo pointed out that as satellite navigation facilities are applied for civil purposes, high-speed railways, ships, planes and automobiles will all be equipped with vehicular or airborne positioning facilities. Such facilities will play an important role in China's society construction.

In addition, many hackers have carried out illegal activities against China on the Internet, such as cyber attacks against China's important governmental facilities, military facilities and important civil facilities, which requires us to equip ourselves with defensive power.

The PLA Strategic Support Force will also play an important role in safeguarding the national financial security and everyday life of the people.

"The PLA Strategic Support Force is an important force in joint operations." Yin Zhuo said that nowadays every combat operation involves offense and defense in the electronic space. The PLA Strategic Support Force will play an important role in reconnaissance, warning, communication, commanding, control, navigation, and construction of digital ocean and digital earth, etc., and will provide strong support for the joint operations of various services and arms in order to realize the goal of winning a local war under IT-based conditions.

Yin Zhuo pointed out that the PLA Strategic Support Force is not a single combat force. It will be included into the operations of the army, navy, air force and rocket force, etc., so as to conduct integrated joint operations.

The PLA Strategic Support Force will exist throughout the whole process of military operations, penetrate into each combat mission, and become a key force to win the war.

The author is Qiu Yue, reporter from the People’s Daily Online.


Plagiarist of the day: armyrecognition

armyrecognition has been "copy, pasting with tiny rewording" from CDB for sometime now, latest example (here)  It is time to call them out.

We, at China Defense Blog, is happy to share for free, it is the ideal of blogging after all.  If armyrecognition continues to participate in Plagiarism to drive their ad $$ income, please have the common courtesy of citing the write-up as well as the photos from now on.   Not just credit for the photos, please include the write-up as well. 

https://china-defense.blogspot.com/2020/05/china-navy-unit-of-day-hainan-air.html

Monday, May 25, 2020


China Navy Unit Of The Day: Hainan Air Defense Brigade

China Navy's only land based air defense brigade.  While there are smaller independent air defense units provide point defense for naval installations else where, this is the only mobile unit that has an AOR of an entire province of Hainan.   Hainan, of course, is home to Navy's HQ of the Southern Theater Command.

Judging from the official released photos below, this AD brigade commands HQ-9 long range SAM, HQ-6A short medium range SAM,  LD2000 land based 30mm CIWS system and HN-6 MANPAD









Monday, May 25, 2020

By the way CV17 Shandong left Qiangdan for another spin around the neighborhood yesterday

Photo source (here)



China Navy Unit Of The Day: Hainan Air Defense Brigade

China Navy's only land based air defense brigade.  While there are smaller independent air defense units provide point defense for naval installations else where, this is the only mobile unit that has an AOR of an entire province of Hainan.   Hainan, of course, is home to Navy's HQ of the Southern Theater Command.

Judging from the official released photos below, this AD brigade commands HQ-9 long range SAM, HQ-6A short medium range SAM,  LD2000 land based 30mm CIWS system and HN-6 MANPAD