First Satellite Image Of Chinese Carrier At Sea

[casmith07]

I don't know what's scarier to me, the fact that they're testing this or the arrogance of the comments in the comment section.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/15/u-s-satellite-firm-says-it-has-first-image-of-chinese-aircraft-carrier/

[Achilleslastand]

Had to laugh at the comment about them buying it under the guise of making it into a casino.
I believe its the only carrier they have{i could be wrong}and i dont see them as a threat at least not miltary wise right now.
They still cant deploy their forces worldwide in short order like we can.

[Sam I Am]

Had to laugh at the comment about them buying it under the guise of making it into a casino.
I believe its the only carrier they have{i could be wrong}and i dont see them as a threat at least not miltary wise right now.
They still cant deploy their forces worldwide in short order like we can.

Well, it was a gamble for them to buy it. :laugh2:

[arglebargle]

As I understand it, they have several home-designed carriers in the works, this is just to get something out now, and probably to do some field testing and training. It's all new territory for them.


They want to be taken more seriously in the world arena, so they need some more big boy toys.

[Yeagermeister]

That deck looks like the perfect spot to test out some bunker busters. :D

[big dog cowboy]

That deck looks like the perfect spot to test out some bunker busters. :D
:bomb:

[Signals]

Had to laugh at the comment about them buying it under the guise of making it into a casino.


Well, it was a gamble for them to buy it. :laugh2:
:muttley:

[casmith07]

Had to laugh at the comment about them buying it under the guise of making it into a casino.
I believe its the only carrier they have{i could be wrong}and i dont see them as a threat at least not miltary wise right now.
They still cant deploy their forces worldwide in short order like we can.

I agree, but the fact that they, without any real enemies in the world, are pursuing such an avenue and are actually conducting live testing at this point is a problem. The positive is that the carrier is horribly antiquated and not anything close to what they would want as their own final version.

I agree with Yeags. I say we take it out :D

[TheDallasDon]

Sounds like there gearing up for a war, is there something I missed???

It don't sound 2 good

[Eric_Boyer]

Sounds like there gearing up for a war, is there something I missed???

It don't sound 2 good

:confused:

http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/defspend1.jpg

[jnday]

China will be the next great superpower . The U.S. has already given away so much of the economic and manufacturing capabilities that China will not need new weapons . We are simply giving the top position away .

[Achilleslastand]

I agree, but the fact that they, without any real enemies in the world, are pursuing such an avenue and are actually conducting live testing at this point is a problem. The positive is that the carrier is horribly antiquated and not anything close to what they would want as their own final version.

I agree with Yeags. I say we take it out :D

IDK maybe they are still mad at Japan for all the atrocities comitted against them several decades ago.
Turning it into a indian casino isnt a bad idea tho......they could roll up on us and pearl harbor us.

[ninja]

You have more to fear from imaginary monsters under your bed than China with an aircraft carrier.

In today's world, that carrier they have is nothing but a floating target hunk of junk which can't hide.

[Sam I Am]

You have more to fear from imaginary monsters under your bed than China with an aircraft carrier.

In today's world, that carrier they have is nothing but a floating target hunk of junk which can't hide.

Except China knows how to disrupt GPS so guided missiles are crap. :muttley:

[casmith07]

Sounds like there gearing up for a war, is there something I missed???

It don't sound 2 good

It doesn't. Not only have they been researching carriers, but they've been constructing a navy and have been ramping up their military spending, including air assets.

:confused:

http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/defspend1.jpg

That data is horribly skewed by the absurd amounts of money we've thrown at contractors and in supporting two conflicts in SWA.

[ninja]

The military doesn't care much about that carrier. It can be tracked 24/7/365. It has nowhere to hide and no element of surprise. With the push of a few buttons, it can be destroyed in minutes.

What the military does care and fear a lot more is some kid in his basement or room with a computer who quits surfing porn and decides to infiltrate DoD computer systems. So many of them out there. No idea where they are. No idea when or how they will strike.

[SaltwaterServr]

China has been working on carriers for the better part of two decades. They had some in the works with the FSU before they fell apart. IIRC, they're working on some now, the Russian style bow ramp design that's actually a better design than ours as far as aeronautics go and for launching in heavy seas.

That said, the folks in missile design love carriers. They're huge targets. A scramjet powered modestly sized tactical device can make an entire carrier group into a slightly irradiated artificial reef in seconds. Even a few conventional warheads on cruise missiles coming in from a dozen different directions will wreak havoc on billions and billions of dollars worth of surface naval vessels, not counting the billions spent on training the men and women to operate them.

If it's above the waves, it's target practice if the big dogs on the block ever square off.

That said, of course China is building/buying carriers. You can only build so many empty cities before you get bored with that.

[RoyTheHammer]

Like most toys made in China, i bet it falls apart within the first few months here.

[WarC]

Its their only carrier, and it's of a class that other western countries have had in service for decades. It's way more about China's ability to project its power vs their overseas interests and way less about putting itself in a position to rival any other blue sea navy.

[Illini88228]

I don't know what's scarier to me, the fact that they're testing this or the arrogance of the comments in the comment section.

Never look at the comments section on a news website. There's scary stupid people out there. It will give you nightmares.

[WarC]

That said, the folks in missile design love carriers.

I think thats very true. Carriers alone are very susceptible to current ballistic missile designs. They are in danger of becoming obsolete as they currently exist, like the battleships of the 19th and 20th centuries. Missile defense technology just hasn't yet caught up. The history of warfare is the history of offensive and defensive technologies chasing eachother, and our curent day is seeing the conventional aircraft carrier's decline in that perpetual cycle. However their ability to put strike aircraft anywhere is too vital to give up on right now.

What will probably happen is that carriers will miniaturize and become mostly unmanned, with aerial drones taking the place of manned aircraft, which will return to serving within range of land air bases.

[burmafrd]

that is exagerated as regards the missile threat. Yes if you get close enough to a coast. But no carrier is going to do that. And all the missile wonks find out again and again just how easy it is to jam guidance and targeting systems. The farther the missile has to fly the easier it is to mess up. AND high speed missiles are worse; all you have to do is just mess it up for an instant and it will miss. Now if you are using nuclear warheads all bets are off everywhere and no ship will matter; nothing else will either.

They have been saying the carrier is doomed for about 20 years now. Supposedly the Russians were talking up one of their missiles; turns out it was a turkey. Missile wonks are mostly talk and not all that much action.

[CliffnMesquite]

Looks like it would make a great reef...

[TheCount]

:confused:

http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/defspend1.jpg

Japan's budget is pretty darn respectable considering their size.

[SaltwaterServr]

that is exagerated as regards the missile threat. Yes if you get close enough to a coast. But no carrier is going to do that. And all the missile wonks find out again and again just how easy it is to jam guidance and targeting systems. The farther the missile has to fly the easier it is to mess up. AND high speed missiles are worse; all you have to do is just mess it up for an instant and it will miss. Now if you are using nuclear warheads all bets are off everywhere and no ship will matter; nothing else will either.

They have been saying the carrier is doomed for about 20 years now. Supposedly the Russians were talking up one of their missiles; turns out it was a turkey. Missile wonks are mostly talk and not all that much action.

That's dismissing the fact that you can send out cruise missiles via low flying aircraft thereby extending the range of the long range and medium range to well beyond 1000 nm. They can still be satellite navigated, contour of the Earth navigated, Earth's magnetic field navigated, remote visually operated, use star guidance, and that's just the one's I've read about.

When the chips are on the table, I'll take the missile systems over the surface fleet all day every day. You lose a ship, it takes years to build a new one and an huge amount of logistics to operate a task force. I'll get on the phone and have a 100 new tomahawks ready to go a month from now.

It really comes down to allocation of resources. The ship-of-the-line, the battle wagons of the dreadnaught era, the battleships, and the carrier task force all are made to project power and national prestige in their own time. They are also incredible expensive to operate, and a pair of missiles hitting amidships will take any one vessel out of the surface fleet for months.

No, I'll take my drones dropping cruise missiles over a surface vessel thank ya very much.

FWIW, the British admiralty were terrified of the missiles the ill-trained Argentinian pilots had at their disposal. You know, the Argentinian air force pilots that didn't even know enough to bank when being attacked from behind? Their biggest concern was losing their carriers to a missile attack and had concerns that losing one or more of them would lead to a prolonged engagement with an uncertain outcome.

Despite a major lack of adequate training, they still managed to sink a British destroyer with short-range Exocets, and damage several other ships. The British concern was very well founded.