Red China trots out its first (secondhand) aircraft carrier, which Daniel Goure points out makes no sense in relation to China's needs or ambitions and is just the sort of thing the US Navy has spent three quarters of a century perfecting ways of sinking.
3 comments:
There are only two kinds of ships.
Submarines and targets.
We have a third kind in Finland. Minelayer.
The ex-Varyag isn't a "true" carrier, but a sea control ship aka "through deck cruiser". Its ski jump (instead of a set of catapults) limits the size and weight of aircraft it can operate safely. Ski-jump takeoffs of Su-33s look clumsy from the sidelines; they are certifiably alarming from the cockpit, being reminiscent of the Doolittle Raiders' B-25 launches off the Hornet in 1942.
If combined with proper escorts and screening elements, the SCS would be a viable option for, say, making it clear to Japan and the Philippines exactly who owns the Spratley Islands. But vs. serious carrier air power, or (nearly as bad) serious numbers of land-based airpower (think the JASDF's F-2 "Super Vipers", or ROKAF's F-15 "K-Beagles", either one with ASMs), this thing is mainly a magnificently tempting target.
And let's not even talk about the effects of a spread of MK48 ADCAPs from a Virginia-class SSN.
cheers
eon
Howsomever - if you team this target to whatever sub launched the missle from the coast of L.A. Cali to a point 400 or so miles westward into the ocean last summer you might be looking at the beginning of a "system" that they're proud enough of to hang a post it note to the world about.
I thought the interesting thing about that was no one admitted to knowing there was a sub there at all!
Buck in Phoenix
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