Posted on 08/05/2011 9:06:43 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
>>> Chinese Fire Drill
No more so then the driver’s education class sharing one car. They’re just here to learn before taking command of new carriers of their own. Same goes for the carrier’s pilots. These early classes will soon be commanding squadrons.
This is a school. Not a warship.
That depends upon whether the Chinese consider the Pacific Ocean their back door or their front door.
China is building an expansionist posture. They need room for their people, and all manner of raw materials for their industry.
My opinion is that the Pacific is their back door which they will defend. Their front door leads to Russia and India.
Vladi Putin had better watch out.
***That’s the empty shell being towed from the Black Sea when they bought it. It’s been enhanced since then (including phased array 3-D radar)***
If ChiCom trends are any indication, my wild arsed guess has to be this: Watch it grow, “exponentially”, and “numerically”, just as they did these itty bitty teeny weeny http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/china-builds-warships/ speedboats//.
My speculation: They just ordered some 89 or so Officer/skippers along with a number of thousand of sailors aboard the Shi-Lang and that can mean only one thing: they expect boats like this to be in the high double digits and likely fast paced...
I foresee a fleet of between 48 to maybe 60 of these expendable, cheap to produce, cutting edge technology boats in with the next ten years,
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