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HMS Somerset escorted the brand-new Chinese frigate Xiangtan through the Dover Strait as the Far Eastern warship made for Germany. During the several hours in company together, the Brits provided the Xiangtan with a weather forecast to help them on their way to Kiel for that city’s annual maritime spectacular. Picture: LA(Phot) Guy Pool SO AS a Brit, what do you do when you encounter a stranger and need to pass the time? That’s right, you chat about the weather. HMS Somerset met up with brand-new Chinese warship Xiangtan and escorted the frigate through the Dover Strait as it headed...

China Defense Blog has republished a series of photos depicting life on one of China's most modern ships. The photos show a world not too different from western navies, albeit with more spartan living conditions. Hefei, a Type 052D guided missile destroyer, is roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Displacing 7,000 tons, Hefei has a Type 346 phased-array radar system for detecting aerial threats. It's equipped with 64 HQ-9 "Red Banner" missiles, roughly comparable to the SM-2 standard surface-to-air missile system, eight YJ-62 anti-ship missiles, a single 130-millimeter dual purpose ship gun, two close-in weapon systems,...

cjdby.net Type 001A Takes Shape The Type 001A carrier, likely to be named after a Chinese province, already has most of its hangar bay installed, the next major parts are the ski ramp, control tower island, and flight deck. China's first domestically built carrier, "Type 001A", is making brisk progress in its Dalian drydock. Tracing its design to the Soviet Admiral Kuznetsov class of aircraft carriers, the Type 001A will displace around 60,000-70,000 tons, is powered by steam turbines, and will carry between 30 and 40 helicopters and J-15 fighter jets. Type 001A first began construction in late 2014, and...

Pinzgauer, at China Defense Forum 167 Shenzhen The Type 051B Destroyer, "167" Shenzhen, is shown here in its original configuation, including the forward HQ-7 SAM launcher and four 37mm anti-air turrets around its stern hangar. Until the Type 052C, it was China's largest indigenous surface warship. The Chinese Navy (PLAN) has been expanding its power with a series of new, more capable surface warships like the 052D guided missile destroyers (DDG) and 054A frigates, while preparing its Type 055 cruiser for a launch at decade's end. but equally notable is how it is also spending big bucks to update its...

Recent images from China are showing two People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Project 956E Sovremennyy destroyers undergoing major refit and upgrade. It appears that the PLAN is upgrading its class of four destroyers (two 956E followed by two improved 956EM) acquired from Russia with domestic systems. Hangzhou (136) and Fuzhou (137) moored at the PLAN naval shipyard 4806 in Zhoushan. Hangzhou has many of its systems removed including the main gun, sensor and masts, missile launchers (both SAM and ASM). The pictures show first ship of the class Hangzhou (136) and Fuzhou (137) moored at the PLAN naval shipyard 4806...

As president, Donald Trump would sell off $16 trillion worth of U.S. government assets in order to fulfill his pledge to eliminate the national debt in eight years, senior adviser with the campaign Barry Bennett said. "The United States government owns more real estate than anybody else, more land than anybody else, more energy than anybody else," Bennett told Chris Jansing Sunday on MSNBC. "We can get rid of government buildings we're not using, we can extract the energy from government lands, we can do all kinds of things to extract value from the assets that we hold." In a...

Hindsight is 20-20 and examining events from the perspective of what could have or should have happened is usually an exercise in futility.Except when the stakes are high and the path that wasn't taken could have altered our current history.We've known for years that the CIA was urging President Obama to arm the largely secular Free Syrian Army in 2012 to give them a chance to overthrow President Bashar Assad of Syria. This was before Syria's use of chemical weapons, before the Islamic State broke away from al-Qaeda, and before the refugee situation that led to a mass exodus from...

China had received about 200 Kh-59MK (NATO reporting name: AS-13 Kingbolt) anti-ship missiles (ASM) by end-2015, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute`s (SIPRI) arms trasnfer database. A Kh-59MK2 test round is launched from a Su-30MK Flanker G. KnAAPO picture. The deliveries of Russian Kh-59MK missiles intended for Chinese Su-30MK2 (Flanker-G) multirole fighters started in 2008. As of end-late, China got about 200 Kh-59MKs. SIPRI emphasizes, that Chinese Armed Forces may have received both Kh-59MK and Kh-59MK2 modifications of the missile. Kh-59MK is an anti-ship missile developed by the Tactical Missiles Corporation (Russian acronym: KTRV) for Su-30 Sukhoi fighters....

As the U.S.-China naval rivalry unfolds across the Asia-Pacific, Washington sails with significant confidence through these turbulent waters. After all, the U.S. Navy still far exceeds the Chinese Navy in gross tonnage, retains the advantage in key domains such as submarine quieting, has a huge network of bases, and possesses loyal, highly motivated and strong allies to boot. Still, as this Dragon Eye column has pointed out in several instances, Beijing also has some reasons for confidence in this nascent rivalry. With respect to the territorial disputes on ChinaÂ’s maritime flank, the PeopleÂ’s Liberation Army (PLA) has an enviable level...

...our model shows more growth from the Rubio and Cruz plans than the Trump plan, even though Trump proposed a larger cut: While Donald Trump largely opted for big rate reductions across the board, Rubio and Cruz made improvements to the structure of taxes, while cutting taxes by less overall. Senators Rubio and Cruz both put thought into the nature of the taxes that businesses pay. They noticed that the current way businesses are asked to calculate taxes creates a bias in the code. When a business builds something new, like, say, a new industrial lathe, that decision actually has...

China is building aircraft carrier battlegroups and plans to deploy them not only in the disputed East and South China seas, but also to protect the country’s overseas ­interests. Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo, who served as a national political adviser and sits on the navy’s advisory board on cybersecurity, told the state-run Xinhua News Agency that building aircraft carriers served to “defend China’s sovereignty of the islands and reefs, maritime rights and overseas ­interests”. The defence ministry confirmed this year that China was building its second aircraft carrier, its first wholly home-made one. Xinhua mentioned China’s growing interests overseas, including...

The Chinese navy has put into service a domestic-made advanced missile frigate in the East China Sea, upgrading the force’s combat capabilities amid rising maritime tensions. Xiangtan, named after Mao Zedong’s hometown, entered service with the East Sea Fleet on Wednesday in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. The Type 054A frigate, which has a displacement of more than 4,000 tonnes, has long range surveillance and strong air defence capabilities, according to state news agency Xinhua. The news came a day after a senior US military official said China was “militarising” the South China Sea. Although the new ship will be stationed in...

It will be a small-scale rerun of the island hopping of the Pacific campaign of World War 2. This campaign will start with the air base on Mischief Reef, 250 km west of Palawan. This puts it in range of ATACMS missiles with a range of 300 km. The United States has possibly some 2,000 of these in stock. The amphibious attack on Mischief Reef will be associated with the suppression of the airfields on Subi Reef and Fiery Cross Reef. From Mischief Reef, it is then on to the airfield on Subi Reef and then all the other island...

hina's second aircraft carrier, which is now under construction, will focus more on military operations training and technological experiments to improve its defence systems as the 2.3 million strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) undergoes massive revamp. "This aircraft carrier will have different missions than those for the Liaoning (the country's first aircraft carrier)," said Senior Captain Zhang Junshe with the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute. "We use the (the first carrier) Liaoning to test the reliability and compatibility of systems on carriers, and to train personnel. The second carrier will mainly do what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed...

Donald Trump's tax plan would lower federal revenue by $9.5 trillion in its first decade and benefit the wealthy the most, an analysis released Tuesday found. The Republican presidential candidate's plan, released in September, calls for lowering the top individual tax rate to 25 percent from 39.6 percent and the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. The plan would cut the amount of money coming into the federal government. Most of the revenue loss would come from the tax cuts for individuals, but $3.5 trillion of the loss would come from business income tax cuts, the Urban-Brookings...

The first details on a future landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ship for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) may have emerged on a government website in China. Poster showing an LHD design on CSOC (China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Company) stand during AAD 2014 in South Africa An article published on an official website of the Shanghai communist party mentions a company, Hudong Heavy Machinery Co., LTD (member of CSSC China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the largest shipbuilding group in China) that has been contracted to built "16PC2-6B" diesel engines for a new project of amphibious assault ship. The...

Based on several pictures that have been released by Chinese spotters, it appears that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) fourth Type 052D (NATO reporting name Luyang III class) destroyer started sea trials. In the meantime, another Type 052D was launched on November 28th. It is the 8th vessel in the class and the first one launched at the Dalian naval shipyard (Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company member of CSIC - China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation). The fourth Type 052D Destroyer seen during sea trials. Chinese spotter photo published November 22 2015. The first vessel of of the class,...

I can't possibly summarize the whole thing, as there's lots of detail. You should read it yourself, with the promise that you'll find plenty to like. Border wall? Check. Biometric screening system at points of entry? Check. An end to sanctuary cities? Checkity check. Criminalizing visa overstays? Yep, that too. Strengthening E-Verify? Oh yeah. Nary an enforcement mechanism is left unmentioned. But it's not the provisions on illegal immigration that people are buzzing about on social media. It's what Cruz has to say about legal immigration. Isn't he the guy who called for vastly expanding the cap on H-1B visas...

Three Chinese naval ships are scheduled to visit Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, Tuesday as part of a routine goodwill port visit. The ships are expected to arrive following visits to ports in Europe. ... Last month, Chinese navy ship Zheng He visited Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.

The tax-reform proposal unveiled by Ted Cruz last week is as transformative, intellectually dominating and economically and politically revolutionary for 2016 as Kemp-Roth was in 1980. Indeed, even more so. Cruz's plan would scrap the current income tax code and replace it with a simple, single, flat rate of 10%, to be paid by everybody on everything — wages, profits, capital gains, dividends, rent, interest and all forms of individual income. No one would be able to claim that billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries or that the system is rigged to favor the rich over the middle...