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OK, as promised, more bad news for the PRC in general and the CCP and People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in particular, all brought to you by UKRAINE.
Over the past several weeks Ukraine has been staging long range attacks into Russia targeting logistics hubs and IL-76 transport planes. This is why the west has been hesitant to give Ukraine certain bits of high tech kit. Only Ukraine hasn't been using western military equipment. They have been using home-brew weapons made primarily of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) CHINESE drone technology they purchased on the open market.
Ukraine has had some spectacular success with drones, both air and surface, against the Russian Navy. Specifically using an aerial drone to distract the Slava so that it didn't intercept the Harpoonski missiles that killed it. They have used naval surface drones against the Kerch strait bridge, Sevastopol harbor, and military & military-contracted ships at sea.
I can hear you all now, "OK, LP, I can see how this is bad news for Russia but how is it bad news for China?" Glad you asked.
It is bad news for China because the US Navy has been watching this and figured a relatively cheap way to gut the PLAN like a fish should they ever decide to have a go at Taiwan. Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Kicks, has announced the "Replicator Initiative." This is a US Navy project that will over the next 18-24 months build several thousand relatively cheap drones capable of neutering the PLAN whether in-port or at sea. The kicker is that they announced that they will be using almost exclusively COTS Chinese drone technology.
This puts the CCP in a bit of a bind. Do they stop the rather lucrative export of drone technology, further hurting an already ailing economy or do they just ensure that the US Navy, that they already can't beat, can destroy them with their own technology and do it on the cheap?
As Stalin famously commented, "Quantity has a quality all its own."
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)