Latest pictures out of China of PLANs work on the Carrier Varyag

CHINA.COM Military Pics ^ | 10 Octoner 2005 | Jeff Head

[Jeff Head]

The PLAN is readying the former Russian carrier Varyag for something. These pictures show the exterior painting now being completed in the standard PLAN surface combatant colors, with the superstructure preparing to be painted.

They have been working on the project in their naval shipyards for over two year now.

[Jeff Head]

Initially it will be a political tool and a show piece to sail around the world...but they will use that time...as long as they have...to develop their skills. They are building a blue water fleet, and they are working the ASW issue. Clealry, with or without the carrier, they have to. They will use that expertise as it decvelops, on surface and sub-surface units to try and defend their carrier.

We dare not underestimate and cavalierly right off such an adversary who has the money and the developing engineering and manufacturing skill...and who is currently using those skills to build modern combatants in an unprecedented numbers.

[Jeff Head]

The thing has been moved around to various docks, including dry dock capability, for the last good while. I expect they painted it while there in the necessary places. The pcitures are coming ot of China...they are not hiding what they are doing with her.

[Jeff Head]

Yes...particularly in the litoral waters under heavy land based air cover....it would make things more complicated.

[OXENinFLA]

Great pics, thanks for the update...

[Riley]

What city is it in? I'll look for it next time I am playing with Google Earth.

[Jeff Head]

hehehe...they simply "got away" from us?

[Andy from Beaverton]

That carrier is only going to be as strong as their pilots and planes. Do we know what upgrades they are doing to their planes to compete against us?

[Riley]

Guss they had to replace this sometime, eh?

http://tuku.military.china.com/military/html/2005-09-26/20336.htm

[JamesP81]

Looks like good target practice for Navy fighter pilots.

Seriously, I think that 7th Fleet could destroy the entire PLAN in a maximum of forty-eight hours of combat once the PLANs positions were known. The real threat from China comes from its air force which makes up for its inferior technology with its enormous size.

[Jeff Head]

I believe it is the Dalian shipyards.

[Jeff Head]

Well, initial hostilities with them will most probably center in the relatively close-in waters of the China Sea under the umbrella of that large air force. They will not venture out into blue water conflict with us for quite some time.

[Jeff Head]

They are buying and license building a lot of SU-27 modernizations (33, etc.) from the Russians (in the hundreds of aircraft), and they have developed what appears to be a very modern new fighter, the J-10.

[VRWCTexan]

For several years, the Chinese navy has been attempting to obtain aircraft carrier technology, anxious to expand its naval power (3). China already has obtained at least three other carriers for study. They are the Melbourne, Kiev and her sister ship Minsk (4).

• Chinese military have used the flight deck of Melbourne as a training ground (5). Kiev and Minsk have been turned into floating amusement parks and China preserved their names. Surprisingly, the Varyag (ex-Riga) was renamed to the Chinluck.

• The Varyag was designed to carry the naval variant of the Sukhoi Su-27, a fighter the Chinese now produce under license.

http://www.varyagworld.com/

[glorgau]

Yep, at the very least they will build operational expertise. There is nothing like actually operating something to learn "real world" lessons.

[ClearCase_guy]

The real threat from China comes from its air force which makes up for its inferior technology with its enormous size.

Enormous air force implies enormous consumption of fuel.
Enormous consumption of fuel implies enormous tanker traffic to Chinese ports.
Enormous tanker traffic implies dominance at sea.

Not a chance.

[Jeff Head]

LOL! Clearly they are simply moving that twin engined aircraft...but it is funny.

For more info on what they are actually up to in naval buildup, check out the following link:

[JamesP81]

True. Their air force may be the reason why the USN and the USAF have been pushing to field the F-22. Against an air force so large, we will need a superior air-to-air combat aircraft.

This is mostly for show. It will not, initially, add any real substantive offensive power to their military since their large land based air force can reach Formosa anyway. This is little more than a political football for them. If hostilities start, we'll probably task a fast attack submarine or maybe a flight tactical aircraft to deal with it. That part of the battle will likely be anti-climactic. The part we need to worry about is defending our own carriers and air bases from their air power. And that brings us back to the F-22.

[GarySpFc]

The Russians operate the sister ship, the Kuznetszov with full deck carrier aircraft, the SU-27 naval derivitive.

And China has purchased the SU-30Mk for the carrier, which is the upgraded SU-27 with thrust vectoring.

[VRWCTexan]

The Varyag is now moored under high security in a Chinese naval base Dalian after a towage lasted 627 days.

http://www.varyagworld.com/

[Jeff Head]

I agree.