Posted on 03/03/2007 6:36:47 AM PST by Jeff Head
Edited on 03/03/2007 8:34:45 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
I agree the AF and the ship building look good procuremnt wise...its just that we are severely underfunding the rate of procurement in all areas IMHO.
That is a lot of new ships, tanks, and planes that will be sporting the red star of China.
In addition, without all of the same legal concerns, environmental concerns, benefits, OSHA, creature comfort, etc. concerns, their dollars go a lot further than our own in every field...research, development, manufacture, testing, etc.
According to GlobalSecurity.Org, the Chinese government only admits to a budget of $24.5-billion for 2004 (the last year they have the official numbers for), but US analysts estimate that they actually spent somewhere between $65 and $85-billion.
Either way, they are getting a lot of bang for each and every buck. The amount of naval shipbuilding going on over there is simply phenominal and we should be concerned.
Are these a special model or do they just take the tail hook off the basic model?
The arrestor hook need not be deployed. My guess is that there are other modifications and differences requested by the purchasing nations and supplied by contract.
When you add these to the mix of advanced surface warships and attack submarines that have recently been entering the Chinese arsenal, you have a triple threat the likes of which the US Navy has not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/tu-22m.htm
That was a 2004 report, but there has been no mention or notice of the Backfires in China yet. Many wonder if it an actual deal or just the Russians talking at this point.
Time will tell.
I was in the Air Force, but you make a good point.
My guess is it came from the Ukraine with at least a 90% complete propulsion plant including boilers, turbines, generators, and shafts. Most of that has to be done in early hull construction. IOW common sense would ask why would the Ukraine {Russia} build a ship to that level of hull completion to start with for themselves and not put in the propulsion plant in the early stages as needed? I don't think they would.
It's the other things that take time as well like the catapult and arresting gears etc. Then there's electronics to install galley equipment etc. Plus my guess is some internal piping may have been incomplete. The needed equipment was likely in place but still had to all be tied together welds checked etc.
The drydock period? Barnacle scraping, valve replacements, general hull maintenance, etc and adding the screws if they were not installed before purchase. But I'm betting they were there as well. If the discharge valves in pump rooms, engine rooms, etc are leaking then it's a drydock issue to repair them usually. We tried a valve repair in port on a discharge for an eductor system. We chickened out and that was likely a wise choice. We weren't sure E.O.D. had plugged the right port or not.
In such a scenario, we'd better have both a srtong Navy and boots on the ground army/marines.
Such a scenario is unlikely until these nations, particularly China, build up sufficient fore projection of their own...and guess what, they are. They are building like crazy.
I doubt very seriousl;y that should the time come, China will go it alone against us over Taiwan or their other interests in the Western Pacific. No, they will wait and probably encourage others to get us tied down in several places, distracted as much as possible, before they make any over move.
So, what do you have if there are two regional conflicts going at once that you are embroiled in and then someone aligned with your enemies opens up a third? ...global conflict.
Not saying it is going to happen, just saying that given what people are doing right now all around us, we'd better be prepared for it.
Did you fly or work on fighters or attack aircraft?
Or, if it was the F-16 or F-15E, it would have been both. Awesome aircraft that F-15E.
Unlike in your books, I do not believe we are prepared - financially, infrastructurally, and most importantly, culturally - to lose a few carriers.
It's just that my guess is that they have already, over the last 3-4 years in the yards, fixed most of that, either before or inconjunction with their dry dock stay. I guess they could bring some of it in through the elevator openings, and then go through the hanger deck if they had to. A lot of equipment, some it if fairly large, has been moved in from dock side from those big logistical buildings that were built there by the carrier specifically for it.
I guess we shall see. As always, thanks for your input my friend, particularly as one who "has been there and done that" as a snipe!
We had a leader in the book who was not only spot on in their belief and faith in the traditional American way...but who had the will and the leadership to get the rest of the nation in the midst of terrible carnage, to back up and go along with those initiatives en masse, despite the braying of the left at the time.
But that's what it took, and then the hard work and sacrifice of the American people, similar to World War II, and the blood of their best out on the war lines, as well as the blood of the citizens themselves killed by the tens of thousandss right here in the CONUS by terrorists and infiltrators who carry the fight directly to us.
Even though I wrote the book in an attempt to guard against just such a scenario...sadly, tragically, I believe such an occurance (and maybe a lot worse) is in our future unless we somehow find a way to turn things around as a people, and then by extension with our leadership, before our growing and strengthening enemies make the decisions for us.
Thanks, Jeff, for this post and for that link to your website. I have a hard time following the technicalities ... which makes me appreciate all the more that folks here are able and willing to dig into them. Thanks for all you and others do for us.
You are welcome...it something of a hobby for me as far as naval technology and strategies go (and has been most of my life-my Dad was a combat vnavy vet from the PTO in World War II), and it is also disconcerting and worth following given the rapid rise of such a potentially beligerent power.
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