These are close support weapons...devastating.
Phalanx CIWS Block 1B
Posted on 12/13/2013 2:57:59 AM PST by markomalley
A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.
The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.
“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.
“This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap.”
A State Department official said the U.S. government issued protests to China in both Washington and Beijing in both diplomatic and military channels.
The Cowpens was conducting surveillance of the Liaoning at the time. The carrier had recently sailed from the port of Qingdao on the northern Chinese coast into the South China Sea.
According to the officials, the run-in began after a Chinese navy vessel sent a hailing warning and ordered the Cowpens to stop. The cruiser continued on its course and refused the order because it was operating in international waters.
Then a Chinese tank landing ship sailed in front of the Cowpens and stopped, forcing the Cowpens to abruptly change course in what the officials said was a dangerous maneuver.
According to the officials, the Cowpens was conducting a routine operation done to exercise its freedom of navigation near the Chinese carrier when the incident occurred about a week ago.
The encounter was the type of incident that senior Pentagon officials recently warned could take place as a result of heightened tensions in the region over China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently called China’s new air defense zone destabilizing and said it increased the risk of a military “miscalculation.”
China’s military forces in recent days have dispatched Su-30 and J-11 fighter jets, as well as KJ-2000 airborne warning and control aircraft, to the zone to monitor the airspace that is used frequently by U.S. and Japanese military surveillance aircraft.
The United States has said it does not recognize China’s ADIZ, as has Japan’s government.
Two U.S. B-52 bombers flew through the air zone last month but were not shadowed by Chinese interceptor jets.
Chinese naval and air forces also have been pressing Japan in the East China Sea over Tokyo’s purchase a year ago of several uninhabited Senkaku Islands located north of Taiwan and south of Okinawa.
China is claiming the islands, which it calls the Diaoyu. They are believed to contain large undersea reserves of natural gas and oil.
The Liaoning, China’s first carrier that was refitted from an old Soviet carrier, and four warships recently conducted their first training maneuvers in the South China Sea. The carrier recently docked at the Chinese naval port of Hainan on the South China Sea.
Defense officials have said China’s imposition of the ADIZ is aimed primarily at curbing surveillance flights in the zone, which China’s military regards as a threat to its military secrets.
The U.S. military conducts surveillance flights with EP-3 aircraft and long-range RQ-4 Global Hawk drones.
In addition to the Liaoning, Chinese warships in the flotilla include two missile destroyers, the Shenyang and the Shijiazhuang, and two missile frigates, the Yantai and the Weifang.
Rick Fisher, a China military affairs expert, said it is likely that the Chinese deliberately staged the incident as part of a strategy of pressuring the United States.
“They can afford to lose an LST [landing ship] as they have about 27 of them, but they are also usually armed with one or more twin 37 millimeter cannons, which at close range could heavily damage a lightly armored U.S. Navy destroyer,” said Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
Most Chinese Navy large combat ships would be out-ranged by the 127-millimeter guns deployed on U.S. cruisers, except China’s Russian-made Sovremenny-class ships and Beijing’s new Type 052D destroyers that are armed with 130-millimeter guns.
The encounter appears to be part of a pattern of Chinese political signaling that it will not accept the presence of American military power in its East Asian theater of influence, Fisher said.
“China has spent the last 20 years building up its Navy and now feels that it can use it to obtain its political objectives,” he said.
Fisher said that since early 2012 China has gone on the offensive in both the South China and East China Seas.
“In this early stage of using its newly acquired naval power, China is posturing and bullying, but China is also looking for a fight, a battle that will cow the Americans, the Japanese, and the Filipinos,” he said.
To maintain stability in the face of Chinese military assertiveness, Fisher said the United States and Japan should seek an armed peace in the region by heavily fortifying the Senkaku Islands and the rest of the island chain they are part of.
“The U.S. and Japan should also step up their rearmament of the Philippines,” Fisher said.
The Cowpens incident is the most recent example of Chinese naval aggressiveness toward U.S. ships.
The U.S. intelligence-gathering ship, USNS Impeccable, came under Chinese naval harassment from a China Maritime Surveillance ship, part of Beijing’s quasi-military maritime patrol craft, in June.
During that incident, the Chinese ship warned the Navy ship it was operating illegally despite sailing in international waters. The Chinese demanded that the ship first obtain permission before sailing in the area that was more than 100 miles from China’s coast.
The U.S. military has been stepping up surveillance of China’s naval forces, including the growing submarine fleet, as part of the U.S. policy of rebalancing forces to the Pacific.
The Impeccable was harassed in March 2009 by five Chinese ships that followed it and sprayed it with water hoses in an effort to thwart its operations.
A second spy ship, the USNS Victorious, also came under Chinese maritime harassment several years ago.
Adm. Samuel Locklear, when asked last summer about increased Chinese naval activities near Guam and Hawaii in retaliation for U.S. ship-based spying on China, said the dispute involves different interpretations of controlled waters.
Locklear said in a meeting with reporters in July, “We believe the U.S. position is that those activities are less constrained than what the Chinese believe.”
China is seeking to control large areas of international waters—claiming they are part of its United Nations-defined economic exclusion zone—that Locklear said cover “most of the major sea lines of communication” near China and are needed to remain free for trade and shipping.
Locklear, who is known for his conciliatory views toward the Chinese military, sought to play down recent disputes. When asked if the Chinese activities were troubling, he said: “I would say it’s not provocative certainly. I’d say that in the Asia-Pacific, in the areas that are closer to the Chinese homeland, that we have been able to conduct operations around each other in a very professional and increasingly professional manner.”
The Pentagon and U.S. Pacific Command have sought to develop closer ties to the Chinese military as part of the Obama administration’s Asia pivot policies.
However, China’s military has shown limited interest in closer ties.
China’s state-controlled news media regularly report that the United States is seeking to defeat China by encircling the country with enemies while promoting dissidents within who seek the ouster of the communist regime.
The Obama administration has denied it is seeking to “contain” China and has insisted it wants continued close economic and diplomatic relations.
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to seek a new type of major power relationship during a summit in California earlier this year. However, the exact nature of the new relationship remains unclear.
I dont’ think it’s that simple….and I don’t think China would be a major factor if we would but take care of our own anti business rules, regs and taxes. China has major internal problems and very few of their people have any liberty or opportunity. I just don’t have your sino phobia…..
Dems were not the only ones, every US corporation was willing to sell the rope for the Chinese to hang the US with. You know how many ivy league business and legal grads were willing to help China as lobbyists in US Congress for a lucrative six figure salary. We may argue who has a better mindset in free market capitalism - Asians vs Americans. I do know one thing, when US corporations arrive in China, no former Chinese regulator or Chinese ivy league grad flocking to them to help the US compete against China.
No you have China-filia. Same as China-phobia, but the exact opposite.
America needs to start looking out for America.
Now. Bring back American jobs, and start building up our own nation once again.
You just arne’t very smart. Sorry, you’re not.
Economies are not zero sum games, and yet, because you are a situational liberal, your teeny tiny brain cannot fathom it.
And because you are a China phobe, you can’t comprehend that not everybody else on the planet is.
"American G.I. pray "chicken" pretty good ha ha ha!
Reminds of Heathkit from back in the day. They may be getting back into the educational home assembly kits again shortly.
“Home-made” electronic kits are great. Some of these home builders can get pretty advanced with all the tools and equiotment now available. Just stick/solder them together.
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Let us say I work in a business where we need Chinese compliance on quality and they are not doing it. It is like a roach motel in the wild west. I dont care how big a place is, quality is more important to me as a swiss watch model should be the type of standard to strive for, not just sheer numbers for greedy bean counters. If we let China mess with our good quality suppliers in Japan, TAIWAN, or say even Israel and we are too chicken about it, then we might as well shut down business... which is what the communists want since they want to take it all over.
i have no disagreement with this particular point….and to clarify, a point that I think should be obvious but apparently is not…..while I believe in free trade in general, there are certainly specific trade deals that I would not be in favor of.
Assuming you are correct about your business….and I have no reason to doubt you, I have no qualms with your specific opinion in this context.
My ship did this with a Russian vessel back in the 1970’s, very common.
Obammie is a Marxist/Stalinist commie with a fetish for muslim, in other words, he hates freedom and free peoples everywhere.
The following is not an attempt at a put down but a genuine query.
How many of the ‘educated, trained, and capable’ representatives of the Great Han people you dealt with were either full time or part time stringers for one of a number of PRC military or civil intelligence agencies diligently reporting every conversation, contact and bit of information on anything vaguely useful they came across? How many thousand reports flow into the PRC every year detailing the societal rot and dysfunction that is becoming epidemic in our country? How does one think both the people you deal with and their associates back home consider the crumbling of the family unit and the rise of bastardy rates to near 50% of all live births. How do they view the wholesale abandonment of a religiously based moral and ethical code (whether it is their religion or not) by virtually the entire political class and most of the upper middle class? Seriously, don't you grasp that many of these bright Chinese are making mental note of what parts of the US and its infrastructure they look forward to owning or directing and what Americans they can employ in the future to be their compradore class?
How many of the ‘educated, trained, and capable’ representatives of the Great Han people you dealt with were either full time or part time stringers for one of a number of PRC military or civil intelligence agencies diligently reporting every conversation, contact and bit of information on anything vaguely useful they came across? How many thousand reports flow into the PRC every year detailing the societal rot and dysfunction that is becoming epidemic in our country? How does one think both the people you deal with and their associates back home consider the crumbling of the family unit and the rise of bastardy rates to near 50% of all live births. How do they view the wholesale abandonment of a religiously based moral and ethical code (whether it is their religion or not) by virtually the entire political class and most of the upper middle class? Seriously, don't you grasp that many of these bright Chinese are making mental note of what parts of the US and its infrastructure they look forward to owning or directing and what Americans they can employ in the future to be their compradore class?
I would be curious about your perspective on these two divergent views of the Great Hans visiting the US.
When I deal with 250 Chinese, who knows how many are spies, but it would be nearly impossible to get all of them to sing the same tune, not to mention the years worth of business dealings by fellow Americans living in China working with them on site.
I know very well what they are up to. I’ve been in the spy business myself and have worked very closely with foreign assessments. We cannot avoid dealing with China in this market as aviation is international. There is no way any American aviation company can be isolationist in nature and still be welcome into those nations.
But here is the rub about your questions: You assume we don’t need to compete but protect. Maybe that’s not what you intended to say but that’s the tone and you’re not alone in that tone. If we can’t beat the likes of China then we deserve to lose.
No my thing isn't protectionism, although some industries necessary for national defense (precursor chemicals, smelter operations for two) would have to be protected industries. My point is the Chinese are like the Muslims, alien, hostile, and utterly power oriented. The Muslims can't produce a real military challenge because of their dysfunctional culture and tribal mentality so they mount ‘asymmetric actions’ such as 9-11. China is akin to militarist japan just before the mask was removed over the China incident. They are determined to pay the white man back for the insults administered during the ‘unequal treaty period’ and they dream of a vast Chinese empire stretching across the pacific and south to Australia. The PRC is a huge potential future direct menace to this country. Weakness and military unpreparedness will only incite these people to attempt what they dream of doing.
“The PRC is a huge potential future direct menace to this country”
Maybe, and I say that because the old guard certainly is but they are aging. The younger crowd, let’s say under 45 years old, are not so militant or communist. They love their new found wealth. (There are over 300 million of them living middle class or better.) They love technology and advancements. When asked privately if they want war with anyone or seek to overthrow any nation they laugh. Usually the response is, “Too much work! We’re doing fine as it is and better all the time.” I experienced very, very happy people. Giddy, even. War is the farthest thing from their minds.
Maybe there are plenty more in China that are warriors at heart and seek war, but I can say without question that isn’t their technological population at all.
BTW, the Chinese see themselves as Chinese but also as white. The racial purity they once held sacred is also mostly a thing of the past. They encourage their children to marry foreigners, especially marry Americans. We had several marriages in our company.
BTW, the Chinese see themselves as Chinese but also as white. The racial purity they once held sacred is also mostly a thing of the past. They encourage their children to marry foreigners, especially marry Americans. We had several marriages in our company.
That is the most interesting thing. If the Chinese see themselves as one of several big powerful states rather than being the ‘center of the universe’ whose rightful position is one of lording it over the ‘outer barbarians’ then that is a big and positive step.
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