The South China Sea's Gathering Storm
They ran into a US P-3 some years back. I guess they like to play Chicken.
Evertonian
So pushing the envelope around the South Pacific is ideal, plus it ties in nicely with the ongoing efforts to bring the Pacific island nations into Beijing's sphere.
The Chinese wrote the book on warfare, but noted that it was best to win without fighting.
That’s the advice given to them by the US military.
But SO's just LOVE the big ticket items.............
Another slice of salami:
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/ch...07-p5arm8.html
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/ch...07-p5arm8.html
In the maritime & air domain over the SCS, the Vietnamese aren’t keeping up with the CCP. Perhaps their half dozen Russian submarines useful though not much else. Last skirmish with a China was in the SCS and the Vietnamese came off second place : Johnson South Reef Skirmish
Last edited by Gnadenburg; 8th Jun 2022 at 05:31.
While a grain or two of sea salt is needed, there's an interesting article on Covert Shores from Naval News about the Zumwalt Class DDG and the proposed installation of hypersonic missiles.
(Obviously not a current capability, there's currently a 155mm gun mount there).
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news...ew-capability/
What got my interest was not the "hypersonic ballistic missiles" bit, vis a vis US and China getting their arms race on, but the location of the VLS launchers.
They are {depicted} in banks along the sides, and the rear ones are adjacent to the Flight Deck!
Click on the picture and expand it. There might be a need for a FOD walkdown after a missile launch.
Pro Tip for the future COs of the Zumwalt class DD's: Don't launch those when your helicopter is turning up or shutting down.
(Obviously not a current capability, there's currently a 155mm gun mount there).
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news...ew-capability/
What got my interest was not the "hypersonic ballistic missiles" bit, vis a vis US and China getting their arms race on, but the location of the VLS launchers.
They are {depicted} in banks along the sides, and the rear ones are adjacent to the Flight Deck!
Click on the picture and expand it. There might be a need for a FOD walkdown after a missile launch.
Pro Tip for the future COs of the Zumwalt class DD's: Don't launch those when your helicopter is turning up or shutting down.
The US Navy is still trying to decide what to do with these three ships, as the main gun armament was too expensive to shoot.
Any redo will cost additional billions, but the hull is apparently quite successful, so there is talk of using it for the successor to the DDG 963 class.
Any redo will cost additional billions, but the hull is apparently quite successful, so there is talk of using it for the successor to the DDG 963 class.
Any redo will cost additional billions, but the hull is apparently quite successful, so there is talk of using it for the successor to the DDG 963 class.
Are you, perchance, referring to the four Sprucans that were reclassified as the Kidd class , the ones that had Surface to Air missile launchers? (Kidd, Scott, Callaghan, Chandler) They now serve in the Navy of Taiwan.
EDIT: correction, it looks like they are going to remove the guns. (face palm)
The Arleigh Burke class DDG has already replace the Spruance class. There were 30 Spruance class destroyers. (I served in a few of them). There are 3 Zumwalt class DDGs.
Are you, perchance, referring to the four Sprucans that I';were reclassified as the Kidd class , the ones that had Surface to Air missile launchers? (Kidd, Scott, Callaghan, Chandler) They now serve in the Navy of Taiwan.
The Arleigh Burke class DDG has already replace the Spruance class. There were 30 Spruance class destroyers. (I served in a few of them). There are 3 Zumwalt class DDGs.
Are you, perchance, referring to the four Sprucans that I';were reclassified as the Kidd class , the ones that had Surface to Air missile launchers? (Kidd, Scott, Callaghan, Chandler) They now serve in the Navy of Taiwan.
No, but the CG-47 Ticonderoga class were. (I served in a few of those as well).
Burke was a 'clean sheet' design, and it included lessons learned (more steel in the superstructure) from the Falklands War, also has CIC in a more protected part of the ship. (Spru Cans and Ticos have a CIC a bit higher above the main deck).
Yeah, that was the impression that I got as that program stumbled through its various hurdles.
Someone in Congress observed that the Zumwalt class was an example of what's wrong with our acquisition process. I found it hard to disagree with that assessment.
Burke was a 'clean sheet' design, and it included lessons learned (more steel in the superstructure) from the Falklands War, also has CIC in a more protected part of the ship. (Spru Cans and Ticos have a CIC a bit higher above the main deck).
I'd thought that they just stuffed in everything they could. That is why the Zumwalt hull looks so appealing, it has a lot more growth potential.
Someone in Congress observed that the Zumwalt class was an example of what's wrong with our acquisition process. I found it hard to disagree with that assessment.
An extended article about 'drone swarms' thanks to a FOIA request being fulfilled. (It's The Drive, but they have based it on the documents furnished by the USN).
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...-new-documents
Drone warfare has been a topic of much study by the USN for well over a decade. I'd expect it to feature heavily in anything that crops up in the South China Sea.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...-new-documents
Drone warfare has been a topic of much study by the USN for well over a decade. I'd expect it to feature heavily in anything that crops up in the South China Sea.