Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Breaking news: The PLAN Railgun is here and it is mounted on a ship

After months of speculation on the China Internet, the first clear picture of PLAN's latest arsenal is finally here.  The China Navy's experimental railgun is mounted on Type 072III-class landing ship 海洋山 / Haiyang Shan 936 as the test platform and speculated to enter service with the next Type055 DDG variant.  

The question is - can a little LST generate enough megajoules of energy to provide this experimental railgun a realistic platform.  Perhaps a larger and more powerful platform is needed for the next stage of development.  One thing is certain, they have a long-term plan and they are investing R&D resources to reach it.

Join our on-going discussion on this and other latest China related developments at our forum (here)

Photos taken at Wuchang Shipyard




 Older photos before the unveiling




 Note the shipping containers where the power system is packed





Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Ship of the day: Army's Own Landing Ship Medium (LSM) GY802, Type701

The gangway banner from a recent open house reads "Hainan Province, Sansha Garrison, GY802 Ship"













Tuesday, November 24, 2015


Army's new LSM to support South China Sea Garrisons

The South China Sea is traditionally PLAN's Area of Responsibility (AOR), just hope this new army insertion is part of a greater collaboration between different service branches and not a rivalry brewing underneath.

At any rate, the material commitment by the PLA Ground Force only reinforces the Chinese commitment to the South China Sea dispute.  



New ship to ferry supplies to S. China Sea
Source: China Daily Editor: Zhang Tao
2015-11-25 09:200
http://english.chinamil.com.cn/news-channels/china-military-news/2015-11/25/content_6784425.htm

New ship to ferry supplies to S. China Sea

The ground force of the People's Liberation Army commissioned its largest ship in Sansha, Hainan province, on Monday, planning to use it to transport materials to islands in the South China Sea.

PLA Daily, the military's newspaper, reported on its website on Tuesday that the ship is a new-generation logistics support vessel for the PLA Army. It is 90 meters long and has a full-load displacement of 2,700 metric tons, making it the largest ship in the Army's watercraft fleet, the report said, without revealing the vessel's designated class.

The ship is capable of ferrying heavy-duty weapons and accommodating a helicopter. It will be used to transport supplies, weapons and equipment to places in the South China Sea and to conduct search and rescue operations there, the newspaper said.

Photos released on the website show the ship bearing a designation of GY820, which indicates it belongs to the Guangzhou Military Command.

Cao Weidong, a researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, told China Daily that Army soldiers guard many islands in the South China Sea and that transporting their living necessities is the Army's responsibility.

"Compared with the Navy's logistics support vessels, which mainly supply combat ships at sea, the Army only uses such ships to transport materials to soldiers stationed on islands, so their ships are smaller and have fewer weapons," he said.

According to earlier reports, the PLA Shenyang Military Command received a ship of the same class in November last year.

Footage broadcast by China Central Television showed that the Shenyang Military Command ship can carry at least one Type 99 main battle tank, which weighs around 60 metric tons, and several trucks.

CCTV quoted Colonel Zhang Xichun, head of shipping operations at the Shenyang Military Command, as saying that, compared with other transport ships of the PLA Army, the new vessel has a higher speed and takes less time to load and unload.



Tuesday, December 03, 2013


A new Amy (not Navy) Landing Ship Medium (LSM) undergo sea trials

A newbuilt ship of an entirely new type for the PLA Ground Forces is currently running sea trials in the Sea of Bohai. It was launched at the Army’s Songliao Shipard at Dalian in August 2013.

Officially described as an Army Ro/Ro Transport, it is really a Landing Ship Medium (LSM), equipped with the with the typical kedging anchor of landing ships, even though the bulbous bow would preclude the ship from beaching.

The ship is equipped with both bow and stern ramps and a short helicopter platform aft.  The armament consists of four twin 14.5 mm guns, two forward and two aft. Twin funnels indicate  twin-screw propulsion; in addition, it has a bow thruster for improved maneuvrability.The lifting capacity is probably a mechanised infantry company.

The ship is a striking departure from the Type 271III YUWEI class Landing Craft Tank (LCT) that has been building for decades for the Army, and of which there currently are some 85 in service with the Army’s landing craft units. The dark grey colour, too, is a departure from the usual blue of Army vessels.

It is not known if the new ship will go into series production nor which unit will operate the new ship. In view of its experimental nature, a good possibility would be the Ship Squadron (Unit 73502) at Dongshandao, attached to the Nanjing MR Amphibious Training Base.

Songlia Shipyard built another unique ship in 2012, the training vessel AL201 belonging to the Training Squadron of the Army/Air Force Navigation School at Zhenjiang. That ship was based on the Sea Police’s Hai Jing 31101 PUDONG (Type 718).

-- franco-russe




Monday, January 29, 2018

Air Force uses civil UAVs in joint logistics support drill

Air Force uses civil UAVs in joint logistics support drill

Source
    China Military Online
Editor
    Huang Panyue

Time
    2018-01-29


BEIJING, Jan. 27 (ChinaMil) -- The logistics department of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) conducted in late January the first joint logistics support drill with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from two civilian companies which are both strategic partners of the PLAAF.

The two subjects of the joint UAV logistics support drill took place in Yunnan and Shaanxi respectively and involved three types of UAVs.

The dill conducted in Yunnan is drone delivery of urgently needed spare parts for a damaged radar in an air force position under the PLA Southern Theater Command under simulated war-time environment.

According to the military and civil aviation strategic cooperation agreement on the air force logistics support, an air base of the PLA Southern Theater Command worked with S.F. (Shun Feng) Express to carry out UAV air drop operation.

Six sets of radar maintenance equipment were checked, packed, labeled before they were loaded onto a S.F. medium-sized drone.

The logistic UAV flew to the sky over the radar position and airdropped the equipment. The final drop point was less than 50 meters away from the designated point. The whole process took 60 minutes, shortening about 90 minutes compared with the truck transportation adopted in the past.

The scenario of the second subject conducted in Shannxi is the urgent delivery of antitoxic serum for a snakebite soldier at a radar station in the PLA Central Theater Command.

Two small UAVs sent by the S.F. Express and the Jingdong Express successfully landed at the basketball court of the radar station after 22 minutes of flying. After the medical officer unloaded the antitoxic serum and supplies the UAVs autonomously flew back.

It will take at least two hours to truck in supplies to this rugged mountainous area.

During the drill, the command center of the PLAAF logistics department in Beijing was monitoring the whole process of the joint drill with the real-time aerial images taken by the UAVs flying along the routes from the airports to the delivery destinations.

Logistics UAVs with the advantages of fast speed and accurate positioning can carry out all kinds of air logistics support tasks in harsh environments and high-risk areas, providing rapid replenishment and sustainable supply for the troops under complex conditions, a responsible officer with the PLAAF logistics department told PLA Daily.

Since the PLAAF signed the military-civil integration strategic cooperation agreement with civil logistics enterprises in October 2017, the PLAAF logistics department has initiated pilot programs in 10 areas including emergency rapid delivery, material delivery to troop units stationed in remote areas, military-civil joint delivery of aviation fuel.



Friday, May 13, 2016


UAV Supply Drop

China's first intermediate and long-range unmanned aerial vehicle for emergency supply delivery finished its maiden flight on Tuesday.

The craft can deliver 15 kilograms of materials up to 80 kilometers, and drop the supplies within 15 meters of the target.








  China's AT200 cargo drone makes maiden flight

China's AT200 cargo drone makes maiden flight Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-27 20:21:13|Editor: Mengjie China's heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) AT200 prepares for its maiden flight in Neifu Airport in Pucheng, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Oct. 26, 2017. China's heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China's Shaanxi Province Thursday. With a maximum take-off weight of around 3.4 tonnes and a payload of 1.5 tonnes, the AT200 could be one of the world's most powerful civilian UAVs. (Xinhua)



BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China's Shaanxi Province Thursday. The AT200 drone, jointly developed by several research institutes and companies, made a successful 26-minute maiden flight, according the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics. With a maximum take-off weight of around 3.4 tonnes and a payload of 1.5 tonnes, the AT200 could be one of the world's most powerful civilian UAVs, according to the institute. Developed on a P750XL utility aircraft, the UAV has a maximum flying speed of 313 km per hour, a flight range of 2,183 kilometers and a 6,098-meter service ceiling. Taking off and landing can be automatically completed within 200 meters. It could be used to conduct freight transport in mountainous regions and on islands, according to the institute.

Either a large transport of an EW bird that went down.

Military plane crashes in SW China's Guizhou

Source
    Xinhuanet
Editor
    Zhang Tao

Time
    2018-01-29


GUIYANG, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- A military plane of the People's Liberation Army air force crashed in southwest China's Guizhou Province during a training session Monday. Rescue operation is underway.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

This is a drill

This seemingly staged PR photo shoot is actually a kick off ceremony for yet another amphibious assault drill.  After being sent off by Xi, the 1st PLAN Smurfs Brigade, together with the 6th Landing Ship Flotilla, South Sea Fleet "liberated" a tiny island in a drill.  No big deal, just another glorious day in the corps!













Saturday, January 06, 2018


Non sequitur memes of the day: "Begun the blue smurf war has"














PR photos of the day: Dogs of War