It is a moot point.
If you are going up against a near peer opponent, they will have a lot of other ways to kill a ship, 150km, 200km, 300km and up, land fire support mission, open water engagement etc.
PRC Peoples Liberation Army Navy
- Thread starter Wall83
- Start date
If you are going up against a near peer opponent, they will have a lot of other ways to kill a ship, 150km, 200km, 300km and up, land fire support mission, open water engagement etc.
Ananda
The Bunker Group
Type 054B frigate makes carrier force debut with Liaoning for live-fire drills
No sign of J-35 stealth fighter but the PLA Navy’s newest and most advanced frigate makes its carrier force debut.
www.scmp.com
PLAN Newest Frigate class the type 054B already join Liaoning Carrier Group during exercise near Philippines water. Still I put in here more on the talk of both STOBAR Carrier (Liaoning and Shandong) are being modified to be able operate J-35.
CATOBAR fighter being use in STOBAR is not new. In fact India final contender for their new STOBAR carriers is CATOBAR Fighter. Still if J-35 able to operate from both PLAN STOBAR carrier, means all 3 carrier now will using same fighters configuration (J-15 and J-35). Wondering though how realistic the speculation on Chinese forums on modified both STOBAR carrier with one EMALS in the angle deck. This to make both Liaoning and Shandong also able to operate PLAN AEW&C.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
Another new submarine design from China, this one with no sail. It may have nuclear propulsion.
New Mystery Submarine Signals China’s Rapid Undersea Expansion
New Mystery Submarine Signals China’s Rapid Undersea Expansion
Ananda
The Bunker Group
Few days ago, Deino X account shown the progress of PLAN 004 carrier aft section.
Now seems there's some leak on the front section.
Still not clear enough if 004 will be CVN or still CV. Chinese forums and weibo talk before of type 003A as another conventional CATOBAR. While speculation both being build simultanously but from different yards.
It is being circulate that PLAN want to put 6 Carriers by next decade. 2 STOBAR, 2 Conventional CATOBAR and 2 Nuclear CATOBAR. If 003A also in progress with 004, then it seems PLAN due aim for that 6 Carriers set up.
Ananda
The Bunker Group
Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) on X
Approximate strength of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) in 2026 Via @nuwangzi / Armstrong的航空之翼
x.com
This is good representation of current PLAN fleet inventory. From 3 carriers, 4 LHD, LPD (type 71 and 72), Type 55 and 52D destroyer, Type 54 Frigate, type 56 corvettes and other older assets. On submarine there are seems already discarding older Romeo based SSK and now mostly used their own design.
Ananda
The Bunker Group
China may quietly pack 50% more missiles onto Type 054B naval frigate
China may equip a Type 054B frigate with 48 VLS cells, boosting missile capacity by 50% over the first two ships.
3rd Type 54B Frigate seems gaining 16 more VLS compare to the first two of 32 VLS.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
The PLAN seems to be building a big mothership for large drone submarines according to this naval news article. Like huge missile arsenal ships, a huge amount of military kit in a tempting target. Mind you, China can build and replace kit with alarming speed. Frankly I would be more worried about a large underwater mothership for submarine drones.
www.navalnews.com
China's New Giant Submarine Drone Mothership - Naval News
A new vessel spotted at a Chinese shipyard is likely the world’s first mothership designed to deploy submarine drones. It represents the latest piece in the puzzle of China’s undeclared effort to develop and deploy full-sized uncrewed submarines.
www.navalnews.com
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
A second mothership for drone submarines has appeared. It is somewhat smaller than the first ship. As the article suggests, the PLAN seems to consider these ships as an important asset for their navy’s future.
www.twz.com
Second Chinese Submarine Drone Mothership Emerges
It is a scaled-down version of the first and was built by Guangzhou Shipyard International, which is well-known for pumping out special use vessels.
www.twz.com
It is a drone tender/mothership for XLUUVs. What is interesting to me is how they perceive the CONOPS to be.
No other Western nations are working on motherships of this sort of size or complexity and their CONOPS seems to rely on their extreme long ranges and deploy them straight out of their primary, sovereign bases.
No other Western nations are working on motherships of this sort of size or complexity and their CONOPS seems to rely on their extreme long ranges and deploy them straight out of their primary, sovereign bases.
Sandhi Yudha
Well-Known Member
So those chinese UUVs like the AJX002 have a similar size and shape as the Russian Status-6 Poseidon, but they have another role and different propulsion.A second mothership for drone submarines has appeared. It is somewhat smaller than the first ship. As the article suggests, the PLAN seems to consider these ships as an important asset for their navy’s future.
Second Chinese Submarine Drone Mothership Emerges
It is a scaled-down version of the first and was built by Guangzhou Shipyard International, which is well-known for pumping out special use vessels.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
Given the huge distances wrt the Pacific and the current endurance of XLUUVs, motherships perhaps make sense. Same applies to the Indian Ocean from a PLAN perspective. Western nations simply don’t have the ship building capacity to match unless other critical warship requirements are bypassed, just my two cents though.