PLAN Carrier Operations..News, Videos & Photos

..and if the missles are being sent to the hangar deck or below to the magazines why were they not loaded on to an aircraft elevator lowered to the hangar? Just askin'.. 20 years experience dontcha know.

Anyone know what's going on here? care to guess?

Originally Posted by bd popeye

]http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd324/bdpopeye/Firefox/qJFzm.jpg[/IMG]


Oh yea I don't know so I'll ask. What sort of missile is that?...

KD-88 I think - Image-1. Its and air-surface variant of the YJ-83K

Originally Posted by bd popeye

...
Anyone know what's going on here? care to guess?

Don't think those are real missiles. Just 1-to-1 mock-ups I guess. Otherwise I doubt they would move real live missiles around like that.

Originally Posted by bd popeye

Oh yea I don't know so I'll ask. What sort of missile is that?

Curious he says.... Humm. Riddle me this.. why are they transferring missiles win a sling instead of the missiles being in a safe container? unless they are being they are being loaded directly into a launcher. Transferring the missile in a container is safer.

Those are probably just mockups, a bit too early for real live fire ones. I'm guessing those are used for training and simulation purposes, such as working out the most efficient work-flow procedures and saving it for later training purposes. China never had any operational carriers in the past, so getting the carrier will be like someone getting a new toy, usually takes a while to become a pro at it. Everything has to start from scratch. I'm sure there will be a lot of simulations and trials+errors happening in the coming few years. It looks easy to run a carrier as smoothly as the USN, but really it's not.

Originally Posted by Hyperwarp

They are all either air-to-surface or anti-ship. I think they are Left-to-Right:
KD-88, Kh-31A, YJ-83K & Kh-31P

Actually, there is a PL8 in there as well. You can see best with this picture.

Originally Posted by escobar

from cdf

I agree that those are likely to just be practice dummies. The Varyag is not equipped with any of those missiles, and even if she was, the weapons systems would have been installed during fitting out like the Type 1030 CIWS, FL3000s etc.

It would be too soon, and a little pointless to load up a fighter on the Varyag for live weapons trials, far safer and easier to just load the fighters on land if the intention is to test the weapons systems. There is simply no reason for those missiles to be live. I think the presence of the PL8 is proof positive that these are air launched weapons and that they are using them for handling or storage tests/practice.

Hell, it would be that they intend to land a J15 on her, do an empty take off, and once they have got that down, they might experiment with loaded take offs as both part of the J15 test programme, and also as some early hands on training for the crews and pilots.

Thanks for the responses gents.

I to think those are practice "dummy" weapons. Perhaps they are going to be used for some static display we cannot see in the hangar? Such as a commissioning ceremony. Or perhaps the shipboard personnel are in training to handle weapons.

Originally Posted by escobar

from cdf

Have to say this photo crop looks funny as it makes it look like the crew is trying to jam the missile through the doorway.

What we need are 3D pictures! Why hasn't that caught on yet like 3D TVs?

Maybe in another decade or two, when 3D capable monitors become standard or if they can do 3D without those silly glasses we might see full on 3D interactive pictures, whereby not only can you get a realistic sense of depth, but also allow you to manipulate and rotate the image at will to view it from any angel you wish.

The technology is already available today, although only at sporting stadiums with lots of cameras from different angels all networked into a central computer mainframe - kinda like what full sensor fusion across multiple platforms is supposed to be like.

Maybe the weapons wonks are already developing such a next gen display to help commanders of tomorrow get a far clearer picture of the battlefield that would finally allow generals to pierce the fog of war. Anyways, I digress.

Originally Posted by plawolf

to help commanders of tomorrow get a far clearer picture of the battlefield that would finally allow generals to pierce the fog of war..

Hehehe...alll they will find is that the fog also exists in 3D on the battlefield.

Anyhow, the best attempts at this to date are the newer JSTAR electronic type aircraft that track every tank, every APC, every IFV, every MLRS, etc. both friendly and enemy (as reported or observed either by recon, sat, human eyeball, or electronic signature), and report it to the commanders on a display similar to what is available from a E-3 AWACS aircraft in the air.

From what I have heard both from those testing, and those using them in recent engagements, these capabilities are absolutely awesome and allow commanders who are all "wired up" with their divisional, battalion, company, platoon and evn squads to have unprecedented control of their forces and visibility of the enemy. To the point of the JSTARs, like the E-3 and E-2Ds actually being able to take control of and fire certain weapons systems based on what is being seen in the overall environment.

This is, in essence, what AEGIS battle management software does at sea, and what I am sure the battle management software the PLAN is/has developed is meant to do as well, either from a Type 052C, or perhaps the Carrier itself.

I know there are cameras that lets you re-adjust focus digitally after the photo is taken, I suppose it would be useful for sinodefence picture posts!

https://www.lytro.com/camera/#

return pics??

Originally Posted by bd popeye

Oh yea I don't know so I'll ask. What sort of missile is that?

Curious he says.... Humm. Riddle me this.. why are they transferring missiles win a sling instead of the missiles being in a safe container? unless they are being they are being loaded directly into a launcher. Transferring the missile in a container is safer.


Download HiRes

I guess the war head and fuse is not activated yet, therefore more safe (although still dangerous) to be move around.

Here's a wider angle shot with the J-15 "mock-up" nearby. Probably are dummies.

They are just dummies for PL8, KD88, YJ91, and YJ83. The missiles were loaded onto the deck from the shipyard and presumably will be used for ordnance handling tests.