Type 22 can base in the artificial islands and join Chinese fleets in the area to add the extra punch if needed.
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- Thread starter Jeff Head
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I don't think I would disagree with that. In fact, they can't play any other roles. One can even argue that they now will be getting better targeting information. The question is do they really need these ships for that purpose today, against ROCN, in the Taiwan Strait?
@tphuang argues that Type 22 was meant to launch saturation attack against US carrier group back then. Even if we accept this argument, that role is largely gone for Type 22 today - the US carrier groups are not going to get close to the Chinese shores and these boats are not very survivable farther off the shores.
Probably not, but if we're talking about "low risk, easy to carry out" roles for the Type 22s for what few missions they may have, I think that may be the most useful (or rather, least un-useful) mission for them.
That said, if the newer YJ-83 variants have land attack capability, then that opens up the Type 22s as providing some additional land attack/strike volume as well.
Yes, which will be costly to operate and maintain in the long term, and still doesn't actually deal with the issue of their limited endurance/sea keeping and vulnerability to airpower in the open ocean during an actual conflict.
I have no issue with using Type 22s in the SCS if they need to gather as many assets together as possible for a conflict against a high capability foe.
But we are talking about finding the best role for Type 22s given that they are a very unique sort of boat suited for only a couple of special roles and with a host of vulnerabilities and limitations.
I think any sort of mission for the Type 22s should ideally prioritize two criteria:
- low operating/maintenance cost
- maximizing their effects, at minimal risk to themselves
Air defence will be provided by bigger ships in the fleet.
The scenario I have in mind is a Chinese naval picket with 054A, 052D, etc is send to the SCS artificial islands area to intercept American and European naval intervention fleet during Taiwan armed reunification. Type 22s based on the islands join the fleet when the fight is about to start.
Seems we missed this exercise over the past week:
Source China Military Online Editor Chen Zhuo Time2022-09-05 17:58:42
BEIJING, Sept. 5 -- Recently, amphibious landing ships Luoxiaoshan (Hull 993) and Daiyunshan (Hull 994) of the PLA Navy carried out round-the-clock landing training involving multiple courses in the South China Sea.
Source China Military Online Editor Chen Zhuo Time2022-09-05 17:58:42
BEIJING, Sept. 5 -- Recently, amphibious landing ships Luoxiaoshan (Hull 993) and Daiyunshan (Hull 994) of the PLA Navy carried out round-the-clock landing training involving multiple courses in the South China Sea.
PiSigma
"the engineer"
I think what everyone seems to forget is not only do they bring more missiles to the fight but it also the PLAN a different vector(s). If there is a picket line somewhere with 54 and 52, they will draw all the attention. The 022s can fire their missiles from multiple other vectors which are harder to defend against.
Not sure whether this has been posted here, but here goes.
First saw this on Deino's Twitter posting yesterday:
Interestingly, this (note the red underline) from one of the replies:
Rough translation:
To me, the document looks like a ship construction project tender for a drone carrier testbed ship for the PLAN. Dimension-wise similar to 071 LPD, although around 10k tons lighter.
Tender is open from 9am, September 9th to 4pm, September 19th (Beijing time).
The ship is to be delivered within 18 months after the contract of construction tender has been signed.
Here are several illustrations by 大包CG (Weibo) on what the purported drone carrier testbed ship could possibly look like when being positioned alongside a 071 LPD.
I can confidently say that China is dead serious in procuring UCAV carriers for future use in the PLAN.
Maybe this is one of the steps towards finalizing the 076 LHA design?
Any thoughts?
First saw this on Deino's Twitter posting yesterday:
Interestingly, this (note the red underline) from one of the replies:
Rough translation:
To me, the document looks like a ship construction project tender for a drone carrier testbed ship for the PLAN. Dimension-wise similar to 071 LPD, although around 10k tons lighter.
Tender is open from 9am, September 9th to 4pm, September 19th (Beijing time).
The ship is to be delivered within 18 months after the contract of construction tender has been signed.
Here are several illustrations by 大包CG (Weibo) on what the purported drone carrier testbed ship could possibly look like when being positioned alongside a 071 LPD.
I can confidently say that China is dead serious in procuring UCAV carriers for future use in the PLAN.
Maybe this is one of the steps towards finalizing the 076 LHA design?
Any thoughts?
Last edited:
Some further, clearer details on the alleged testbed ship requirements in case the rough translation is inaccurate:
Also noteworthy (from one of ths replies):
More illustrations from 大包CG:
No mention of an EMCAT then?