Spartan95
Junior Member
re: PLAN Type 071 LPD & its Landing Craft
LCAC crossing the Taiwan Straits on its own is indeed doable. However, carrying MBTs from the nearest loading point (likely to be an established base and from any point on the coast), forming up with other vessels (including escorts) and proceeding to the landing point is an entirely different matter. Even if the LCAC itself has the fuel capacity to do this 1 way, does it have enough fuel to make it back without refuelling?
There is also the issue of time. Such an endeavour is likely to take at least half a day (loading, forming up, and unloading). Is the MBT crew supposed to sit in the MBT on an LCAC for that entire duration? What are they going to do for food and water? Are other LCACs going to be carrying supplies (food, water, fuel, ammo, etc) all the way from PRC to support these heavy vehicles?
The reasons why PRC places higher priority on the modernisation on the PLAN and PLAAF are more strategic from what I have read.
In the modern history of the PRC and PLA, the Army has traditionally received the lion's share of the defence budget up until the 90s. During the Cold War, this was justified based on the large tracts of disputed borders and tensions with its neighbours (in particular, the risk of a war with USSR). This has changed in recent years as quite a few disputed land borders have been resolved and the possibility of a large land war decreased (especially after USSR disintegrated).
The priority for PLAN is now necessary due to the economic trade that is largely sea-borne (import of raw materials and energy and export of manufactured goods) and the various maritime disputes that remain unresolved. Some analysts say the emphasis on the PLAN is also due to inability of PLAN to mount any response to US CBGs when they came in during the Taiwan Strait Crisis in the mid-90s.
Latest anti-tank missiles can take out just about any MBT in the world (as demonstrated during the 2nd Lebanon War), not just old M60s. Thus, when an MBT attempts to land, that's that best time to take it out since it is exposed on the beach. Don't need MBTs to do that.
LCAC crossing the Taiwan Straits on its own is indeed doable. However, carrying MBTs from the nearest loading point (likely to be an established base and from any point on the coast), forming up with other vessels (including escorts) and proceeding to the landing point is an entirely different matter. Even if the LCAC itself has the fuel capacity to do this 1 way, does it have enough fuel to make it back without refuelling?
There is also the issue of time. Such an endeavour is likely to take at least half a day (loading, forming up, and unloading). Is the MBT crew supposed to sit in the MBT on an LCAC for that entire duration? What are they going to do for food and water? Are other LCACs going to be carrying supplies (food, water, fuel, ammo, etc) all the way from PRC to support these heavy vehicles?
The reasons why PRC places higher priority on the modernisation on the PLAN and PLAAF are more strategic from what I have read.
In the modern history of the PRC and PLA, the Army has traditionally received the lion's share of the defence budget up until the 90s. During the Cold War, this was justified based on the large tracts of disputed borders and tensions with its neighbours (in particular, the risk of a war with USSR). This has changed in recent years as quite a few disputed land borders have been resolved and the possibility of a large land war decreased (especially after USSR disintegrated).
The priority for PLAN is now necessary due to the economic trade that is largely sea-borne (import of raw materials and energy and export of manufactured goods) and the various maritime disputes that remain unresolved. Some analysts say the emphasis on the PLAN is also due to inability of PLAN to mount any response to US CBGs when they came in during the Taiwan Strait Crisis in the mid-90s.
Latest anti-tank missiles can take out just about any MBT in the world (as demonstrated during the 2nd Lebanon War), not just old M60s. Thus, when an MBT attempts to land, that's that best time to take it out since it is exposed on the beach. Don't need MBTs to do that.
