Chinese military exports to other countries

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
The Project 22350 frigates and Project 20380/5 corvettes also have AESA radar. It is not just the Su-57. Other systems like SAMs such as Pantsir-SM also use it.

AESA for ships and SAM are different from AESA for fighter aircraft since the TRM for the former can be made several magnitude larger. They are probably also easier to cool.
 

zyklon

Junior Member
Registered Member
I read this not necessarily as "Russian interest", but rather "limited Russian options", which they are completely correct about regarding the latter.

There are only so many countries capable of producing stealth fighters, and even fewer capable of producing navalized stealth fighters.

Should the Russian Navy christen a CV(N) as its flagship next decade, it'll be unsurprising if Russia finds itself in the same position with China as the UK and Italy, which operate the F-35B from their carriers, do now with the US.

The mention of "purchasable AWAC deck aircraft" is very interesting. Such lighthearted reference could indicate the KJ-600 has the potential for export, something we are not aware of.

The E-2 originated as a clean sheet AEW design for carrier operations, but with the exception of the US Navy and French Navy, all of its operators are land based. So in theory, there might be an export market for the KJ-600, but in practice not quite.

The US has or more precisely had nothing sitting in between the E-2 and E-3, but China does, and an export derivative of the KJ-700 shouldn't be much more expensive than the KJ-600.

So unless Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia or some other country with potential CV(N) ambitions decide to import the J-35 naval fighter for carrier operations, it's unlikely the KJ-600 will be exported.

Russia building a new aircraft carrier for distant power projection just isn't credible.
They'll have to focus on a potential European land war, against a much larger NATO as the adversary.
So that means the Army and Air Force take priority.

Inclined to agree with you that Russia needs to prioritize their army and aerospace forces over their navy, but also wouldn't discount what Ilya Kramnik told Izvestia.

He is tied to the Russian analogues of CFR, Brookings, RAND, etc., which means his takes may be informed by considerations that are largely underreported or effectively unknown outside of Russian national security and foreign policy circles. In short, it's tough to outright reject his views when he knows things we don't.

Alternatively, someone can always shoot him an email to see if he'll elaborate on the likelihood of the J-35 entering Russian service.

Though we probably should also acknowledge that the publicized views of such SMEs are at times tainted by political considerations, especially due to competition within state and state adjacent apparatuses.
 
Last edited:

jnd85

New Member
Registered Member
I read this not necessarily as "Russian interest", but rather "limited Russian options", which they are completely correct about regarding the latter.

The mention of "purchasable AWAC deck aircraft" is very interesting. Such lighthearted reference could indicate the KJ-600 has the potential for export, something we are not aware of.
Wouldn't they also be open to the idea just for the purposes of reverse engineering? I would assume that is always a goal for Russia, likely a much bigger priority than for actual use.
 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
The E-2 originated as a clean sheet AEW design for carrier operations, but with the exception of the US Navy and French Navy, all of its operators are land based. So in theory, there might be an export market for the KJ-600, but in practice not quite.

The US has or more precisely had nothing sitting in between the E-2 and E-3, but China does, and an export derivative of the KJ-700 shouldn't be much more expensive than the KJ-600.

There is the E-737, which is American, even if the US has decided not to buy it, because they believe a future spaced-based network will replace AWACs.


]

So unless Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia or some other country with potential CV(N) ambitions decide to import the J-35 naval fighter for carrier operations, it's unlikely the KJ-600 will be exported.



Inclined to agree with you that Russia needs to prioritize their army and aerospace forces over their navy, but also wouldn't discount what Ilya Kramnik told Izvestia.

He is tied to the Russian analogues of CFR, Brookings, RAND, etc., which means his takes may be informed by considerations that are largely underreported or effectively unknown outside of Russian national security and foreign policy circles. In short, it's tough to outright reject his views when he knows things we don't.

I can't see any way Russia can justify the expense for a new carrier for distant high-intensity power projection missions. What missions would be worth it?

The only way a Russian carrier makes kind of sense is if the Russian Navy operates as a junior partner to the Chinese Navy. But even then, it doesn't add that much capability.

Plus there is the political-strategic perspective.
Are the Russians really building a carrier capability, just so it can act as a task force subordinate to a much larger Chinese Navy which will be able to contest global sea-control just by itself?

In addition, the Russians haven't even built new destroyers since the Soviet Union, never mind anything larger.

Then on the land border, the combined European NATO countries have 4x the population and economic output.

An aircraft carrier capability is a distraction that rationally, Russia can't afford.
 

gelgoog

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
The Russians have the base technology to build destroyers if they wanted to. I think we will see Project 22350M sooner or later.

The final drawings were supposed to have been delivered to the shipyard in 2022 I think but then this got delayed. I think this year or next you will see quite a bit of orders of new Russian ships. Amur shipyard in the Far East just put a new floating dock in the water which means they can now build Project 22350 frigates.

Once Severnaya Verf takes the next frigate out of the shed I expect two Project 22350M destroyers to be ordered and laid down.

Russia needs those ships to secure the sea lanes so they can export their oil. The US and its cronies have arrested ships carrying Iranian, Venezuelan, and Russian oil in the past stealing their cargo for bogus reasons.

Russia also seems be going back into Africa militarily in a big way. So I expect them to build or buy flattops eventually.
 
Last edited:
Top