Weakness of the PLAN

Here are the current weakness of the PLAN:

1.) Lack of maritime surveillance aircraft/systems.
2.) Lack of true fleet-air defence against both aircraft and sea skimming missiles
3.) Lack of credible ASW assets.

How to remedy:

1.) Buy Bear maritime reconnaisance and more AEW aircraft in the short-term. Developed on systems in the longterm. Drill and practice detecting and locating highly mobile naval battle groups while ensuring reconnaisance asset survivability.

2.) Build more 052C in the short term, develop indeginous SAM systems that can intercept sea skimming missiles. Conduct live fire exercises with multiple target drones that emulate the flight profile of a modern anti-ship missile.

3.) Build more ASW frigates, Airborne ASW planes, and more subs. Develop or acquire up to date sonar systems. Conduct exercises on how to prosecute modern SSN subs.

In addition to what you have already posted the weakness of the PLAN..

1. Lack of logistic ships. Not enough to conduct blue water operations on a continuous basis.(6 or more months).

2. Lack of suppy bases away from the PRC. What would the PLAN do in the event of a conflict away from it's shores. (yes I know the PRC has never been a conquering nation)

3. Too many older outdated ships such as some of the Jianghu DD's. As an example the USN has no second line forces like this.

4. No large amphibous type ships such as a LPH or LPD type.

5. Lack of frontline "state of the art" ASW helo.

7. Lack of comonality between ships. As an example Tico's and A/B are very similar. All USN CV's are basically the same. USN has only 4 classes of subs. Comonality makes training, operations and maintainence easier.

8. Conscripts in the PLAN. Personally I do not like conscripts. Sorry Conscripts are not on board a ship long enough to be properly trained on the systems they will operate. You need seasoned professionals to operate high tech equipment...

9. No aircraft carrier.

Question. .What is the durablity of the power plants on PLAN ships? Could they stay away from their homeports for 6+ months like the USN and still be in top notch operational condition?

One more thing..I can't prove this with a link... but.. in my experience no navy in the world trains and prepares like the USN. That has always been my experience. Just how much does the PLAN train? How often are their ships at sea for operations? How long do they stay out to sea? How well trained are the PLAN sailors in damage control and firefighting?

I hope you fellows read my post carefully and answer some of my questions.

Thanks.

About the things Idont said:

First and second orders of business are exactly being taken care of. To the best of my knowledge china is looking into maritime control planes and aew platforms. It is to be expected they will also train adequately. Also, numerous chinese papars have acknowledged their lack of navy air defences. Of course the plan is to build numerous 052C and subsequent ships, adequately equipped.

As for third thing, and this is the same remark i have to most of things bd popeye said - what for? What do you think china's short term goal is? Things you have listed are all directly related to trying to be a blue water navy, ready to combat something the likes of USN and do amphibious invasions thousands of miles away from home. Those are simply not china's short term goals. USN is a force like no other. Pretty much all the things bd popeye criticized PLAN for can be applied to 99% of the rest of the world navies. Royal navy doesnt have nuclear powered surface ships. Their endurance at sea isn't really much different than what PLAN ships have.

And why is that? Because the rest of the world, including royal navy, doesn't play a world policeman who pushes its interests everywhere in the world. Yes, of course US economy allows for USN to be that strong and i'm sure most countries would do the same thing if they had the same power/technology but fact is - you use a force for the goals you set to yourself. And current PLAN's goal is not to invade thousands or miles away or to fight USN in the middle of the pacific. If you asked them they'd like nothing better than not engaging USN at all. What they are doing is advancing in areas which will let them invade taiwan and *maybe* try to keep a limited US force at bay.

Some of the things like conscripts or outdated ships or outdated helos i agree with, mostly the lag in technology. But things like no carrier, no blue water logistic ships, alleged lack of durability??? What for? They lack durability compared to who? USN which uses nuclear reactors, and to an extent RN, and that's it. China does not have nor does it need in the short term a blue water navy. Sure, in 50 years time things may and probably will be different but so many things can change by then its ludicrous to rush it. Why would china push an expensive true blue water navy until their economy can support it? And right now it still can't. When china's economy is as powerful as US, then they will have a blue water navy to compare with USN.

The true weakness of the PLAN in the ASW capability is the lack of suitable systems such as sonar (VDS/HMS), combat systems, and ASW aircraft/helicopters. They can build as many ASW frigates as they like, but they are not going to catch US subs.

Question. .What is the durablity of the power plants on PLAN ships? Could they stay away from their homeports for 6+ months like the USN and still be in top notch operational condition?

Click to expand...

The PLAN has conducted several long distance cruises since the late 1990s. The longest one is the global cruise in 2002, which lasted for just over 4 months. I guess there is no need at the moment for the PLAN to stay in the sea for over 6 months.

the plan should stick to the asia region. no need for world projection. lack of aaw? the 52bs, 52c's, and sovs are all pretty capable aaw platforms. they're getting the 51c and improved sovs soon.

theyre builbing more and more logistic ships, and i see a carrier comming soon.
they dont really need really big asw abilities, since taiwan has only 4 subs and two of them are from wwII.

the plan does have a few maritime patrol planes. they tend to go into foreign airspace.

My "Top 3" areas of improvement:

1) Need more (4-8) SSBN's for credible secondary nuclear strike capability.

2) Both the Air Force and Navy need to switch from conscript to all-volunteer service. This will prolly require a reduction in size with increases in budget, pay, benefits, and training. You can attract people by offering "free" 2 year technical/trade college degree through the Navy.

3) Reduce the number of platforms & systems in service. This will be a long-term goal since the PLAN is still integrating a variety of domestic and imported systems.

ssbns are a thing of the cold war. they havnt been used. the plan will probably be volunteer in the future, as with all branches of military.

retire old jianweis and luda's!

I think it's far simpler to just say that China needs to build more of its advanced type of ships.

Since it doesn't need to project power, it just needs a lot more advanced frigates, destroyers, FACs and subs.

People always point to PLAN subs as a credible threat to US CBG, but think about what US subs can do to the PLAN fleet. PLAN needs to upgrade ASW fast, the JSDF has more than enough p-3s to deal with PLAN subs

Alot of people mention that China not having a carrier force is a weakness, however; I have read some article saying that carriers are soon to be obsolete as long as within 50 years.

To have a carrier force is very expensive to build and memtain. To have a credible carrier force you also need alot of support crafts for the carrier, which creates alot of logistical problems. And in my opinion carrier is a good offensive option, but it also could be a nightmare to defend since it's such a big target.

Maybe China will be successful bypassing the carrier stage of naval affair and build a navy for the future.