Global Defence Journal (2024)

17/03/2021

PLA Navy - A Force To Be Reckoned With?

China PLA Navy have recently launched it's third aircraft carrier and soon will also received another type 55 guided missile destroyer to be inducted into service. Currently the China PLA Navy have overtake the United States Navy numbers of ships of various types in service but does it present the actual strength of both countries? In modern naval geo politics, countries with fleet of modern state of the art equipment with advance weaponry and sound naval strategy will defines the outcome should a confrontation happen on the high seas.

PLA Navy which is currently undergoing extensive modernization program under the leadership of President Xi Jin Ping have become one of the largest Navy and this is mainly made possible with China booming economic growth in recent years. From a humble Soviet supply fleet of ships until the late 80's, the PLA Navy now operates more than 400 ships including Aircraft Carrier, Landing Helicopter Deck, Landing Ship Tank, Guided Missile Destroyer, Guided Missile Frigates, Missile Corvette, Fast Patrol Boats, Gun Boats, Nuclear Power Submarine, Diesel Power Submarine, Auxiliary Ship, Hovercraft and many more various types of ships.

Most of the ship were locally built with indigenous design and also using reverse engineer technology copying design from existing ship from other nation including some of the weapon system. The advantage of producing reverse engineered ship is that it save China from spending billions of dollars from expensive cost of Research & Development programs while the setback about reverse engineering method is in solving some of the issue such as performance and effectiveness of the ship where there have been reported cases of technical problems encountered during operation. The most probable solution to overcome reverse engineering problem for China is to redesign the original blueprints and built an enhanced vessel with additional advance features to make their own produce copy better than the original should they have the technological know how.

Operating a large numbers of ships required massive cost of maintenance, weaponry, fuel supply, logistics support and other vital necessity to ensure the whole fleet are in battle ready condition at all times. China will have to increase it's economic growth to support the increasing number of ships and also establish overseas bases if it intends to rival United States dominant as a maval superpower. United States have overseas bases in most part of the world enabling it's massive fleet to dock for resupply, maintain, repair, rearm and other required task if necessary while at the same time provide a military defence cooperation with nation such as Japan. It is yet to be seen how China will continue to sustain the PLA Navy ships with the world economy slow down due to the Covid pandemic and how it will approach other nation using diplomacy strategy in acquiring foreign base for it's massive fleet.

Another aspect to be considered is the real time combat experience of both ships and it's crew compliment. United States in comparison have a long history in naval warfare and have developed a very effective strategy on how to deploy it's massive fleet according to the battle plan. United States warship and it's weapon have also proven it's effectiveness in real time combat situation where it can deliver a precise strike on any target while the aircraft carrier air wings have proven it's superiority either in protecting the battle group or supporting the ground offensive. China in the other hands have zero to no experience in real time combat as the PLA Navy was never involved in any conflict except training manoeuvre while most of the weapon system have never been effectively tested in theatres of war and only in simulation exercise which is another setback for China.

For now which country is consider to be the naval dominant force is yet to be answer but should a conflict begin between China and United States which is most likely to take place in South China Sea, history plus vast experience on the high seas will have a slight advantage against more numbers of ships on a piece of paper. Let us all hope that such a situation never happen and all the dispute will ends with diplomacy.

16/03/2021

Unmanned Autonomous Aircraft - A New Era Of Aviation

Ever since the Wright brothers successfully pioneer the first flight, it has kicked off the race to build a faster, more efficient and the most advance aircraft throughout aviation history. From piston powered propellers to the latest technology vertical thrust jet turbine engine, the world have acknowledged some of best types of aircrafts ever produce such as the Spitfire, Mustang, MIG 15, F4 Phantom, MIG 21, F14 Tomcat, F15 Eagle, MIG 29, F16 Falcon and SU 27 Flanker in the history of aviation warfare. With the advance of technological and digital capabilities in aircraft industry, Lockheed Martin through it's Skunkworks factory have introduced to the world the first-ever Stealth fighter bomber known as F1117 Nighthawk. United States continue to develop it's Stealth fleet in which the B2 Stealth Bomber, F22 Air Superiority Fighter and the recent F35 Advance Stealth Fighter was operated by it's military various air wings. The Russian have also completed the various testing and have placed order for numbers of SU57 which is projected to be in service by the end of 2021. China which developed the J20 Dragon was also one of the nation reported having Stealth technology fighter but the capability and effectiveness of the aircraft was being dispute by military observers.

At the same time while the race to build more advance Stealth fighter such as the Tempest which is a joint effort put forward by United Kingdom, Italy and Germany or the Turkey much talk TFX program, Boeing and RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) have successfully carry out the flight test of the Loyal Wingman unmanned autonomous aircraft recently in Brisbane, Australia. The Loyal Wingman with an estimated length of 13 meters and a diameter of 11 meters are reportedly able to carry out solo autonomous flight or it could be assigned to be integrated into fighting alongside a manned wing aircraft which shares data with the Loyal Wingman artificial intelligence system.

Another feature of the Loyal Wingman capabilities in which it can be easily configured to carry out different types of mission through a changeable nose cone depending on specific requirements. A cost effective solution in which with just one aircraft, it is capable to carry out multiple task or mission without endangering the lives of a well trained pilot which cost millions to trained. Russian also reported are testing a similar type of unmanned autonomous aircraft known as Okhotnik but not much is made public as the project was deemed classified by the military. Upon completion of both said unmanned autonomous aircraft flight test, it will proceed to the multi mission capability stage to it's effectiveness in combat.

The unmanned autonomous aircraft program is another major achievement in aviation history but at the same time also a scary prospect of future air wars. It is still not known at present the type of armaments both Loyal Wingman or the Okhotnik payload but with its technological capabilities it is believed that both unmanned autonomous aircraft could carry both conventional or nuclear weapons. Something that needs to be kept an interest on and will update with the latest of the unmanned autonomous fighter progresses once more information were made public by the developer.

15/03/2021

Belgorod - A Menace From Beneath The Surface

During the second world war, German submarine better known as U Boats cause major destruction to the Allies convoy in the Atlantic. Traveling in a group of 'Wolfpack' it shadows the convoys from America destined for Britain loaded with much needed supplies and able to sink large numbers of ships in a single coordinated attack. The major weakness of the U Boats is that it cannot permanently stay submerged for a long period of time due to it's limited technological capabilities and this was quickly being exploited by the allies forces which came out with a counter offensive plan deploying fast destroyer and aircraft as convoy es**rt which also serves to hunts the U Boats when it comes to the surface either to recharge it's battery or being resupply.

Things have change drastically where now a single nuclear power submarine with well trained crew are able to stay submerged for a long period of time carrying dozens of nuclear ballistic missiles, accurate guided cruise missiles and some the latest type of torpedoes that can cause a significant damage not only to convoys but also to an entire region. It is a very menacing threat compared to those pose by the U Boats back in the second world war and this have raised lots of concern which leads opposing nation to build a more lethal class of submarine.

According to the latest report in 2019, Russian have successfully test it's latest Poseidon autonomous torpedoes which is to be equipped in the Belgorod class submarine fleet. Carrying a nuclear warhead with a very high speed compared to existing known types of torpedoes, it's main objective was to approach enemy coastline and designated to explode at a certain depth to trigger a major Tsunami. American hunter killer submarine will have little or no chance to either intercept or destroy the Poseidon unless a new type of counter measures being specially designed and developed to counter these threat.

It is reported also that the latest Belgorod class submarine will deploy the Zircon hypersonic missile which can either carry unconventional or nuclear warhead. With an estimated speed of Mach 9 and skimming about 200 feet above the sea surface, it will give enemy little or no time to react accordingly. As an example, Arleigh Burk class destroyer equipped with AN/SPY -1 aegis radar can detect oncoming missiles threat from a range of 192 kilometres giving the the destroyer an ample time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds to detect, track and eliminate the threat with it layers of SM1, SM2 or CIWS defence ordinance but Zircon gliding at a low altitude will only give the destroyer 35 seconds before the AN/SPY -1 to detect its present leaving no chance to either track or eliminate it.

Russian have a very good track record of producing state of the art class of submarine with its technological know how such as the Typhoon, Akula, Alpha and Borei class submarine.This is why the latest submarine such as the Belgorod class can be considered to be the most dangerous threat and Russia have invested heavily to procure and operates large numbers of the Belgorod class as their fleet first strike assets rather than building expensive aircraft carrier or surface combat vessels.

13/03/2021

The Doom Aircraft Carrier Future

After the first world war, battleship have become a symbol of strength and superiority by most big nations. It evolved from slow and heavy dreadnaught to big fast battleship with quadruple or triple mount guns which could fire a massive volley of destructive ammunition. Sadly by the end of the second world war, aircraft carrier have taken it's place as a tool of power projection which provides a more lethal blow to enemy compared to the battleship. The sinking of Imperial Japanese Navy largest battleship ever built, the IJN Yamato proves that big guns on a large armoured ship are no match to squadrons of aircraft arms with bombs and torpedoes.

At present, United States leads any other countries in numbers of aircraft carriers while countries such as United Kingdom, France, Italy, India and recently China which also possess aircraft carrier but are less capable or carry smaller number of aircrafts compared to the American carrier fleet. Powered by nuclear reactor which means it can sail around the world without refuelling for a long period of time while carrying no less than 90 various types of aircrafts makes the American carrier fleet one of the most respected vessel by it's allies and feared by it's adversaries. The air wings of the latest Gerald R Ford class carrier able to carry out more than 150 sorties a day including fleet air protection, reconnaissance and combat manoeuvre with a total of 5,000 crews on board with a projection of the ship 50 years service life span. It cost American billions to build, maintain and operates each ships with operation covering from the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans various fleets base overseas.

Since the early 50's until now, these aircraft carriers received no immediate threats as it was well protected by it's very own air wings and on-board weaponry but will it survive in the near future as military technology rapidly evolved through times? The evolution of faster, longer range and smart missile have become one of the biggest threat to the aircraft carrier for instance the Russian has developed the latest shore base launch hypersonic missile that could travel more than 400 kilometres at Mach 6 while able to carry out evasive manoeuvre to avoid detection threat. It is almost impossible for the aircraft carrier to out manoeuvre the missile threats and it will be a Herculean task for it's aircraft or on board weapon system to repel the lightning fast oncoming attack. Some of the already existing shore base anti ship missile that poses a big threat to aircraft carriers are RBS15 (Sweden), Bastion (Russia) and Brahmos (India)

During the second world war, Japanese kamikaze pose as one of the biggest threat to the American carrier in the Pacific but in the future it is no surprise that unmanned supersonic drones will be an even larger threat to the nuclear aircraft carriers. A single drone might have less chance of success hitting it's target against the carrier but a large swarm of drones attacking in multiple wave from different angles might be too handful for the carrier to withstand. It all takes a few drones with a 100kg warheads to either strike the most essential part of the vessel such as the superstructure or the flight deck to disable the carrier to perform it's flight operations. According to Jane's Defence, countries such as United States, Israel, China, United Kingdom and Russia amongst some that have invest billions of dollars to develop this new weapon.

Another continuous threat for these aircraft carriers has always been from submarine which is now more technologically lethal compared to those a few decades ago. Present submarine are more silent making it even harder to detect which was arm with more potent state of the art arsenal of torpedoes and missile. Even though most of carrier vessel group consist of a an es**rt submarine to protect the aircraft carrier but it is still a game of chess where the ones that possess a better up to date technological capabilities and a better tactical move will be able to achieve it's objective especially those with the carrier hunting advantages. This type of submerged boats does not have to get close to it's designated target but most importantly being able to track the main target which is the aircraft carrier without being detected and launch it's weapon accurately. To support these view during a friendly exercise in 2005 a Swedish submarine manage to evade the carrier vessel group protection and successfully 'sink' the American nuclear powered USS Ronald Reagan aircrat carrier.

Radar technologies on surface combatant vessel also have vastly being improved and with new beyond visual range detection enable various types of vessel such as destroyer, frigates, corvette or missile boats to launch it's battery of missile with satellite guidance to a pinpoint accuracy. Even though it will expose the vessel location upon launching the first strike but prospect of losing one of the less expensive vessel is far more acceptable compared with a lost of an aircraft carrier which cost billion in terms of pride and psychological warfare.

These are the main threat awaits any aircraft carriers and it will become more and more hard for the large aircraft carrier even with it's weapon, air wings and support vessel in the near future to repel an attack. Will the aircraft carrier suffer the same fate as the mighty battleship? Only time will tell but the odds is definitely against it with the ever growing technologies of weapon to destroy the aircraft carriers.

Global Defence Journal

17/03/2021

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