China - the not so sleeping giant.

[willedoo]

4 hours ago, old man emu said:

Not the 7th Battalion "Rats")

Do you mean 9th. Division (+ 18 Brigade, 7th.Division)

[willedoo]

China's second of their Type 055 missile cruiser has just been declared combat ready after recent war games. It doesn't look big in the photo, but they say it's the second largest non carrier naval vessel in the world, second to the American Zumwalt class stealth destroyer.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I do get the feeling a heft fireworks event isn't too far away

[old man emu]

On 29/12/2020 at 1:30 PM, willedoo said:

Work started on it this year and it doesn't look too far off launch date.

Maybe we should get the Chinese to build our submarines so that we get them within our life times.

[willedoo]

34 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Maybe we should get the Chinese to build our submarines so that we get them within our life times.

Under current plans I doubt I'll see them in my lifetime. Or is there a plan? With the French deal, there was some degree of planning and process. But I can't get my head around this new nuclear thing. It seems like instead of submarines, all we have is a wink and a nod plus a dubious handshake agreement on some sort of submarines that they don't even know any details on.

[old man emu]

8 hours ago, willedoo said:

all we have is a wink and a nod plus a dubious handshake agreement on some sort of submarines that they don't even know any details on

But it's a handshake agreement with the USA and Britain.

[willedoo]

A couple of days ago the US Navy released a design concept as one possible replacement for their Arleigh Burke class destroyers. Most noticeable about it is that it's near identical to the Chinese Type 055. The main difference between the two is that China already has two commissioned and combat ready, whereas if the  American DDG(X) design idea is accepted, it will probably be a couple of decades before they hit the water.