Tuesday, May 31, 2016

China Coast Guard Decommission Of The Day: ex PLAN FFG510 Shaoxing, CCG1002

After 9 years of serving as a CCG cutter (CCG1002), the old JiangHu FFG501 is finally decommissioned for good. 

Believe it or not, back in those dark days of 2007,  it was the largest cutter of the Hainan 3rd Coast Guard detachment and the only one heavier than 1000 tons. Now with newer boats entering services in rapid succession, the CCG is no longer interested in keeping this 38 years old workhorse around.  Progress, right?












My old blog post back in 2008 on the Shaoxing:
http://china-defense.blogspot.com/2008/07/photos-of-two-old-jianghu-ffg-in-coast.html


Friday, July 11, 2008

Photos of two old Jianghu FFG in Coast Guard colors.



Latest photos of two old Jianghu FFG in Coast Guard colors.

In case you are wondering why they look so different from their sisters ships, well, because they have been transferred from PLAN to the Chinese Coast Guard as Ocean Patrol Vehicle in 2007. Additional fuel capabilities were also added during the refit to extend their patrol range (Notice both the main guns and missile were removed)

1002 (old PLAN FFG 509) is currently serving with Hainan 3rd Coast Guard detachment and 1003 (old PLAN FFG510) is currently serving with Guangzhou 2nd Coast Guard detachment



There were suggestions out there to suggest that as more modern surface ships entering service with the PLAN, it will be interesting to see if more older FFG will be transferred to civilian hands. However, looking at the recent activities of MSA21 and MSA31 around East China Sea, it does seems that China is preferred to used more newly purpose build ships to “show-the-flag” and reserve those two old workhorses for less attractive duties. If Coast Guard has the budget, I am sure they will prefer new boats, after all, they did not take any of the old PLAN Hainan class, which is available by the hundred and build a new batch of crafts that has a similar size and range


The PLAN gone "politically correct" on us?

During a recent visit by the Malaysian Navy chief Dato' Seri Panglima Ahmad Kamarulzaman bin Hj Ahmad Badaruddin to the Liaoning,  the PLAN proudly served lunch at their "Muslim Mess Deck" with "permissible" or "Halal" items to their visitors.  I suppose it is their way of telling the world that they have gone PC. Good for them. 

Looking at those food pics below ... I don't know about you but lunch is looking fairly bland. Yuk! 






Monday, May 30, 2016

The next generation of PLAAF hardened aircraft shelters

The PLAAF 12th Fighter Division at Wendeng Shandong’s main task is to monitor events in North Korea across the Yellow Sea to the East.  To improve scramble time, they are now constructing hardened aircraft shelters right next to the runway, a break from the tradition – and famous for - using nearby caves.    Expect to see those new shelters in more PLAAF bases soon. 


For an excellent overview of China's cave and underground bases, check out Gary Vey's China's Air Force Goes Underground website. http://www.viewzone.com/chinabases/base1.html


Note the blast door on top.




Ole School, from Gary Vey's site






Rest of the CCTV report on the 12th.









Sunday, May 29, 2016

China's Coast Guard getting their own Type054 based hull

And why not,  since the Type054 is a proven design with 24 hulls already in service and an extensive record of overseas deployments by the PLAN.  By sharing the common hull with the PLAN, the Coast Guard is applying the economy-of-scale of the per unit cost in addition to reductions in logistics support and  maintenance costs. 

The Coast Guard is also sharing the same hull with Type056 so this is not unprecedented.






Sunday, May 22, 2016

Photos of the day: 15th Airborne's rapid deployment to Tibet.

Last week a mechanized regiment of 15th Airborne Corp, conducted a battalion size rapid deployment into the Tibetan Plateau.  Here are pictures from this "independent action" exercise.