Shi Lang, China's first aircraft carrier

The People's Liberation Army Navy (yes that is their real name) have begun sea tests of what may be their most powerful conventional warship. Although not officially confirmed, it is expected to be named Shi Lang, who was a successful Chinese admiral in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and led the invasion and conquest of the Kingdom of Tungning on the island of Taiwan in 1683. Which I might find worrisome if I lived on Taiwan today.

The keel for this ship was laid down all the way back in 1985 and was being built for the Soviet Navy as an Admiral Kuznetsov-class multi role aircraft carrier. Originally known as the Riga, she was later renamed the Varyag (Varangian) after a famous Russian Navy Cruiser. By 1992 all work on the ship had ceased, it was laid up and stripped. The ship was never finished by the Soviets and became the property of the Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union. At this point, the "ship" lacked its engines, rudder, arresting cables and many other important systems.

Satellite photos of the Varyag undergoing refit

How did the the Naval Arm of the People's Republic of China obtain an aircraft carrier from the Ukraine? Well, the answer is more convoluted than you might think.
It started in 1998 when the Trade Minister of Ukraine announced the the Varyag had been sold for $20 million USD to Chong Lot Travel Agency, Ltd. Chong Lot has been described as a small travel company that is owned by Chin Luck (Holdings) Company of Hong Kong. According to the US Naval College Review, four of Chin Luck's six board members live in Yantai, China, which is the site of a major Chinese Navy shipyard. They also state that the chairman of the Chin Luck Co. former career military officer with the People's Liberation Army. What a curious coincidence.

But back to the deal. So this small travel company from Hong Kong buys a huge warship (well, some it anyway) and says that they are going to turn it into a floating luxury hotel and casino. Awesome, right? Their plan is to tow the hulk from the Black Sea through the Suez Canal and all the way to the port of Macao, a small semi autonomous island off southern China. The buyers at Chong Lot were told prior to this that the the Varyag would not be given a permit to berth in the harbor of Macao for the refit. But the sale and tow of the ship continued.

Varyag under tow

Problems continued to arise. In 2000, a Dutch tugboat company hired a Filipino crew to tow the ship to Macao. Then Turkey refused passage through the Bosporus Straits, allegedly because the ship posed a danger to the bridges and navigation of this important waterway. The hulk was then towed in circles for 16 months, while the PRC negotiated with (bribed) the Turkish officials. It is rumored that the decision was reversed when the Chinese delegation offered to let Chinese tourists visit Turkey and give it an infusion of tourist money. Call me cynical, but I imagine their were some under the table exchanges as well. At this point I asked myself: Why would the Chinese government negotiate with Turkey for a privately held Hong Kong casino boat? Well, they wouldn't. Obviously, all the "plans" for the Varyag were a sham and it was being acquired as a warship, under the control of the PRC military, from day one.

The vessel transited the straits in November 2001. In transit, the Varyag was towed by eleven tugs and three pilots, and accompanied by another 13 ships.



On November 3, Varyag was caught in a force 9 gale and broke adrift while passing the Greek island of Skyros. One tug managed to attach a line to the ship late in the day, but high winds severely hampered efforts by two other tugs to secure the ship. On November 6, Aries Lima, a sailor from the tug Haliva Champion, died after a fall while attempting to reattach the tow lines. On November 7, the hulk was taken back under tow and progress resumed. Since the Suez Canal does not allow passage ships without power, Varyag was towed the long way. Through the Strait of Gibraltar, down the west coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and through the Straits of Malacca. At 6 knots. For 15,200 nautical miles. A slow boat to China, indeed. The future Shi Lang docked at Dalian Shipyards, in China on March 3, 2002. At this point China was continuing the farce that the Varyag had been acquired for use as a casino and hotel. But when the Macao authorities awarded casino licenses, Chong Lot was not included. And the Varyag was sitting at the dock hundreds of miles away in a major military shipyard.




While designated an aircraft carrier by the West, the design of The Admiral Kuznetsov- class is different from the carriers of the West in several ways. First off, they are called Heavy Aircraft Carrying Cruisers in Soviet military terminology. They were designed with a vertical launch missile system right in the middle of the deck to fire twelve of the huge P-700 Granit supersonic anti ship missiles. These have the NATO reporting name of Shipwreck and can carry either a 1600 pound explosive warhead or a 500 kiloton tactical nuclear warhead. These are carrier sinking missiles and that is the primary function of the class- to destroy the capital ships and large carrier groups of the West, especially the US Navy. In larger part the class was designed to protect and support the missile subs and missile capable aircraft. Fixed wing flight operation are mostly limited to air superiority missions, as the Su-33 Flankers have only a limited air ground attack capability. Unlike US carriers, which place a premium on long range strike of enemy vessels and ground targets. Like other carriers, several helicopters would be carried and part of their mission would be to carry out anti submarine operations.



In the summer of 2005, the Varyag was moved to a dry dock and the serious work began. Scaffolding was built and the hull sandblasted. The island was given a coat of red marine primer to treat the degraded and corroded steel. The anti-ship missile tubes have been plugged and will not be used, thus freeing up more internal space for hangar or storage use. Russia reportedly plans to do the same when it modernizes the Varyag's sister Kuznetsov. Sensors that have been observed or expected are the Active Electronically Scanned Array(AESA) and Sea Eagle radar. Weapons observed onboard are the Type 1030 CIWS, and the FL-3000N missile system. However, it takes more than a big flat ship to make for effective Naval Aviation. To that end, the Chinese have built a scale training facility near Huangjia Lake in the southwestern suburbs of Wuhan at the Wuhan Naval Research site. So they have been practicing simulated carrier landings there since 2009. For those who worry a great deal about the economic and military rise of China, take heart. This ship will never be the equal of US carriers. For example, the Soviet Navy at the height of its power only carried 13 Su-33s onboard, although there is room for up to 33, at the expense of other craft, for a total of about 41 craft, well below a USN Nimitz-class. The air wing was rounded out with 5 Su-25 "Grach/Frogfoot" close air support jets and 24 Ka-27 utility helicopters. For aviation facilities, the class uses what is called STOBAR. It stands for Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery. The landing aircraft are stopped via one of four arrester cables and the take off area has a 13 degree "ski jump" bow. While the capabilities of the Admiral Kuznetsov-class are limited in some areas (like all ships) keep in mind that the Shi Lang may not share all those limitations. The Chinese have spent a great deal of time working on her for one thing. And while the Soviet/Russian Su-33s (the Naval version of the Su-27 "Flanker" Air Superiority fighter) are not gifted strike aircraft, it is entirely possible that they could be modified to perform the mission and what we might call F/A versions have already been designed. The PLAN has no doubt taken notice of the this as well.


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It has taken the PLAN a long time to get the Shi Lang to sea and they still have a long way to go if they plan on making it a viable war ship. But it certainly represents a big step forward for the Chinese military in terms of technology, strategy and scope. I would be not be pleased if I lived the in Philippines.

Edit-- 10/25/12-- the PLA Navy has commissioned the ship under the name "Liaoning"

A New Army - for China

Today China formally announced that the Chinese People's Liberation Arny has set up a cyber command called the "Blue Army". Anyone who has been paying attention knows that cyber crime and cyber espionage has been going on for some time and that it is very likely that many viruses and so forth have come out of China. US computer security firm Symantec states that they estimate 30% of all malicious emails come out of China. That is not to say that the Chinese government has been behind them all. It is very plausible that various other nefarious elements such as Russian and Chinese crime syndicates have used the available pool of tech savvy Chinese and lack of oversight to launder money, steal industrial secrets and so forth.

The spokesman for the PLA, Geng Yansheng, stated that the goal of the Blue Army was to improve the country's military security. He also stated that China has been the victim of computer based attacks and that the network security of China was relatively weak. While probably true, that will not likely quiet the storm of people in the West that will use the announcement of the Blue Army's existence to call for more resources to be dedicated to national information and network security. Nor should it. While we should try to be as friendly as possible with the Chinese, both government and people, we do need to realize that they might not feel the same way. Also it is normally assumed that China very dearly wishes to dethrone us as the world superpower.

The Blue Army is reportedly run out of the Guandong Military Command, has existed for at least 2 years and consists of 30 people. I find it hard to believe that a country of 1.5 billion people, with the world's largest military and a fervent desire to modernize would have a computer army of 30 people. I could get 30 nerds together in my buddy's computer repair shop by tomorrow morning. I think it is safe to assume that the real size of the Blue Army is a much bigger than that. That being said, it could be that the Chinese have compartmentalized their network defense and that the intelligence services also maintain a sizable "cyber-police" (for back-tracing). This is even more likely when you think about the steps that the Communist Party has taken in an attempt to prevent their citizens from unfettered Internet access. It is also a good bet that the powers that be in China are at least occasionally interested in checking on the online activities of their flock and perhaps, you know, read an email or two.


So, America's decision makers-- get crackin' on this or we will fall so far behind that we might as well give the country to the Chinese Communist Party (the parts of it they don't already own that is). While cyber security has been talked about a great deal, I like a lot of of other people do not believe that enough has been done to give our country adequate defenses against this new form of warfare and espionage. We need to ensure that we have intelligent, tech savvy, creative, and loyal people working on this for us. And not just as contractors working under multi million dollar contracts. We need an organic National Security cyber team. How about full scholarships and guaranteed jobs for some computer science students for a start? So, come up with some cool name and get to it Department of Defense.

Picture this, just in some ACUs

Chinese Laser weapons

The PLA (People's Liberation Army) has been feverishly modernizing its forces in the last few years, trying to bring a huge military force based in many ways on the Soviet forces of WWII into the modern era. They have done well on most areas, although to be fair, this has been greatly helped by espionage activities in the West. The PLA still faces an uphill battle against any country with a "21st century" force.



Here is one weapon they have developed to help even the odds. I don't have any real information from the Chinese on it, but it is of a class of weapons we could call dazzlers. The intended effect is to limit the enemies' sight and temporarily blind and disorient them. This could be very effective against landing planes, which is why the FAA and other bodies that ensure airline safety have been very worried even about relatively low powered green laser pointers.

It is similar to a US weapon I discussed earlier, the GLARE LA-9P. The Chinese weapons industry has also been paying attention to the design philosophies of the West and has designed the weapon to look and feel like their main assault rifle, the QBZ-95. This makes the soldiers immediately feel more familiar with it and can cut down on training time. It also would make it difficult for observers to tell that the soldier has a specialist weapon instead of a standard one.


As you can see, the beam looks very powerful and I would not doubt that it could have a blinding effect, especially in low light conditions. I do wonder how it would fare against soldiers wearing NV goggles. Keep in mind these types of weapons are not intended to cause permanent loss of vision, although I think it is very possible that they may have long term effects that are well, unintended. If a laser pointer from 1992 has a risk of giving you eye tumors, I for one wouldn't want to be anywhere near this thing. In fact, I am about as close as I wish to be right now.

Here is a smaller pistol sized variant. It is probably powered from a large battery worn on the belt or back like in the above pic. These weapons also can be used by law enforcement to gain compliance and prevent people from attacking the police. If you can't eve look in their direction, it would be pretty hard to fight them. And while I have my doubts on whether or not laser weapons are "safe" I know for sure they are safer than the methods that the Chinese authorities have used against protesters in the past.