Category: Marines from all over the world

China's strategic submarines in the Taiwan Strait

An event with rarity value: It is now five years since a strategic submarine of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) was last sighted in the open sea. Shortly before a Taiwanese military manoeuvre towards the end of June, one of the Type 094 submarines appeared travelling northwards on the Chinese side of the international fairway between the island and the mainland (median line). The nuclear submarines of the Jin class (137 metres, 10,000 tonnes submerged, 12 launch containers for JL-2s, each with around 1 MT of nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)) are still a big unknown - their number is now said to have grown to five. The boat was presumably on the...

Read More

Chile: A small flotilla for the Antarctic

At the beginning of July, the handover and commissioning ceremony for the first icebreaker designed and built in South America, the "Almirante Viel" (111 metres, 13,000 tonnes), took place in Talcahuano/Concepcion, halfway along Chile's almost 6,500-kilometre coastline. Together with the patrol vessel "Fuentealba" (OPV80 - Fassmer design) and the tugboat "Lientur", which arrived in the last decade, the newbuild forms the Chilean triumvirate for the nation's stronger commitment to the opposite coast of the 7th continent, the...

Read More

New minesweepers for Belgium

Still smart from the front, but like a cockchafer from the side! The first mine defence platform of the Belgian-Dutch joint project rMCM, the Belgian "Oostende", was sighted in open sea for the first time in mid-July. The sea trials off Concarneau in southern Brittany initially focussed on the propulsion and navigation systems. The bilateral rMCM programme as a cooperation between Belgium Naval & Robotics (Naval Group and Exail) and Kership (Piriou and Naval Group) - with the latter as general contractor - is actually a trilateral project, as France has already expressed its interest. No surprise, since all the plans are available in Paris. For the first time, this mine defence platform will be able to fly, float and dive...

Read More

Argentina closes capability gaps

On 3 September, the first of the four Norwegian Orion P-3C maritime patrol aircraft finally arrived in South America after being refurbished in the USA. Two weeks later, on 19 September, the maritime patrol aircraft with the new registration 6-P-57 was handed over to the Argentine Navy in Buenos Aires. As there is currently no long-range capable aircraft type available there, this capability - especially in conjunction with the Raytheon AN/APS-137 Synthetic Aperture Radar (contour recognition through multiple surveying of the target) - is eagerly awaited in order to maintain surveillance of Argentina's immense economic zone in the South Atlantic. The Orions will be sensibly stationed at the Almirante Zar naval air base in Trelew, halfway between...

Read More

Taiwan is at the centre of the Sino-American rivalry

Commentary Regardless of the outcome of the US elections, China is preparing for further conflicts with the US and is contributing to the escalation of a Cold War. Despite its new aggressiveness, China has so far remained defensive. Initiatives such as the New Silk Road and Made in China 2025 are aimed at reducing dependence on Western sales markets and products, which can be seen as a defensive measure against the increasing economic strangulation of the USA in the field of high technology. China is well aware of its greater vulnerability compared to the United States. It consumes more food than it can produce itself and is dependent on...

Read More
en_GBEnglish