Category: Marines from all over the world

China - new amphibious assault vehicle takes shape

In addition to the ambitious aircraft carrier programme for the surface combatants, the Chinese navy is also consistently expanding its amphibious potential: The six amphibious assault ships of the Type 071 Yuzhao class with a length of 210 metres and 20,000 tonnes (similar to American LPDs of the San Antonio class) and the four Type 075 Yushen-class medium helicopter landing ships with a length/width of 232 / 38 metres and a displacement of 36,000 tonnes are well known.000 tonnes displacement; recently an even larger ship was identified under construction on the Changxing shipyard island off Shanghai, 263 metres long and 46 metres wide - i.e. 50 metres shorter and half as wide as the new aircraft carrier "Fujian" (see compilation The War...

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China: First voyages of the third aircraft carrier

At the end of June, the South China Morning Post reported that China claimed to have the world's largest conventional aircraft carrier, the "Fujian". The privately owned (Alibaba), but in China recognised for its narrow degree of freedom to publish factually, referred in particular to the electromagnetic catapult: something had been achieved with this technology on a conventionally powered ship that was not considered feasible. The US Navy can also demonstrably achieve this with the Ford class, but its energy systems are known to be nuclear-powered and can therefore generate sufficient electricity. The "Fujian" is China's third aircraft carrier and the first to be built after...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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