17 January 2013

This Simple Ship Could Let the Chinese Navy Circle the Globe

David Axe, This Simple Ship Could Let the Chinese Navy Circle the Globe,” Danger Room, Wired.com, 16 January 2013.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy now has an aircraft carrier, new jet fighters to fly off the flattop and even new submarines and guided-missile destroyers able to protect the refurbished Soviet carrier. And with the successful first sea trials of two new, 590-foot-long fleet oilers — tanker ships designed to keep other vessels fueled, or “replenished,” while sailing long distance — the PLAN could soon be able to deploy all this new hardware beyond coastal waters.

“Replenishment vessel construction rate will be a particularly revealing barometer of the PLAN’s future expeditionary intentions,” wrote Andrew Erickson, an analyst at the U.S. Naval War College. The more new oilers, the farther China will be able to send its new capital ships. Without underway replenishment, most naval vessels can travel only a few thousand miles; with fuel top-offs, they can circle the globe. …

For full text of the article cited here, see Andrew Erickson and Gabe Collins, “China’s Real Blue Water Navy,” The Diplomat, 30 August 2012.

For related scholarship, see:

Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson, “‘Death by Blue Water Navy’ Distracts from China’s Real Military Focus,” The Diplomat, 21 November 2012.

For Part 2 of a related interview, see Greg Chaffin, China’s Navy and Air Force: Advancing Capabilities and Missions—An Interview with Andrew S. Erickson,” Policy Q&A, National Bureau of Asian Research, 27 September 2012.

For Part 1 of this two-part interview, see Greg Chaffin, “Building an Active, Layered Defense: Chinese Naval and Air Force Advancement—An Interview with Andrew S. Erickson,” Policy Q&A, National Bureau of Asian Research, 10 September 2012.

For the book chapter on which these interviews are based, see Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Modernization of Its Naval and Air Power Capabilities,” in Ashley J. Tellis and Travis Tanner, eds., Strategic Asia 2012-13: China’s Military Challenge (Seattle, WA: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2012), 60-125.