中国海军抵达巴基斯坦参加联演
China's navy arrives in Pakistan
to participate in joint exercises.
A spokesman of Pakistan's navy expressed his appreciation at the role that the Chinese frigate has already played in the Gulf of Aden when it was deployed to fight piracy in the frame of an international operation on behalf of the United Nations.
China navy frigate "Handan" No. 579
The Handan had left Qingdao harbour in Shandong province on August 10 and had started anti-piracy operation near the coast of Somalia together with two other Chinese vessels as soon as September 2, 2016.
[Source: SOHU 搜狐 on November 17, 2016.]
In another article, the same Chinese source quoted above is reporting about China's aircraft carrier "Liaoning":
俄媒:辽宁舰已有实战能力
Russian media are saying: The "Liaoning"
has already reached battlefield capabilities.
中国第一艘航母辽宁舰已经具备“实际作战能力”,而俄罗斯的“库兹涅佐夫”号航母像巡洋舰一样,只装备了“舰对地”巡航导弹。
China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" already provides "real combat ability" while the Russian "Kuznetsov" carrier is rather resembling a cruiser equipped with cruise missiles.
[Source: SOHU 搜狐 on November 16, 2016.]
Editor's Note:
As the Liaoning's primary structure was originally bought from Russia and, much later, finished and equipped in China, it can be seen as a sister ship of the "Kuznetsov". The Kuznetsov class being developed during the last years of the former Soviet Union, has become of interest for, both, China and Russia. While China was able to gather experience with aircraft carriers in general and which led to a Chinese program of building its own vessels, Russia only recently deployed the Kuznesov in the Mediterranean for another more specific reason. It should be noted that the Kuznetsov class is rather resembling the U.S. Nimitz class of supercarriers according to its basic functions than Russia's traditional carriers intended for the launch of helicopters and other vertically operating planes.
Some experts even say that Russia's deployment of the Kuznetsov near the Syrian coast as a launching pad for cruise missiles should be seen as some kind of training exercise for Russia's navy rather than a special provocation of the West, let alone an escalation of the Syrian war with the option of a Third World War scenario.
However, a future deployment of Kuznetsov class carriers like China's Liaoning and two similar vessels already in construction on behalf of China's navy could be most probably expected in the South China Sea. - Ulysses -