Child Groomer, Sexual Predator
8,563 posts
To the best of my knowledge, we don't have a whole lot of intelligence about the reliability and effectiveness of the new PLA Navy hardware and systems. I harken back to when the cold war was in full swing and the USSR was on a crazy shipbuilding spree. It seemed like every year or so they'd come out with a new class of warship, even bigger than the last and bristling with armament - missiles, torpedos, naval guns of several different calibers and they were a very formidable LOOKING vessel, no doubt. One thing we noticed at sea, however, was that they almost ALWAYS operated in what is called EMCON, or emission control whereby they would only radiate one small surface radar and one or two UHF radios for inter-ship communication. As it turned out, we were able to get some solid intel from deep in the Soviet Navy and it turned out that all of those fire control radars and sonars and missile launchers were more often than not inoperative because the Soviets couldn't keep repair parts for all the complex electronics on board and their high tech gadgetry would routinely fail and then, be out of commission until the ship could return to their homeport. And when it comes to comparing surface fleets between the US and China, the big dawgs are carriers and we have that market cornered... and when it comes to sub-surface, we have an overwhelming lead there, as well as a century of expertise in operating submarines. I am mindful, but not worried.