[bootlegga]

Commercial US satellite snaps photo of China's 1st aircraft carrier at sea

Quote:

DENVER - A commercial U.S. satellite company said it has captured a photo of China's first aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea off the Chinese coast.

DigitalGlobe Inc. said Wednesday one of its satellites photographed the carrier Dec. 8. A DigitalGlobe analyst found the image Tuesday while searching through photos.

Stephen Wood, director of DigitalGlobe's analysis centre, said he's confident the ship is the Chinese carrier because of the location and date of the photo. The carrier was on a sea trial at the time.

DigitalGlobe, based in Longmont, Colorado, sells satellite imagery and analysis to clients that include the U.S. military, emergency response agencies and private companies. DigitalGlobe has three orbiting satellites and a fourth is under construction.

The aircraft carrier has generated intense international interest because of what it might portend about China's intentions as a military power.

The former Soviet Union started building the carrier, which it called the Varyag, but never finished it. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it ended up in the hands of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.

China bought the ship from Ukraine in 1998 and spent years refurbishing it. It had no engines, weaponry or navigation systems when China acquired it.

China has said the carrier is intended for research and training, which has led to speculation that it plans to build future copies.

China initially said little about its plans for the carrier but has been more open in recent years, said Bonnie S. Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It wasn't until the Chinese actually announced they were sending it out on a trial run they admitted, 'Yes, we are actually launching a carrier,'" she said.

China publicly announced two sea trials for the carrier that occurred this year, she said.

The carrier's progress is in line with the U.S. military's expectations, said Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Defence Department spokeswoman.

A Defence Department report to Congress this year said the carrier could become operationally available to the Chinese navy by the end of next year but without aircraft.

"From that point, it will take several additional years before the carrier has an operationally viable air group," Hull-Ryde said in an email.

She declined to comment on the DigitalGlobe photo, saying it was an intelligence matter.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/commercial-us- ... 34122.html

Attachment:

china carrier.JPG [ 38.64 KiB | Viewed 373 times ]

[DanSC]

It will be interesting to see if the Chinese are better at operating a refurbished Soviet carrier than the Soviets could operate it originally.

[Shadow_Flanker]

Nice bomb view of the chinese carrier.

[commanderkai]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Nice bomb view of the chinese carrier.

I think, if you look really closely, you see the American nuclear submarine already tailing it.

[Thanos]

"Why isn't Obama doing something about this? This is obviously all Obama's fault"
- Bachmann/Santorum/Gingrich/Perry, arranging their chorus for the next GOP "debate".

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Thanos wrote:

"Why isn't Obama doing something about this? This is obviously all Obama's fault"
- Bachmann/Santorum/Gingrich/Perry, arranging their chorus for the next GOP "debate".

Get with the program Thanos. This is a Canadian forum, therefore you hafta blame Harper...

Geez, what a noob mistake

[ShepherdsDog]

Zip would have never made a faux pas like that.......

[Shadow_Flanker]

commanderkai wrote:

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Nice bomb view of the chinese carrier.

I think, if you look really closely, you see the American nuclear submarine already tailing it.

That's pretty close shadowing. But yet, the helmsman might be distracted by the captain and xo's debate on how to best take mao's flatop to the bottom. Standard adcap torpedo, tomahawk volley, or go full on Michael Bay style with a nuke torp?

[saturn_656]

Quote:

That's pretty close shadowing. But yet, the helmsman might be distracted by the captain and xo's debate on how to best take mao's flatop to the bottom. Standard adcap torpedo, tomahawk volley, or go full on Michael Bay style with a nuke torp?

Tomahawks are out, TASM was retired. Sub-Harpoons would the "missile" option. A salvo of Mk.48 ADCAP's detonating under the keel would do nicely.

Break her back and ruin her for any other man.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Why waste resources. The moment it becomes part of a carrier group, some Chinese frigate captain will probably end up rear ending it.

[BartSimpson]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

commanderkai wrote:

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Nice bomb view of the chinese carrier.

I think, if you look really closely, you see the American nuclear submarine already tailing it.

That's pretty close shadowing. But yet, the helmsman might be distracted by the captain and xo's debate on how to best take mao's flatop to the bottom. Standard adcap torpedo, tomahawk volley, or go full on Michael Bay style with a nuke torp?

The best place for a sub to hide is right in the prop wash of its target.

[ShepherdsDog]

getting too close to the Chinese when they are operting any vehicle, even a bicycle, is never a good idea. hell I'd go so far as to say they're dangerous even when they are pedestrians.

[CDN_PATRIOT]

PublicAnimalNo9 wrote:

Why waste resources. The moment it becomes part of a carrier group, some Chinese frigate captain will probably end up rear ending it.

-J.

[peck420]

Shouldn't we reserve the title 'Carrier' until after aircraft have actually launched and landed on it?

[BartSimpson]

peck420 wrote:

Shouldn't we reserve the title 'Carrier' until after aircraft have actually launched and landed on it?

I imagine it can carry aircraft. Past that is just mere speculation.