【Military Subplane】Author: Lele
On the 7th of this month, the military exercises of the United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines officially opened in the South China Sea. How to say it, the outside world originally thought that there might be a big scene, but when a total of 6 warships from 4 countries were unveiled, there was no expectation. In a word, the opponents are still those opponents, but the Chinese Navy is no longer the navy of the past.
▲ These warships are really not good
This time, the U.S. Navy dispatched a cutting-edge warship - the world's only littoral combat ship. "Mobile" with the designation LCS-26 is a new ship delivered in 2020 and just commissioned in 2021. Last year, the U.S. Navy also tested an external containerized launch equipment on the LCS-26, that is, an independent vertical launch unit is directly laid on the aft flight deck, which can be dismantled at any time, but the carrier-based helicopter/UAV cannot be used. At the moment the verification is not successful, but the US Navy is interested in its ability to launch the "Standard" series and "Tomahawk". The problem now is that the Littoral Combat Ship has proven to be too advanced in design and extremely expensive to maintain, so the later orders have not yet been built, and the early models, which have been in service for less than 10 years, have already begun to be decommissioned. LCS-26 is active now, but maybe one day it will be put on the decommissioned list and disappear.
▲ LCS-2, which has been decommissioned
Japan dispatched the classic "Murayu" class "Akebonoke" (DD-108), and the design of this batch of drives equipped by Haizi in the 90s is really good. The displacement of 6,000 tons, combined with a perfect three-layer anti-submarine system and a 32-unit vertical launch device, was very envied in China at that time, but it was outdated after more than 20 years. The "Anzac"-class "Valamonga" (FFH-152) dispatched from Australia is not so famous. This is a 3,000-ton frigate, the overall design was decent in the 90s, except for the 127 mm naval guns on board. Needless to say, the Philippine Navy has dispatched three warships, but they are all outdated in performance, and they only have a sense of presence and no practical significance.
▲The Philippine Navy simply has no resources for development
The Sea of Japan has also been a benchmark for the development of destroyers in Asia since the early years, and in the 90s, American technology was introduced, and a number of advanced destroyers such as "King Kong" and "Murayu" were launched, which were all successful in the world. Although Australia has always relied on imports for equipment over the years, and the level has also kept up with the trend, not to mention the second-rate goods that have been taken out this time, even if it is the top equipment at home, compared with the Chinese Navy, especially the Navy of the Southern Theater, it has obviously fallen behind. Since the development of the Sea of Japan in the past few years, it has not even been as bold as the South Korean Navy next door, at least it has followed China's footsteps and implemented the 850 mm caliber launch unit.
▲The progress of the South Korean Navy in recent years should not be underestimated
To put it bluntly, Japan and Australia are too dependent on US technical support, and their own hematopoietic capacity is seriously insufficient. A few years ago, the United States had great technological advantages in equipment, and under the transfer of American technology, these two naturally had a prosperous life. Now that the U.S. shipbuilding industry is in decline, in the face of 055 deterrence, it can only continue to build the "Arleigh Burke" 30 years ago, and Japan and Australia will naturally not be able to enjoy the scenery. More than 17,000 people are expected to participate in the military exercise on land, and the air confrontation is still dominated by the Philippine FA-50 squadron (the team that claimed to lock the F-22A in the military exercise last year), and the United States has a long-range fleet of aircraft as an imaginary enemy, but very few high-end goods are actually pulled out. In general, it is a situation in which the US military spends a lot of effort, but the allies except the Philippines are half dead, barely holding on to the scene.
▲The decline of American destroyers is a serious problem
This situation is also very understandable, the South China Sea is not the same as it was 20 years ago, nor is it the state it was 10 years ago. China's Southern Theater Navy has not just changed its name, it really has 1 60,000-ton aircraft carrier, 2 075 and 4 055 aircraft carriers. Coupled with the construction of islands and the support of various arms of the Air Force, even the US 100,000-ton aircraft carrier twin formation does not dare to touch this tiger's whiskers in the South China Sea. In fact, don't look at Australia's tough words on the surface, in the face of China's J-16 hot flare bomb to expel the P-8A, the electric reconnaissance ship ran all the way to the coastal waters of western Australia, and even the extremely close reconnaissance military exercise, there is no temper, let alone a strong counterattack.
▲The progress of the navy in the South China Sea Theater is too great
From this point of view, the four-nation military exercise is actually two sincere participation, but one force is really not enough, and the other is really not good now. Russia and Ukraine are still fighting in the Eastern European Plain, Israel is barely withdrawing its troops from Palestine, but Iran is making a fuss again. Yemen's Houthi armed strikes are still continuing, but the United States has ordered that its allies cannot be moved, and it cannot form a multinational escort fleet, and its own warship equipment/construction is even more of a bad debt. The originally vigorous four-nation military exercise now makes people see the results clearly.