Good chance for a US-2 sale to India as well soon.

Can I have that in English please.

Sweden, that is what rented means.

Not entirely surprised, the Chinese have loved their Blackhawk. Wonder what the powerplant is. Spare CT7 or something else.

I lower the hook into the water and a JSR shaped fish bites, then I reel it in.

So predictable it is almost boring.

Oh I can’t be mean at Christmas, here have a listen to Katushya for a while JSR

+1 Blitzo has said pretty much everything I would.

All I can add is the Brazilian help as I understand it was allowing some China Navy officers onto the Sao Paulo to observe operations. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Brazilian navy did a few lectures to those officers as well.

The other thing I wouldn’t really pass judgement on where the Chinese are with this all until 2020 at least, 2015 is just too soon imho considering all the work that has to be done.

What we do know is the initial J-15 production batch is starting to be delivered and the first regular China Navy pilots qualified on them. The initial flights and landings were performed by effectively test pilots flying prototypes. Also some information has already started to trickle from the China Navy in respect of what they have already learned. For example they have made some small changes in deck procedure in respect of what the shooter does when launching the aircraft. Apparently the way they signalled the launch was slightly confusing to other deck personnel, they changed it then released the information to the press. So hardly signs of a navy so embarrassed by what their deck personnel are up to that they would get into an incident with a USN warship.

Night landings and launches are probably waaaaaaay down the priority list when working up their air wing. I have a friend who was a deck crewman on the old Ark Royal in the 1970’s, he gets shivers when you mention duskers to him! There are a few real carrier veterans on this forum who would tell you the same.

Ten years ago the China navy was still really a coastal defence force taking its very first steps into Blue Water operations. Just deploying a frigate and support ship to help with anti piracy operations off Somalia was a real logistical and operational challenge for them. They have taken a part complete wreck of a carrier that every serious expert stated was effectively scrap and refitted it, they built a complete land based replica of that carrier to train their crews. They are certainly determined but to read anything into their progress or assume that the Chinese are controlling information due to embarrassment is absurd. Also bare in mind the USN has approximately 90 years of carrier operation experience and doctrine to draw upon. The Chinese are going from a cold start but using information gleaned from other countries. Carrier operations are pretty much the top tier of what can be done militarily at sea, it takes time to develop those skills and China has been doing for a matter of months.

In my opinion I feel that the PLAN is embarrassed for the world to see how little progress they are making in their carrier aviation program and the Cowpens taking pictures would reveal that fact. Going beyond the carefully controlled release of information by Chinese sources is something the PLAN loathes but is going to have to accept as they sail beyond their coastal areas.

Oh not this all over again, this is just the same as your analysis based upon the shoes they were wearing on deck. What pictures the Cowpens could take would be little more then what we can already see on Youtube of the Liaoning.

The Americans if they were intelligence gathering will be interested in the signals data they can gather. The Cowpens will be there listening with her electronic systems trying to get a picture of the radars and radios operated by the Chinese carrier, also they will be using their radar to get an understanding of flight patterns around the carrier.

Understandably that is not exactly the kind of intelligence gathering the Chinese will be keen on. Also China is actively laying a stake to the South China seas, the US sending a Ticonderoga class destroyer through the area and close to their ships on exercise with their newest strategic asset is going to garner a response. This is nothing to do with them being embarrassed, this is geopolitics at play along with a desire to protect some of their secrets when it comes to the performance of their vessels.